Netflix

The third season of "Stranger Things" is still a year away, but details, however small, are starting to trickle out.

The next season of Netflix's hit 1980s-set science fiction-horror series will, sadly, be one episode shorter than season 2. Netflix confirmed to CNET that season 3 will consist of eight episodes, the same as the first season. Season 2 was nine episodes long. (Although some fans intentionally may choose to forget episode 7, "The Lost Sister," a controversial story in which Eleven tracks down a mysterious fellow alum of Hawkins Lab.)

The premium streaming service also confirmed that production will begin in mid-April.

The news was first reported by TVLine.

Co-showrunner Matt Duffer has already said the third season will take place in 1985, advancing a year from the end of season 2.

"Even if we wanted to hop into the action faster, we couldn't," Duffer told The Hollywood Reporter in October. "Our kids are aging. We can only write and produce the show so fast. They're going to be almost a year older by the time we start shooting season 3. It provides certain challenges. You can't start right after season 2 ended. It forces you to do a time jump. But what I like is that it makes you evolve the show. It forces the show to evolve and change, because the kids are changing."

No release date for the third season has been confirmed, but star David Harbour (police Chief Jim Hopper) has said it'll "probably" be 2019, which makes sense based on an April filming start.