Chris

He was standing next to a device that had the potential to connect back to the location of the USSR’s own Upside Down experiment in Siberia, when it blew up. There was a post-credit sequence at the very end of the last episode, back in Siberia, where they had a captive demagorgon, and the dialogue makes reference to “the American”. So the means to transport Hopper out of harm’s way was there, and the conclusion suggested he had in fact survived.

From a production point of view they’d have been daft to have killed him off, and they clearly know how bankable he is as he’s the subject of the one snippet of footage released so far. It was the right call if my kids’ reaction to the teaser is anything to go by.