Where Was Kali in "Stranger Things" Season 3?

This article contains mild spoilers for Stranger Things Season 3.

If you are one of the 40 million-plus people who have binged Stranger Things' third season over the past month, you are probably trying to find some sort of coping mechanism to keep from losing all sanity while you wait for any update about the fourth season.

There are just so many questions that need to be answered. When did ultimate-dad-bod Hopper decide floral shirts were a good idea? Why did Mrs. Driscoll have to be so damn cute? And what will the fate of [redacted] be?

For the most part, it seemed like Season 3 wrapped up most storylines in a tidy enough way, even if it had you uncontrollably sobbing for an hour or two (this writer is guilty).  

But there was one storyline that seemingly got tossed to the curb, leftover from Season 2: Where was Kali and her gang?

Whole #StrangerThings I've been waiting for Kali or the other numbers to show up and save the day and I still want to see them pic.twitter.com/Fetgcs80dw

— Fan of shows (@few_shows_fan) July 7, 2019

Was Kali supposed to return?

In Stranger Things' second season, we were introduced to Kali (or 'Eight'), portrayed by Danish actress Linnea Berthelsen. Eight, like Eleven, was also abducted as a child and experimented on in Hawkins Lab. She possesses supernatural powers that allow her to make people see what she wants them to see. Pretty badass.

But badass didn’t cut it for viewers, who slammed that season's seventh episode, "The Lost Sister", which saw Eleven and Kali’s storylines overlap in Philadelphia. In fact, the episode only received a measly rating of 6.2 on IMDb, while the rest of the episodes all scored higher than 8.4. Still, is that enough to flake on an entire storyline?

It seemed not. Despite the hate, co-showrunner Matt Duffer held that chances of Kali returning to the show would be high. "It feels weird to me that we wouldn’t solve [her] storyline," he said at Vulture Fest LA in 2017.

Except, nothing was solved, because she didn’t return. And Eleven pretty much sums up our feelings about that.

Of course, it is also possible that Kali's absence from the third season could have resulted from clashing filming schedules. In December 2018, Linnea Berthelsen posted a picture of her trailer to Instagram, with the caption "Wrapped on this magical project. + Home for Christmas! Merry Christmas + happy new year #2019". Fans initially jumped to the excited conclusion that she had wrapped on shooting the third season, but evidently this was not the case. 

Linnea's IMDb page shows that she has completed filming for an upcoming TV Mini-Series called The Dessert, set to be released in 2019. While there aren't too many details about the mini-series, her Instagram post could have actually been referring to wrapping up that project instead.  

 

 

 

 

 

View this post on Instagram

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wrapped on this magical project. + Home for Christmas! Merry Christmas + happy new year #2019 🎄

A post shared by Linnea Berthelsen (@linneaberthelsen) on Dec 23, 2018 at 3:32am PST

But, it seems likely she will return.

So, was Kali’s character simply used to ultimately empower Eleven to close the gate in S2? Maybe, except there are at least another nine other children with powers out there. So, it seems probable that the Duffer brothers have bigger plans for her.

While Netflix is yet to officially renew the show for a fourth season, that hasn’t stopped fans from speculating as to what their plan might be.

Here's what I think will happen in Stranger Things 4:

Eleven somehow finds out Hopper is still alive in the Upside Down. The problem is that her powers aren't working. She'll probably go see Kali (08), her sister, to get help. Kali leads her to her other 9 psychic "siblings". pic.twitter.com/CtwHkJRij0

— Walt (@UberKryptonian) July 5, 2019

⚠️**Stranger things **⚠️
PREDICTION FOR S4: el will become one of the mind flayed but Kali and other subjects will make a return& help somehow fix el. Then they all gang up & fight the rest of the monsters from the upside-down since El isnt strong enough to win on her own. pic.twitter.com/Pz4oh88Ig2

— FREE ROCKY (@emobitch1998) July 19, 2019

Sorry Kali haters, but these theories could totally work.

Only time will tell whether she will be back, but until then, we will keep on playing Dusty-Bun and Suzie-Poo’s rendition of "NeverEnding Story" on repeat.

Header Image: Netflix