Netflix has added a last-minute content warning to the opening episode of the latest season of Stranger Things, in the wake of the school shooting in Texas that left 21 people dead, including 19 children.
The first episode of the show’s fourth season will premiere worldwide on Friday, just days after the mass shooting at Robb elementary school in Uvalde. The season reportedly opens with a telekinetic massacre that includes the depiction of several dead children covered in blood.
“We filmed this season of Stranger Things a year ago,” the warning reads. “But given the recent tragic shooting at a school in Texas, viewers may find the opening scene of episode one distressing. We are deeply saddened by this unspeakable violence, and our hearts go out to every family mourning a loved one.”
A Netflix spokesperson told the Hollywood Reporter: “We decided to add the card given the proximity of the premiere to this tragedy – and because the opening scene is very graphic.”
The warning will only show for viewers in the US.
Netflix has also edited the episode description to include: “Warning: Contains graphic violence involving children.”
After the Uvalde shooting on Tuesday, Lifetime delayed the release of TV movie The Bad Seed Returns, about a murderous high school student, while CBS pulled the season finale of procedural drama FBI, originally scheduled to air that evening. The episode reportedly included a storyline involving a student’s possible involvement in a deadly robbery.
