As I talked about in a previous thread, I imagine that Hopper and Joycee will probably hook up. So a good part of Season 3's storyline will be El trying to adjust to living a full family.

Eleven could be made ready for high school in a year. She'll still come off as a bit odd, but should be able to handle it with the help of her friends. I'd love to see her run into that bully kid in the hallway. You know, the one who held a knife to Dustin, whatever his name was. He swaggers up to the new girl to introduce himself. She says "Hello again. How's the arm?" and gives him an evil little smile. His eyes bug out, and the guy scrambles away as fast as he can.

The Mind Flayer can't just assimilate El the way it tried doing with Will. She's already proven she can tear apart its tentacles if they try to envelop her (and she could probably force it out of her body even if it somehow got in). It may try some kind of brainwashing attack. Messing with her mind over time, especially when she's asleep. The only way to take control is if she submits willingly. Mike may end up saving her this coming season, pulling her back from the brink of getting lost in the hive mind.

Max and Eleven are probably going to be good friends. I imagine El will feel badly about pulling the skateboard out from under her, when she never had any interest in Mike as a boyfriend. She'll confess what she did. Max will make a joke out of it. Everything will be fine. Max and Lucas will have had plenty of time together and their relationship won't be awkward or tentative in season 3. As for Mike and Eleven, they practically fell in love at first sight back in season 1. If there's anything that remains a constant through all the chaos on this show it'll be them.

Brenner is almost certainly still alive although where his agency - the CIA, the NSA, or whoever the hell he works for - may have sent him is anyone's guess. We may find at the beginning of season 3 that Eleven has been eavesdropping on him for some time, and wrestling with the risky idea of going to confront him. Especially if he's still working with "special kids" and is currently doing to one of them what he did to her. She'll want to go charging to the rescue.

Will's ordeal started in the very first episode and only in the season 2 finale was he finally freed from it. The kid deserves a break this season. And yeah, Joyce Byers needs a break from the constant fears for her youngest son. She's a force to be reckoned with when she has something constructive to focus her perpetual nervous energy on. Hopefully now she'll find a purpose that centers her emotionally.

We may see Joyce and Hopper together this season. Who knows? As discussed in another thread, they may even combine their households into the Stranger Things Brady Bunch - Joyce and her sons, Will and Jonathan, Hopper with his adopted daughter Eleven. The Byers house has always been craziness central. What better place for this new family to call home?

Billy didn't serve much purpose this season. Of course he didn't take up much air time either, and the scene where he fought Steve and got tranquilized by his sister was worth the price of admission for the character all by itself. Plus they've laid the groundwork for Max's dysfunctional family, so who knows where that might lead? I understand Billy was written into the show to fill the role originally planned out for Steve, before they decided actor Joe Keery was just too damn likable and they wanted to take Steve in a different direction. The question is, will something actually happen between Billy and Karen Wheeler or was he just charming her to get the information he needed? That could get interesting.

I was saying that. I think she is I interested and Billy will go for it. He's not someone you can trust.