Yesterday, Stranger Things released another cryptic tweet with a video of rats and the caption: “It’s almost feeding time.” This morning, an official trailer for season 3 was released with actual footage from the series. They had released several promos in anticipation of the new series, but this was the first trailer providing an actual look at what fans can expect to see in the next installment.

https://twitter.com/Stranger_Things/status/1108023069367549952

Fans can breathe a sigh of relief that all of the characters will be returning to the same town of Hawkins, Indiana, recovering from the events that occurred in the previous season. The tagline towards the end of the trailer expounds on the summer-focused, coming-of-age theme: “One summer can change everything.”

As can be expected, there appears to be another government conspiracy that involves some of the fan’s favorite Upside Down creatures. The trailer even shows some more human enemies: men with gas masks.

Concerning the recurrent references in the trailer to getting older, the Duffer brothers admitted they were hoping their fans would grow up with the characters, much like fans of the Harry Potter series. Ross Duffer spoke to The Hollywood Reporter, describing his own experience growing with the Harry Potter series:

“Even if we wanted to hop into the action faster, we couldn’t. Our kids are aging. We can only write and produce the show so fast. They’re going to be almost a year older by the time we start shooting season three. It provides certain challenges. You can’t start right after season two ended. It forces you to do a time jump. But what I like is that it makes you evolve the show. It forces the show to evolve and change, because the kids are changing. Even if we wanted it to be static and we wanted to continually recycle the same storyline — and we don’t — we would be unable to, just because the kids are changing. It’s cool, though. The audience is going to be able to watch these kids come of age every year. The closest example is Harry Potter. Watching those kids and actors grow up in front of the camera was, to me, very powerful. I mean, I wasn’t a kid when I experienced that, and I can only imagine if you were a kid and you were their age, it would have been even more powerful. That’s what I’m excited about. It’s a long way of saying that yeah, we’re going to do a time jump.”

For the returning cast, all of the kids will be back:  Millie Bobby Brown as Eleven, Finn Wolfhard as Mike, Caleb McLaughlin as Lucas, and Gaten Matarazzo as Dustin and Sadie Sink as Max.  Erica, Lucas’ younger sister, will also receive a fuller role as supporting cast. For the teenagers, Natalia Dyer, Charlie Heaton, and Joe Keery will return, joined by Maya Hawke, Uma Thurman and Ethan Hawke’s daughter. Maya will play Robin, who has been described as an “alternative girl.”

As for the adults, both Winona Ryder, playing Joyce Byers, and David Harbour, playing Jim Hopper, will continue in their roles.

The third season is set to air July 4th.