On Location: ‘Stranger Things’ Season Four Heads to Lithuania and New Mexico

The Hawkins kids aren’t really kids anymore, and things are about to get even more terrifying for them and their fans as Netflix’s supernatural hit series, Stranger Things, kicks off season four on May 27. The thrilling drama set in what superficially looks like a typical Midwestern town takes fans deeper into the alternate dimension of the Upside Down in what the show’s creators, the Duffer Brothers, are calling its darkest and scariest season yet.

The cast and crew traveled to more locations than ever before to film the fourth season, with the fictional Hawkins, California, and Russia recreated in Atlanta; Albuquerque, New Mexico; and Lithuania, respectively. To get a behind-the-scenes glimpse, we chatted with the show’s production designer, Chris Trujillo, about the filming locations that brought the horrors to life—and some of the destinations’ non-scary, vacation-worthy appeal, too.

In doing research on season four, was New Mexico an instant fit for re-creating Southern California?

As soon as we know what we are going to be looking for as far as locations in the script, we try to figure out the most appropriate places to achieve our looks—and the first step is to travel to these places very early on, before production starts. I wanted to go to New Mexico and make sure we could accurately recreate southern California and the Nevada [desert] there. And as soon as I got out there, I knew we could definitely find that world around Albuquerque—the beautiful foothills outside of Albuquerque very much look like parts of Southern California.

What surprised you most in New Mexico?

I’d only ever briefly spent time in the desert, camping here and there on occasional cross-country trips. I knew there was something special about it, but [taking] this special extended tour of all the different flavors of New Mexican desert was incredible. I was most surprised by how much variation there is. There’s everything from these white sands to stark yellows and tans. And then there’s the very beautiful painted foothills desert landscapes, too. The vastness and the variety of desert there was really surprising.

You filmed in Lithuania to recreate Russia in the fourth season. How was that experience?

Lithuania was amazing. I didn’t know what to expect there, I don’t think it’s a place your average traveler is necessarily familiar with. With Lithuania, we were trying to find this Russian flavor of wilderness, as well as looking for some Tsarist-era architecture. Vilnius was so surprising. It was so beautiful and historically incredible in terms of the architecture. Our research trips were especially fun. We toured the country with long road trips through the countryside and spent time in Vilnius and Kaunas, the other large city in Lithuania. There’s a film industry there and they were some of the better crew I’ve ever worked with, too. And for that to be the case in such a small country was surprising.

What were some of the places you found in your early Lithuanian location searches that you knew would make the cut for the show?

There’s an old—and only recently decommissioned—prison right in the center of Vilnius, Lukiškės Prison, that’s architecturally very special. It’s an old Tsarist prison and the backstory on it is pretty dark. But as an example of architecture, it’s incredible and inspired us immediately. It has all these multi-story cell blocks that were so cool looking that made it into the series. 

We also spent time in the forests and countryside in Lithuania. There’s something about the light there. It just felt very different from anywhere we normally see on the show when we’re shooting in Georgia and other places in the States. The forests felt larger and older. The scenes we shot in Lithuania really stand out for the quality and angle of the light that came in. We spent time in small Soviet-era towns, too, that all have a very unique look you can’t find anywhere else, except maybe Russia. But we spent less time filming in them than we thought we were going to. That’s just how the script developed. It was more about the countryside, snow, and trees—and some of the specific city elements, too.

Were there any favorite places you’d hang out with the crew when you weren’t filming? Any restaurants of note?

We used to love to go to this tiny bar in Vilnius’s historic old town called Who Hit John. It’s a hip, local dive-ish bar with a very nice aesthetic. It’s a very cool bar I’d go to in any city. All of the crew loved it, too. I was also pleasantly surprised by the food in Lithuania. I loved the restaurant MUROS, at Hotel PACAI, in the historical palace. They had this beautiful tasting menu all inspired by super regional cuisine done with this incredible flair and invention–a fine dining version of regional food.

Season four is one of the darkest and scariest seasons yet. How did these locations bring on the dark elements?

The most literal darkness is in Lithuania, but I don’t think it speaks for Lithuania. We were trying to create a very dark Kamchatkan prison camp vibe out there. Those definitely were the bleakest and darkest scenes. When we filmed in the desert in New Mexico, it was the other end of scary—stark and incredibly hot. Right outside of Albuquerque in the desert around Zia Pueblo, we essentially created an underground missile silo out in the desert. There’s something inherently terrifying about that—you’ll see it in the show.

In Georgia, you ended up finding the perfect creepy home for the Creel House. What makes for the perfect haunted house?

We knew we wanted to do a variation on the classic haunted house but we didn’t want to just repeat the obvious. We didn’t want to recreate the house from It or any other number of [horror movie] houses. Atlanta is full of really beautiful and interesting old Victorian houses, but we wanted to get away from the rounded spires and the elements that are really Victorian-inspired. When we found this house, it just had a weight and shape to it. It was more squared off in its details in the upper story, the shape of the roofline was unique. It almost felt like it was leaning toward you in a way that felt heavy and scary. This particular house just had something the others didn’t.

Which location do you want to go back to explore more?

We were all saying we’d totally go back to Lithuania with friends and family—that’s a given. But for me, I wish I would have had more free time in the New Mexico desert. My kids were there with me and my son was very much enchanted by the desert, too. There's this incredible drive through a place called Valles Caldera. You can start in Albuquerque and go through a beautiful little pueblo and when you come down the back side of the mountain you can see old cliff dwellings before you come back through Santa Fe. Start early and take your time, it will take you the better part of the day. It’s unbelievable, just an amazing drive. It’s basically like an old volcanic crater and you drive up through this beautiful river valley and you come up over this ridge and all of the sudden it feels like you’re in The Lord of the Rings, with this vast grassy landscape on top of what used to be a volcano. It’s really special. I feel like not a lot of people knew about it. There’s so much of that in New Mexico. I’d cruise around there again for sure.

Have you thought about how the show might drive tourism to these regions?

I especially love to think of people discovering Lithuania. I feel like that place is amazing and everyone I told that I was going there was like, ‘What?’ I’ve been a big advocate for people going there since I was there. New Mexico is pretty well-touristed, they don’t necessarily need my help. But definitely check out Lithuania. You won’t be disappointed.