Google hid a brilliant ‘Stranger Things 4’ spoiler in an ad for Gmail’s big update

Last week, Google announced a major upgrade for Gmail that could impact everything we do online. Google gave more than three billion Gmail users free access to the rebranded Google Workspace productivity app, which includes an upgraded Google Chat and Spaces experience that will make it easier for users to collaborate on online projects without worrying about access to an enterprise or education account.

Google included plenty of examples to highlight the new Gmail features in its various blog posts on the matter, from images to GIF animations to a video that shows how easy it is to work together from home in real-time. That’s where Google snuck in a brilliant Stranger Things 4 spoiler that you might have missed. The best, and worst, part about it is that anyone who is actively looking to avoid spoilers for the upcoming Stranger Things season might accidentally watch the revealing scene that Google included in its video ad. You should avoid what follows if you haven’t seen any of Netflix’s trailers for Stranger Things season 4.

The Stranger Things scenes show up without warning, and the whole thing is brilliantly scripted to demo what’s possible with Workspace.

It starts with the following scene from the popular Netflix TV show, which happens in Hawkins, Indiana, the Byers’ hometown we saw in the previous three seasons. On top of the Stranger Things footage, we see the Duffer brothers typing the season 4 screenplay.

The other writers working with the Duffers see them typing and changing their minds. The brothers delete the exterior Hawkings setting by the time that car rounds the corner and type a different location, Kamchatka, Russia.

The setting switches as the Duffers keep typing, and we get to see a familiar scene. It’s winter, and a large number of people are working on a railroad in the distance.

As the camera zooms in, we learn these are all prisoners, and this hard labor must be part of their sentence. As a reminder, Stranger Things takes place in the ‘80s. And it’s the ’80s Russia that we get to experience in the TV show.

Anyone familiar with Netflix’s Stranger Things 4 trailers knows what’s coming next: the biggest reveal we got from the Duffers while we wait for season 4 to hit Netflix. As we’ve speculated for a long time before Netflix confirmed it via a trailer, Hopper (David Harbour) is alive and well, having survived the ordeal in the final episode of season 3. We’ll have to see what happens next once season 4 premieres.

If you haven’t seen the most recent Stranger Things trailers, then Google’s promo has just ruined the Hopper surprise for you. Google’s Stranger Things 4 scenes can be seen in the video below, at around the 20-second mark: