This post contains spoilers for Stranger Things 3.

In many ways Stranger Things 3’s finale feels like it could mark the end of the series. The episode does, after all, feature a laundry list of end-of-series tropes: Millie Bobby Brown’s Eleven loses her powers; the members of the Byers family, traumatized by all they have seen, leave town, taking her with them; and, most shockingly, David Harbour’s character, Jim Hopper, seems to die in a courageous blaze of glory. But then there’s the after-credits scene—in which two Russian guards drag a captive into a cell where a voracious Demogorgon is waiting to eat him. As they grab the monster’s lunch, the henchmen skip over a cell that houses another prisoner, “the American.” Could that be Hopper? We’re meant to wonder.

This season’s ending, especially Hopper’s loss, leaves a lot of big questions about where we might be going—but Matt and Ross Duffer, who created Stranger Things, assured V.F. in a recent interview that they have a plan.

When asked if they worried the season’s dark twist might be a step too far, the Duffers replied in an email, “We weren’t really worried. Season two was a dark season with a fairy tale ending. We thought we’d flip that on its head and have our ‘fun’ season end on our darkest note yet. We just think it’s an interesting pivot, and pushes the story in exciting new directions..... At the same time, it also needs to crack open the door for an exciting—and tonally different—follow-up chapter.” When asked if we could expect another season of the series, they replied, “All we can say is that we would like to continue making this show—the story of Hawkins is not quite finished!”

Netflix has yet to renew Stranger Things for a fourth season, but a return does seem almost guaranteed, given Stranger Things’ status as one of Netflix’s most successful originals; the network recently bragged that Stranger Things 3 set a new viewing record. The Duffer brothers have said themselves that they plan to keep the show going for four seasons and then quit, while executive producer Shawn Levy has suggested the series could stretch just one more season after that. Season one premiered in July 2016; season two came in October of 2017. So there’s a chance we could see Stranger Things 4 as soon as October of 2021, assuming the current pattern holds.

The main question going into a new chapter, presumably, would be whether Hopper is actually dead. While it’s hard to imagine how Hopper would’ve survived being blown to smithereens along with the gateway to the Upside Down, we never saw his body. That omission, and the mention of “the American” in the show’s post-credits scene, were intended to raise questions.

“We want the post-credit scene to spark debate!” the Duffers said. “Hopefully it raises a lot of questions, and the answers to those questions will define a potential season four.”

Truthfully, Hopper might be the least appealing candidate to be revealed as “the American.” Bringing him back to life could be a sorry coda to one of this season’s most consistent, if confusing, character arcs—Hopper yelling at everyone for no legible reason, seemingly overwhelmed by the implications of his adopted teenage daughter’s dating life. The character found a degree of redemption when Eleven read a letter he never gave her, in which he expressed the emotional vulnerability he was never able to achieve in person.