Here’s everything you need to know about Stranger Things Season 5, including its expected release date, plot, cast, trailer, and other updates:
Did Netflix already confirm Stranger Things Season 5?
Yes! The Duffer brothers, the creators of Stranger Things, have already confirmed that Season 5 is coming. They officially confirmed this news, in an open letter to fans published via Netflix in February 2022. However, they also announced that Season 5 will be the show’s final season. Ahead of Season 4’s release, the Duffer brothers wrote: “Seven years ago, we planned out the complete story arc for Stranger Things. At the time, we predicted the story would last four to five seasons. It proved too large to tell in four, but – as you’ll soon see for yourselves – we are now hurtling toward our finale. Season 4 will be the penultimate season; season 5 will be the last.” Executive producer Shawn Levy already explained why the show will end with the fifth season. Speaking to ScreenRant, he explained: At this point, it’s still unclear whether Stranger Things Season 5 will be split into two or more volumes, but we will let you know once Netflix officially announces its plans for the final season. Netflix also appeared to hint towards the show’s final season with an upside-down sign that reads: “Every ending has a beginning.”
When is Stranger Things Season 5 coming to Netflix?
Netflix already released Stranger Things Season 4 Volume 2 on July 1, 2022, but fans will have to wait longer for Season 5 to arrive. Filming on the fourth season wrapped around September 2021, with the show returning in late May 2022 - around eight months later. Depending on when the production of Season 5 begins and finishes, it’s likely that it will be released in 2024, at the earliest. In November 2022, Collider’s Steven Weintraub pointed out that the final season of Stranger Things is scheduled to film next year in Atlanta, Georgia, which means that the earliest it will arrive on the streaming service is 2024. Let’s consider that the show requires a lot of special effects, so post-production could take longer, especially for the final season. It’s probably going to be as huge or longer than Season 4, so it wouldn’t be surprising if Stranger Things Season 5 arrives on Netflix in 2024 or later. We can estimate when the final season will be released by looking back at the gap between release dates for the first four seasons.
Season 1 – July 15, 2016Season 2 – October 27, 2017 (15.5 months later)Season 3 – July 4, 2019 (20 months later)Season 4 – May 27, 2022 (35 months later)
That’s an average of about 23.5 months in between seasons, but that also includes a three-year pandemic gap. Still, even star David Harbour said that he expects the final season to release in 2024, which is where 23.5 months would put it. That would be around May-June 2024, two years after the release of Season 4. The good news is that Ross Duffer already revealed when they will start writing the final season. “We’re going to take a little vacation in July,” Ross Duffer told Steve Weintraub of Collider, “And then we’re going to come back. I know that the writer’s room is going to start in that first week of August.” In early August 2022, the official Twitter account for the Stranger Things writing staff shared a photo of a whiteboard with the fifth and final season’s log The official Twitter account for Stranger Things’ writing staff took to Twitter to share a photo of a whiteboard with the final season’s logo emblazoned on it.
As expected, Stranger Things Season 5 is not expected to arrive this month, according to Netflix’s list of films and TV shows coming in November 2022.
Is there already a trailer for Stranger Things Season 5?
Not yet. Since production for Stranger Things Season 5 is far from over, don’t expect a trailer for the final season to arrive anytime soon. For now, you can watch the official blooper reel for Stranger Things Season 4. Netflix released this video at their Tudum virtual event in late September 2022:
What is the plot of Stranger Things Season 5?
At this point, Netflix hasn’t released a lot of plot details about Stranger Things Season 5, but since we already know that it’s the final season, expect the final episodes to wrap up the story of Eleven and her friends from Hawkins, Indiana. “We learn a lot every time we make a [season],” Matt Duffer said during an interview with TVLine. “We’ve learned a lot just working with all of our new actors and the ones that we’ve worked with for a long time over this year [making season 4], so I’m sure it’ll change a little bit from that outline.” He added, “I’m sure we will do a time jump. Ideally, we’d have shot [seasons 4 and 5] back to back, but there was just no feasible way to do that. So these are all discussions we’re going to have with our writers when we start the room up. Believe it or not, we’re still working on season 4. We’re trying to finish the final two episodes, they’re so massive.” During an interview with Variety, the Duffer brothers revealed that the Upside-Down’s frozen time and its significance will play a role in Season 5. You can listen to their answer at around 23:14 time stamp, which is embedded below:
So, it looks like the origins of the Upside-Down will be explored in the final season. Previously, the Duffer brothers also teased, “more exciting stories” to come from the Stranger Things universe, so expect a Stranger Things spin-off in the future. When they announced Season 5, they said, “There are still many more exciting stories to tell within the world of Stranger Things; new mysteries, new adventures, new unexpected heroes. But first we hope that you stay with us as we finish this tale of a powerful girl named Eleven and her brave friends, of a broken police chief and a ferocious mom, of a small town called Hawkins and an alternate dimension known only as the Upside Down.” They went on to tell Variety that the Stranger Things spin-off will be “different than anyone is expecting”. The Duffer brothers also teased the finale of the show’s final season, telling SFX, “We know what the ending is.” Matt Duffer added, “It’s conceivable that it changes but I think it’s unlikely because it’s one of those endings that just feels, and has always felt, right. And it also feels sort of inevitable. Then when you come up with it, you’re like, ‘oh yeah well, that is absolutely what is has to be.’” During an interview with Empire Magazine, Matt revealed that he and his brother didn’t intend to “reset” the show in the final season. “As we move into Season 5, we won’t have to do that. There won’t be a reset from where we finish this season.” Speaking to Collider, the Duffer brothers teased that the final season will be “coming full circle” with more moments of the Byers brothers as well as resolving Nancy’s relationship with Jonathan.
