Fear Street 4 is now confirmed to take place in the ’80s, and the movie’s setting means that hopes for a Netflix franchise aren’t dead just yet. Production on Fear Street 4 is beginning in early 2024, nearly three years after the initial trilogy debuted on Netflix. As more progress is made on the upcoming film, new details are surfacing, including which R.L. Stine book this Fear Street installment will cover and when it will take place. According to Bloody Disgusting, the next addition to Netflix’s series will be dubbed Fear Street: Prom Queen, as it’s adapting his novel The Prom Queen.
Fear Street 4 will feature a new cast and a new director in Matt Palmer, setting itself apart from Netflix’s 2021 trilogy. However, the movie’s setting is promising for those hoping to return to Sam and Deena’s story, or to see some connections to the first three films. For a while, it seemed as though Netflix had decided against a full-fledged Fear Street franchise. While the fourth film could mark the end, its setting update offers hope for even more stories in this world.
Fear Street 4‘s ’80s setting means that it will take place between the first two movies in Netflix’s original trilogy — and that’s good news for anyone concerned that the new film won’t be connected to the previous ones. Although the upcoming Fear Street movie will focus on a new cast of characters, its premise confirms that it will take place in Shadyside in 1988. It isn’t entirely clear how the prom season covered in the film could connect to the initial three-part story. However, this setting plants the seeds to bring all of Netflix’s Fear Street projects together.
Fear Street 4 is set only 10 years after 1978, meaning Ziggy Berman’s horrifying experience at camp could still be on people’s minds. The film could easily reference the Shadyside Killers, especially if it continues that possession storyline with its new cast. The fourth movie could also indirectly set up Deena and Sam’s story in 1994. In doing so, it could open the door to return to those characters later on.
With Fear Street 4 taking place prior to Part One: 1994, nothing that happens in the upcoming movie will prevent Netflix from returning to the 1994 cast later on. The past setting ensures that Netflix can build out its franchise with more stories set in the late ’90s and early 2000s. Those could feature characters like Deena and Sam, though Fear Street 4 and other sequels should avoid undoing their happy ending. It would be great to see them cameo, though. The franchise must also address who picked up the book at the end of Part Three: 1666 — a question Fear Street 4‘s past story seems unlikely to answer.
Source: Bloody Disgusting