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Stranger Things season 4 has left us with a lot of questions and Mathew Modine who plays Dr Martin Brenner or Papa may have some answers. He has his own theories about his character and refuses to believe that it’s the end. In a recent interview, he revealed theories about his character still being alive.

Papa died in Stranger Things season four volume II by all accounts as it saw him being struck down by a sniper in his effort to save Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown) from Lt. Col. Jack Sullivan (Sherman Augustus). The final scene between the father daughter may have been the least dramatic from the rest shown in the finale but him falling limp on the desert ground was not the end of Dr. Brenner, according to Modine.

In an interview with Vulture, Modine was asked about his character being dead, to which he said, “No, I wouldn’t. Because I wouldn’t want him to be dead. Three things are curious to me: How did he survive the Demogorgon [in season 1]? How did he survive One? And when Eleven tries to use her power against Dr. Brenner after blowing three guards in the air, he unflinchingly thwarts her and says, ‘You didn’t think it was going to be that easy, did you?’ She couldn’t get it to work on him. Is there something more to Brenner than meets the eye?”

A super-powered Dr. Brenner isn’t the craziest theory, after all his experiment children Eleven and One both have their share of powers. However, series creators Matt and Ross Duffer, in a chat with Josh Horowitz, indicated that Martin is “definitively” dead for real this time.

“I don’t want to believe it’s over, because I love the Duffers,” Modine continued. “I don’t want to believe it’s over, because I can’t wait to work with Millie again. I say Millie, because I don’t really have anything to do with the other cast members — except for Paul Reiser.”

Volume II of the hit show saw Eleven fighting the new evil, Vecna, who is on a new mission in the Upside Down realm while the town of Hawkins suffers his wrath. It saw Vecna, Dr. Brenner’s first experiment, having a moment of his own with Eleven as she fights to save her friends but unfortunately his fourth kill unleashes the Upside Down on the small town of Indiana.

Season 5, the last instalment of the Stranger Things franchise, will see the original cast fight new challenges the gate brings for people who are still living in the town. The season finale is expected to drop mid-2024, two years after the recent season.