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.