Stranger Things 4: Why Dr. Brenner Should Be Eleven’s Real Father
The identity of Eleven's birth father has been teased throughout Stranger Things, but season 4 should reveal it's the villainous Dr. Brenner.
Fans have long theorized that Stranger Things season 1 villain Dr. Brenner could be show heroine Eleven’s biological father, and season 4 should confirm this despite the potential predictability of the twist. Released in 2016, season 1 of Stranger Things was a fusion of sci-fi horror and small-town mystery that soon became a word-of-mouth sensation for streaming service Netflix. Now filming its fourth season, Stranger Things has only grown in popularity despite the show’s tone changing over time.
Season 1 of Stranger Things was inspired by dark domestic dramas like Prisoners and, despite featuring some comic relief, the slow-burn season was gruesome and bleak at times. The story of the show’s heroine Eleven was particularly brutal, with Stranger Things revealing that she developed psychic powers thanks to traumatic testing by shadowy government agents in an experimental lab where she was raised and hidden from the outside world. No character was more central to this creepy clandestine testing plot than Dr. Brenner, the unsettling but surprisingly affable (in public, at least) head of operations at Hawkins Lab.
Dr. Brenner was referred to as “Papa” by Eleven and presumably the rest of the children involved in her MKUltra-associated human experimentation program, but the actual parentage of the Stranger Things heroine remains unclear. Season 2 gave Eleven a so-called lost “sister” in the side character Kali (which many regard as one of Stranger Things’ biggest mistakes), but the show has never explicitly explained who the heroine’s father is, despite her amnesiac mother Terry playing a relatively large role in the first two seasons. The revelation that the onerous Dr. Brenner could be Eleven’s biological father is a twist that many viewers have already seen coming, but that is no reason for the bombshell to lose its impact in season 4 of Stranger Things, and there are numerous reasons the show should still follow this dark path.
Unlike the unexpectedly sympathetic Billy and the unthinking Demogorgon, Dr. Brenner is a powerful, vindictive Stranger Things villain who has been cold, calculating, and lethal since his first appearance. He has none of the redeeming qualities expected from a sci-fi antagonist, making the potential reveal that he is Eleven’s biological father all the more devastating. Dr. Brenner may have suffered a fake-out death in Stranger Things season 1, but now that the character is confirmed by the show-runners to be alive and kicking, he should still be able to return in season 4 as a major human antagonist. With this being the case, the best way to re-establish Dr. Brenner’s villainy would be to reveal that he enacted his nefarious psychological warfare not only on a defenseless child but on his own offspring.
Although Stranger Things viewers know she was born while her mother, Terry, was part of the MKUltra program, it is currently unclear who Eleven’s father is or how she was conceived. Either of the potential answers here (that Terry was impregnated as part of an experiment or that she and Dr. Brenner had a relationship before he sent her for amnesia-inducing electroshock treatment) are chilling propositions that make Brenner an even more horrifying villain. Stranger Things needs a darker edge in its fourth season to counterbalance the show’s increasing focus on character comedy, and any backstory that reveals Dr. Brenner to be Eleven’s father is guaranteed to provide this darkness and ground the action of the season.
Season 3 of Stranger Things suffered due to the villains having little personal connection to the heroes, with Billy being supporting character Max’s stepbrother and the Russians being barely-sketched stereotypes. Stranger Things needs to ground its villains by making them more relevant to the cast. Thus, revealing a familial connection between Dr. Brenner and Eleven could thus offer a human villain with a real link to the main character of Stranger Things, and could give an explanation for Eleven's own dark side in the process. Explaining that Eleven has a psychological link to her sociopathic father Dr. Brenner would explain why the usually good-natured character has on occasion been able to kill without flinching, and confirming Brenner as Eleven's biological father could make his eventual face-off with her more heroic father figure Hopper all the more satisfying for those watching.
During seasons 1 and 2 of Stranger Things, the taciturn Detective Hopper gradually warmed to Eleven and became a loving father figure to the girl. However, season 3 saw Hopper devolve into a more mean-spirited, belligerent, and at times downright dangerous figure, souring the relationship between the pair. Now that Hopper is stranded in Siberia and the cast believes him to be dead, the connection between the duo is pretty non-existent heading into Stranger Things season 4. However, revealing that Eleven’s biological father is an irredeemable monster who has been pulling the strings behind much of the show’s action would create a contrast between Brenner with Hopper, a well-meaning father figure who has repeatedly imperiled himself to save his surrogate daughter. It is hard to deny that the Detective’s character deteriorated somewhat in season 3, so giving Hopper a Steve-style character arc and set of trials to redeem his character could contrast his efforts at being a father with the monstrous villainy of Brenner.
This could both make Hopper more likable again and give both Eleven and her other figure a compelling antagonist to face off against in season 4, something that season 3 struggled to offer. Dr. Brenner remains the most cold-blooded human villain in the entirety of the first three seasons of Stranger Things, having experimented on children, traumatized their parents, and even murdered bystanders to cover up his actions. While the Hopper of season 3 was undoubtedly a flawed antihero (doubly so when the season’s villain Billy was as redeemed by the climax as the show's ostensible hero), he can’t compare to Brenner in terms of evil and could be redeemed by being placed in contrast with the remorseless monster. Pitting Eleven’s biological father against the father figure who saved her from him would thus provide Stranger Things season 4 with a compelling human antagonist and a perfect vector for the show to redeem the figure of Detective Hopper, as well as filling in a vital missing element of the heroine’s backstory.