As if Netflix didn’t have enough troubles lately: an attempt at promotion stranger things Season four has been turned on its head.

Images of an official Monopoly game, following on from the long-awaited new season of the retro sci-fi hit, have been leaked online.

The images from the game’s maps – which first began circling last month – spoil key plot points in the new episodes.

Netflix wasn’t happy about the mishap. But they weren’t nearly as unhappy as the show’s creators, The Duffer Brothers, who sources say weren’t consulted about the game. Matt and Ross Duffer have long made it a point to keep the story a secret and are said to have suffered a “complete breakdown” over the mishap.

A Reddit thread dedicated to the leak claimed the game was purchased from “a nationally recognized retailer and bought fairly and honestly by a consumer.” Nobody stole it; no one has leaked a sample.” However, these purchase details are unconfirmed. Retailers are currently advertising stranger things Monopoly boards tied to past seasons, though a few purported copies of the Season 4 version are advertised on eBay.

A source close to the streamer’s Tentpole series said that while its producers have plenty of it Involvement in and approvals for the vast majority of the show’s promotions and consumer products, the sheer scope and breadth of the stranger things The franchising world is so unlike any other show on Netflix that the game of Monopoly must have accidentally passed by.

“Lessons have been learned and I expect there will be more cohesion in season five,” the source noted.

This is hardly the first time a major entertainment brand has been spoiled by a tethered toy. war of stars Titles have notoriously been tainted many times over the years (e.g. a Rey action figure wielding a lightsaber that was previously released The Force Awakens opened, revealing that the character was a potential Jedi). The Mandalorian Showrunner Jon Favreau was so concerned about toy spoilsports that he refused to allow a manufacturer to get the design for Baby Yoda until after the show’s 2019 premiere, resulting in the lucrative toy line for the breakout character only getting to consumers many months after that it was available to launch the Disney+ series.

Netflix recently announced this stranger thingsThe fifth season will be her last. The Duffers have also clearly indicated this stranger things could get a sequel or spinoff series that goes beyond the show’s current story and cast.

Here’s the official description of Season 4: “It has been six months since the Battle of Starcourt that brought terror and destruction to Hawkins. Dealing with the aftermath, our group of friends are getting separated for the first time — and navigating the complexities of high school hasn’t made things any easier. In this extremely vulnerable time, a new and terrifying supernatural threat emerges, representing a gruesome mystery that, if solved, could finally bring an end to the horrors of The Upside Down.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yQEondeGvKo

The new season will be divided into two parts. Volume 1 of Season 4 will debut on May 27 (three years after Season 3 aired). While the second half of the fourth season, “Volume 2”, debuts on July 1st.