A Stranger Things designer has confirmed how time works in the Upside Down

Stranger Things production designer Chris Trujillo has confirmed how time works in the Upside Down. Stranger Things four volume one revealed a little bit more about the Upside Down and how it works. In the final episode, we learnt the backstory of Eleven and how Vecna came to exist.

But earlier on in the first volume, we see Nancy visit her bedroom in the Upside Down only to learn it’s stuck in the past. Specifically on the night Will Byers went missing in 1983. At first it’s quite confusing but there’s a reason why everything is connected. Here’s what Stranger Things production designer Chris Trujillo has to say about time in the Upside Down.

The Upside Down is frozen in time and the year is 1983

via Netflix

Chris Trujillo explained the Upside Down was frozen in 1983, several years after Eleven opened the gates and exiled Vecna. The Upside Down is styled with elements from season one, following Eleven escaping Hawkins Lab. Chris says: “The moment that the Upside Down was quote-unquote ‘created’ inadvertently by Eleven, the set dressing and the world of the Upside Down is frozen in that moment. So like when we’re in Nancy’s room, we’ll discover in the Upside Down that Nancy’s room is as it was in season one when we first were introduced to it.”

So this clarifies the stoppage of time is connected to Eleven’s first interaction with the Upside Down. She first contacted the Demogorgon in season one, which was 1983. Obviously she banished Henry Creel to the Upside Down in 1979 however she blocked this memory out. Therefore we can assume the Upside Down did exist before season one when Eleven opened a portal between the two worlds.

It is confusing but it’s fair to say Eleven’s powers are the only hope we have for destroying the Upside Down forever.

Stranger Things is available on Netflix now. For all the latest Netflix news, drops, quizzes and memes like The Holy Church of Netflix on Facebook. 

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