The wait for Stranger Things Season 5 is almost over! After the latest 3 minute teaser, we've gathered everything you need to know about the upcoming final season, including the release date(s), the returning cast and what's to be expected plot-wise.
Stranger Things has been Netflix's favorite child for years now (The Witcher would obviously be the abandoned middle child, but I digress). However, all good things must come to an end. Season 5 is going to be the last hurrah in Hawkins as we know it.
To get yourself hyped up for the final season, we've got all the info you need to know – from the official release date to some drama, we've got you covered.
Stranger Things Season 5: Release Date
Production on the final season of Stranger Things only began on January 8, 2024. Given that each of the eight final episodes is going to be movie-length (seriously, almost every episode is said to be at least one hour long), it’s no surprise that filming stretched over many months and officially wrapped in December 2024. After a long post-production phase over the past few months, it seems that Stranger Things season 5 is finally ready, after we got a first proper teaser and a release date.
As announced in the new teaser, the final season of Stranger Things is going to release in two volumes and a separate finale – so don’t expect to binge all eight episodes in one go... Volume 1, containing episodes 1-4, will come to Netflix on November 26, while Volume 2 with the final episodes 5-7 will be gifted to us as a Christmas present on December 25. And then... at last... the grand finale will go live on New Year's Eve (which automatically determined my plans for the winter holidays).
What To Expect From Stranger Things Season 5
As Stranger Things Season 4 came to a close, the stage was set for the gang's final showdown to save Hawkins – and possibly the entire world. The final season will see them attempting to close the door on the Upside Down once and for all.
To account for the aging cast – Millie Bobby Brown, Finn Wolfhard and the rest have grown up far faster than their on-screen counterparts – the Duffer Brothers decided to set Season 5 after a time jump. While early speculation pointed to a 3.5-year leap, it’s now confirmed that the final season will pick up one and a half years after the events of Season 4, placing the action in the fall of 1987 – almost four years after Season 1.
The Duffer Brothers also teased that some of the big ideas from Season 2 will finally pay off in Season 5. In an interview, David Harbour shared that the ending will be bittersweet.
The teaser actually leaves more questions than answers, but here are a few things that we spotted.
We spotted Will Byers touching the back of his neck. It’s the sign fans know all too well: something from the Upside Down is close. The gang will also be brought back to the Upside Down, into the wreckage of the lab that started it all.
The OG group will be reunited, older and traumatized, but still standing. For some reason, Eleven is only shown alone or with Mike or Hopper, but never in the group. So we assume that she will have her own fight going on during this season. In one scene, she was wearing a similar sensory-deprivation suit from Season 1, which hints to a return to the methods that first unlocked her powers, which also played a role in season 4.
Nancy is shown in a heartbreaking scene, scrubbing blood from her hands and crying alone in a bathroom. Whether it’s guilt, fear, or loss, something clearly broke her.
But the teaser saves its biggest moments for the end when Vecna’s voice breaks the silence: “Found you.”
Netflix has also revealed the official episode titles for the final season:
- Episode 1: “The Crawl”
- Episode 2: “The Vanishing of …”
- Episode 3: “The Turnbow Trap”
- Episode 4: “Sorcerer”
- Episode 5: “Shock Jock”
- Episode 6: “Escape From Camazotz”
- Episode 7: “The Bridge”
- Episode 8: “The Rightside Up”
Stranger Things Season 5: Final Season Feels Like "Eight Movies"
Stranger Things will wrap up its fifth and final season with eight feature-length episodes. Series creators Matt and Ross Duffer revealed that the final episode will be "at least two hours," slightly shorter than the two-and-a-half-hour Season 4 finale. According to Maya Hawke, who plays Robin, the final season will take a full year to film. "We're basically making eight movies," she said on the Podcrushed podcast, adding that the final season's episodes are "very long."
The eight-episode final season will pick up right where Season 4 left off, with Hawkins being overrun by the Upside Down. Matt Duffer explained that Season 5 will hit the ground running:
"For the first time ever, we're not wrapping things up at the end of [season] 4, so it's going to be moving. I don't know if it's going to go 100 miles an hour at the beginning of [season] 5, but it's going to move pretty fast."
Despite having fewer episodes than the previous season, Season 5 will immediately throw the characters into action without the gradual buildup of previous seasons.
Stranger Things Season 5: Expected Cast
As fans eagerly await the release of Stranger Things season five, it's time to start getting excited about what's to come. With the anticipation building, let's take a look at the characters we can expect to see in the upcoming season.
The Kids Group
The kids' group has been at the forefront of Stranger Things from the beginning, and in season five, we can expect to see them all return. Millie Bobby Brown will reprise her role as Eleven, Finn Wolfhard as Mike Wheeler, Noah Schnapp as Will Byers, Caleb McLaughlin as Lucas Sinclair, Gaten Matarazzo as Dustin Henderson, Sadie Sink as Max Mayfield, and Priah Ferguson as Erica Sinclair.
The Babysitters' Club
In season four, we saw Steve Harrington (Joe Keery) and Robin Buckley (Maya Hawke) team up with Nancy Wheeler (Natalia Dyer) and Jonathan Byers (Charlie Heaton) to form the Stranger Things version of a babysitters' club. We can expect all of these characters to return in season five. But there is a downer: Eduardo Franco, who joined the group as Argyle, will not be returning for Season 5.
The Adults and Parents
David Harbour will return as Jim Hopper, along with Winona Ryder as Joyce Byers, Cara Buono as Karen Wheeler and Brett Gelman as Murray.
The Villains
It wouldn't be Stranger Things without some villains, and season five is sure to bring back some old foes. While details are still under wraps, we can expect to see some of the villains or those with questionable morals to make a return.
Henry/001/Vecna
Jamie Campbell-Bower takes on the role of Henry/001/Vecna, the terrifying, tentacle-covered uber-villain. Although Vecna is the epitome of evil, Jamie has been defending his character and even suggests that we might see more of his humanity by the end of Stranger Things.
The final episodes will also introduce some new faces to the cast. While their roles are still under wraps, it's been confirmed that Nell Fisher, Jake Connelly, Alex Breaux, and none other than Linda Hamilton will be joining the Stranger Things universe in Season 5.
More Stories from the Upside Down
While the main series is nearing its end, the Stranger Things universe is far from done. In addition to the West End stage play Stranger Things: The First Shadow, the Duffer Brothers are also working on an animated spin-off. Titled Stranger Things Tokyo, the anime will follow two video game-obsessed twin brothers in 1980s Tokyo as they encounter the Upside Down in their own way. Though still in early development, the project promises a fresh take that’s stylistically different but narratively connected to the original series.
So, what is your stance on the upcoming finale? Are you just as excited as we are and already cancelled all family plans for Christmas? Or will you wait it out, and try to avoid spoilers until you can watch everything in one go in the new year?