Our favorite Indiana teens are coming back for one more round of interdimensional drama. Stranger Things is set to return this year for its fifth and final season, and with it, a continuation of the story that put fan favorites like Sadie Sink’s Max in grave danger after a battle with Jamie Campbell Bower’s villain Vecna.
With so many questions still unanswered (will Max ever wake up from her coma? What will happen to the town of Hawkins now that the Upside Down is invading?!), it’s hard to believe we’re nearing the end of Stranger Things. Since its debut in the summer of 2016, the series has built a world filled with supernatural suspense, iconic characters (RIP Eddie!) and ride-or-die friendships. It’s also a love letter to all things ’80s, celebrating everything from Dungeons & Dragons to hanging at the roller rink — all with an epic synth soundtrack. Soon, we’ll all be wistful for the series that made nostalgia cool.
Here’s everything we know so far about the upcoming season of Stranger Things.
Where did we leave off with our Stranger Things gang?
Season 4 of Stranger Things followed the Hawkins crew as they tried to stop Vecna, a powerful new villain with ties to Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown). Vecna, once known as Henry Creel, was the first child experimented on by Dr. Brenner (Matthew Modine) in the Hawkins lab, but after Eleven defeated him as a child, he was sent to the Upside Down.
Season 4 of Stranger Things ended with Max in a coma. (Netflix)
At the beginning of the season, Vecna exacted his revenge with a string of teen murders, leading the gang to team up to defeat him. Mike (Finn Wolfhard), Max, Eleven, Will (Noah Schnapp), Dustin (Gaten Matarazzo), Lucas (Caleb McLaughlin), Steve (Joe Keery), Nancy (Natalia Dyer) and Robin (Maya Hawke) worked together across different locations and dimensions to stop Vecna, but unfortunately, it didn’t go quite as well as they hoped: In the season finale, Vecna’s still around, Max is in a coma and the Upside Down is starting to take over the real world.
When will Season 5 of Stranger Things drop?
The only thing we know for sure is that Stranger Things is headed to Netflix in 2025 — but we don’t know when, or if the season will drop in two parts, like the fourth season did. Production on the final season wrapped in December 2024.
How many episodes of Stranger Things are there? How long are they?
Stranger Things Season 5 will consist of eight episodes — and we already know their names. The final season of Stranger Things features eight episodes titled “The Crawl,” “The Vanishing of …,” “The Turnbow Trap,” “Sorcerer,” “Shock Jock,” “Escape from Camazotz,” “The Bridge” and “The Rightside Up.”
While we don’t know how long each Stranger Things episode will be, Wolfhard, who plays Mike, told Collider that while some episodes run closer to 45 minutes, we should expect others to be as long as a feature film. That checks out, given the longer runtime of Season 4’s episodes — including the finale, which clocked in at two hours and 24 minutes.
Sadie Sink as Max in Season 4 of Stranger Things. (Netflix)
Ross Duffer, who cocreated the series with his brother Matt Duffer, said at the Next on Netflix event in January that they spent a full year filming the season, and that, by the end, they had captured over 650 hours of footage. “So, needless to say, this is our biggest and most ambitious season yet,” he said. “It’s like eight blockbuster movies. It’s pretty, pretty insane.”
And Bower previously told Netflix that while Season 4 of the show was “big,” the show’s final season “definitely feels bigger.”
Who is returning?
Most of your favorites are confirmed to be back: Noah Schnapp as Will Byers, Millie Bobby Brown as Eleven, David Harbour as Jim Hopper, Winona Ryder as Joyce Byers, Cara Buono as Karen Wheeler, Joe Keery as Steve Harrington, Amybeth McNulty as Vickie, Charlie Heaton as Jonathan Byers, Brett Gelman as Murray Bauman, Maya Hawke as Robin Buckley, Natalia Dyer as Nancy Wheeler, Jamie Campbell Bower as Vecna/Henry Creel, Priah Ferguson as Erica Sinclair, Gaten Matarazzo as Dustin Henderson, Caleb McLaughlin as Lucas Sinclair, Finn Wolfhard as Mike Wheeler and Sadie Sink as Max Mayfield will all return for the fifth and final season of Stranger Things.
Are there any new characters?
Stranger Things is adding new cast members Nell Fisher, Jake Connelly and Alex Breaux to the show’s final season. And staying true to its pattern of casting ‘80s icons — like its star Winona Ryder and cast members like The Goonies star Sean Astin and Aliens’ Paul Reiser — the series has also cast The Terminator’s Linda Hamilton in a role that is still under wraps.
Do we know what the new season will be about? Is there a trailer?
There is no trailer yet, though the show did release a behind-the-scenes video from the filming of the upcoming season.
While no one is giving away any big spoilers at the moment, Matt Duffer revealed in a press release earlier this year that the new season has “no time for a ramp-up,” meaning it’s “going to be intense from beginning to end.”
And Ross noted that the new season will feel “familiar” to longtime fans of the series. “This season is the biggest it’s ever been in scale, but everyone’s back together in Hawkins, interacting the same way they were in Season 1.”
When will the season take place? Is there a time jump?
According to the official Stranger Things episode title announcement, Season 5 picks up in the fall of 1987, more than a year after Season 4, which unfolds in March of 1986.
But eagle-eyed fans noticed something quite interesting in footage of Harbour and Wolfhard filming Stranger Things in Atlanta, which is a stand-in for downtown Hawkins. On the set, there is reportedly a movie theater advertising Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade — a movie that came out in 1989, two years after the series picks up again. So it’s possible, though hardly confirmed, that we may see our characters throughout a wider time span than in previous seasons.
Are there any major theories for the final season?
One of the bigger theories heading into Season 5 involves the resurrection of metalhead Eddie, played by Joseph Quinn. Eddie was tragically swarmed by demobats in Season 4, leading to his demise — but some think his manner of death is a clue that he could return in a new form. It all has to do with the Dungeons & Dragons story of Kas the Bloody-Handed, a warrior who was killed by Vecna and later resurrected as a bloodsucker. So far, though, Quinn has not confirmed a return to the Netflix series … but if this is the case, it’s not like he would ruin the surprise.
Jamie Campbell Bower as the villain Vecna in Stranger Things. (Netflix)
Another theory points to how Stranger Things might end — and it’s pretty depressing for Eleven. One theory popular with fans is that Eleven will take Vecna’s place as the ruler of the Upside Down, but instead of it being a dark, gloomy hellscape, she’ll use her psychic abilities to create a paradise. That means, of course, she’ll leave dad Hopper and boyfriend Mike in the real world … unless they can vacation there on school breaks?!
I miss Stranger Things. What can I do until Season 5 drops?
You can learn more about Vecna’s backstory in the special-effects-heavy stage show Stranger Things: The First Shadow, which began its run in London’s West End before setting up shop on Broadway as well. While there’s no Eleven, Mike or any of the other Hawkins teens, the play does take audiences back to the small Indiana town circa 1959, when Hopper and Joyce were in high school.
