'Stranger Things' Season 4 could bring back this 'dead' character

Matthew Modine stands by the showrunners' statement that if there is no dead body, then chances are that person is still alive. This applies to Dr. Martin Brenner in "Stranger Things" Season 4.

The actor believes that Dr. Brenner, a.k.a. Papa to Eleven, is still very much alive even though Season 1 showed that a Demogorgon killed him. The problem with this scenario though, is that his corpse was never found. Thus, the fan theories emerged that he is possibly still alive somewhere.

"I love that the fans are trying to figure out where Dr. Brenner is because we're all wondering, you know, is he in the Upside Down? Did the Demogorgon drag him away? Is he going to re-emerge?" Modine said in an interview with NME adding, "And the show's creators, the Duffer Brothers, have said that unless you see a body, the character's not dead. And obviously, we never saw Dr. Brenner's body."

Adding fuel to theories that he still alive is a scene from Season 2 when a scientist at Hawkins Lab told Eleven that her Papa is still alive. Either he told the truth or just lied so she would spare his life. Fans likewise guessed that other than Chief Jim Hopper (David Harbour), the American in the Russian cell teased at the Season 3 finale could also be Dr. Brenner.

Season 1 of the Netflix show painted Dr. Brenner as the antagonist in the story. After all, he experimented with Eleven and other young children. He then used Eleven's powers to open The Upside Down.

However, Modine said that his character is not entirely bad as others may think. He reasoned that Dr. Brenner never killed or harmed anyone. Eleven, on the other hand, "killed two interns in the hospital and killed the people in the hamburger shop." She also broke a kid's arm and controlled people with her mind.

"Stranger Things" Season 4 returned to production in Atlanta, Georgia on Sept. 28 following a months-long hiatus because of the pandemic. Modine noted that the "new COVID age complicates everything in film production." He also expressed his absolute interest to reprise Dr. Brenner if the Duffer Brothers ask him to do so.