Stranger Things fans' mixed reaction to 'film-length' season four episodes

It won't be long until the highly-anticipated fourth season of American sci-fi thriller Stranger Things drops on Netflix, but fans have had mixed reactions to the show's latest announcement.

In a Tweet, the official Stranger Things account teased the first eight minutes of season four and detailed the dates and episode 'splits' of the long-awaited next instalment. It said that Volume 1, containing seven episodes, would be released on Friday 27 May, while volume two, consisting of just two episodes, will drop on Friday 1 July.

Netflix also revealed that the total run time of the series will be 13 hours, with episode 7 clocking in at an hour and 38 minutes and episode 8 at an hour and 25 minutes. The final episode will be the length of a feature film, coming in at almost two and a half hours.

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But the 'extra-long' episodes - and the five week wait for the final two parts - have had mixed reactions. Some fans have delighted at the news, with Twitter user @cursedhawkinss raving: "I can’t really believe that we’re getting new stranger things episodes after three years and we’ll be able to enjoy 13 hours of content." Twitter user @slevo777 echoed: "I love how they are such long episodes!!"

"Don’t really understand the hate about the long stranger things episodes. Surely if you like the series you’d be happy there’s more to watch? I’m hyped ngl,"said @eljshy. "People complaining that stranger things episodes are gonna be too long but I’m here like inject it now !!!!!!!!," gushed @sarahjustvibing.

But others were left confused by the timings. Twitter user @nou_csgo remarked: "7 episodes then two? Uhhh what a dumb split." @bmann05