We’re a little more than a month away from Fortnite Chapter 5 Season 4 and, uh, well, a lot has happened since Season 3 kicked off at the end of May. The new season has been so divisive that Epic created an entirely new battle royale mode to compensate for it. That puts a lot of pressure on Season 4 to be a hit with as many people as possible.
It’s still a bit early for the hype cycle to start–that won’t happen until August, probably–so there isn’t any official info about next season yet aside from the start date. Speaking of which…
When does Fortnite Chapter 5 Season 4 start?
Per the in-game signage, Season 4 should start on Friday, August 16, at some point during the morning US time.
Fortnite Festival Season 5 is also currently slated for the same day. It will be the first time a new BR season and a new Festival season started on the same day since Festival Season 1 in December 2023.
What’s new in Fortnite Chapter 5 Season 4?
Nothing has been officially announced, but we’ve got some pretty important details about what to expect from Epic’s leaked 2024 roadmap a few months ago, which has thus far proven authentic since it had both Billie Eilish and Metallica as Festival headliners, and teased the current car-themed season.
Keeping in mind that some of their plans have certainly changed given the response to Season 3 and the subsequent launch of Reload, the roadmap told us that Colombian superstar Karol G will be headlining Festival Season 5, and that battle royale Chapter 5 Season 4 may be the second Marvel-themed season overall, and the first since 2020.
The art for the Marvel season in the key art showed Doctor Doom, which could mean it’s focused on the Fantastic Four–which has a movie on the way in the MCU. This could also simply be a normal season with a new Doctor Doom in the battle pass.
Fortnite Festival Season 5
It’s very interesting that Epic would choose to launch new seasons of Festival and BR on the same day, but it’s impossible to guess why since Karol G isn’t slated to appear in any Marvel movies. But since they usually stagger the season launches, it’s possible there’s a specific reason for doing this. We’ll have to wait to learn more as we continue inching closer to the launch of the new season.
Fortnite Chapter 5 Season 4 is a new Marvel season?
Given how intensely divisive Season 3 has been, I would expect that we’ll be seeing a more straightforward season next time out. But I may be completely wrong, since the previous Marvel season gave us all sorts of wild mythic items based on Marvel superpowers. According to Hypex, one such mythic will be a new version of Wolverine’s claws. During the previous Marvel season, every battle pass skin had an accompanying mythic in battle royale. Under normal circumstances I’d assume that will happen again, but with the situation being what it is, Epic might rein it in a little.
Fortnite Chapter 5 Season 4 collab leaks and rumors
Jason Voorhees in Friday the 13th Part VI
If we’re getting a Marvel season, clearly there will be tons of Marvel cosmetics on the battle pass, plus a pile of item shop stuff to go with. But that’s not all that could be coming during Season 4, which is when this year’s edition of Fortnitemares will take place. Word is, from multiple different sources, that Jason Voorhees from the Friday the 13th franchise will make his Fortnite debut during this year’s Fortnitemares, likely as this year’s new spooky item shop collab skin, following Michael Myers a year ago and Ash Williams the year before–this is a great annual tradition.
We’re also expecting a big NASCAR collab with Rocket League and Rocket Racing, according to new leaks, though that may not begin during Season 4. But it’s on the horizon, allegedly.
Is it almost time for Fortnite OG 2?
After the massive success of last year’s 30-day Fortnite OG season, Epic promised it would be back with more of that kind of thing in the future. You may be tempted to think that Reload is what they were talking about, but it’s not–a second OG season, based on the Chapter 2 map, is reportedly still going to happen later this year. The leaked roadmap puts it after Season 4, just like last year, so that’s the safe bet. Look for it to probably kick off in early November and run until the presumed end of the Chapter about a month later.