'Stranger Things' Returning To Halloween Horror Nights 2019 With New Mazes

We just hit the first day of spring, but Universal Studios is already looking ahead to the fall. The company announced that the hit Netflix series Stranger Things is making its triumphant return to Halloween Horror Nights this year, and a new teaser video is here to prove it. And while last year's mazes were focused on the show's first season, this year's will be inspired by seasons two and three.

Netflix and Universal teamed up to bring a Stranger Things-themed maze to the park in 2018 for the first time, and it went over so well that they've decided to bring it back for more. The creators and executive producers of the show have once again united with the theme park teams to help produce the most authentic representations possible.

This year's chilling mazes pick up where last year's mazes left off, continuing the suspenseful storyline where a predatory entity terrorizes the small town of Hawkins, Indiana, and delving even further into the parallel universe, referred to as the Upside Down.

The press release also says the new mazes, which will be available at both Universal Studios Hollywood in California and Universal Orlando Resort in Florida, will "parallel the hit show as it leaps forward to 1985, taking guests on a terrifying excursion through portions of Stranger Things 3." I'm guessing that means there will be rotting pumpkins everywhere and a random side trip into a knock-off X-Men warehouse with characters nobody cares about? I'm kidding, but to get serious for a second: even though I didn't find season 2 to be nearly as good as the first season, there was still plenty of striking, memorable imagery in those episodes to recreate in a Horror Nights maze. The tunnel shot that appears in that teaser video would be relatively easy to bring to life for audiences to walk through, but I'm looking forward to seeing how they incorporate the evocative "shadow monster" – that seems far more difficult.

Here are some videos from last year's Stranger Things-themed mazes, with a focus on the ones from Orlando, which were more intricate than the ones in Hollywood last year:

Halloween Horror Nights 2019 begins Friday, September 6 in Orlando and on Friday, September 13 in Hollywood. Stranger Things 3 hits Netflix on July 4, 2019.