Speaking to TVLine, Ross Duffer explained that Nancy’s perspective on Steve has surely changed now that she’s seen how mature he’s become.
As for Will Byers, actor Noah Schnapp confirmed his character’s sexuality, and also talks about Will’s crush on his best friend Mike (Finn Wolfhard). Speaking to Variety, Noah said: So expect Will to express his feelings for Mike in the final season of Stranger Things. On Aug. 25, Jamie Campbell Bower said that Vecna is “out for blood” in Season 5. Speaking to NME, he said, “He’s pissed, he’s properly vexed. I don’t think he’s slunk off licking his wounds in misery. He’s rebuilding, and he’s out for blood. It’s like, you’ve really f-cking pushed the buttons now, that classic Jason Voorhees thing – you’ve made a big mistake.” In November 2022, the Duffer Brothers were asked, during a Sunday night panel at Netflix’s Tudum Theater in Los Angeles, if there are new ’80s pop culture influences that will shape the final season. “[Season] 5, the way we see it, is kind of a culmination of all the seasons, so it’s got a little bit from each,” Ross said (via Deadline). “I think that what we’re trying to do is go back to the beginning a little bit, in sort of the tone of 1. But also scale-wise, it’s more aligned with what 4 is. So, hopefully, it’s got a little bit of everything.”
Who are the cast of Stranger Things Season 5?
Depending on who lives and who dies by the end of Stranger Things Season 4 Volume 2, we can expect our favorite characters to return to our screens for the final season. If they’re alive and well, expect Season 5 to feature the return of Millie Bobby Brown (Eleven), Finn Wolfhard (Mike), Gaten Matarazzo (Dustin), Noah Schnapp (Will), Caleb McLaughlin (Lucas), Priah Ferguson (Erica), Joe Keery (Steve), Winona Ryder (Joyce), and Hopper (David Harbour). Sadie Sink (Max) will likely return after her character technically died. Although it’s still unclear if Max will wake up from her coma after being killed by Vecna, Eleven was able to revive her. Joseph Quinn, who played Eddie Munson in Season 4, is not expected to return since his character died in the finale. When executive producer Shawn Levy was asked about the possibility of Eddie’s return during a brief interview with The Hollywood Reporter, he said, “Oh boy, a lot of people - a lot of people - can’t even handle the thought of a Season 5 without some excuse for Eddie presence. Highly unlikely. Highly unlikely. But we hear you, world. We know. You’re obsessed with Eddie. So were we.” As for newcomers, Netflix hasn’t announced any new cast members joining Stranger Things Season 5 yet.
Will Stranger Things Season 5 be longer than Season 4?
The Duffer brothers already confirmed that Season 5 will be slightly shorter than the fourth season. During an interview with The Wrap, the Duffer brothers teased that Season 5 won’t be as lengthy as the fourth season, which clocks in at about 13 hours long. “I don’t think it’ll be as long,” Matt Duffer revealed. “The final few is going to be more like a Return of the Jedi in that … they’re going from the beginning. There’s going to be less ramp up. And I think people will understand what I’m talking about when they see the end of this season. It’s like, we’re just going.” During an interview with Josh Horowitz on the Happy Sad Confused podcast, the Duffer brothers explained why they don’t expect Season 5 of Stranger Things to quite as long as Season 4’s 13-hour runtime as there won’t be much of a ramp-up in this time around “before our kids really get drawn into the supernatural mystery.” “The only reason we don’t expect [Season 5] to be as long is because, this season, if you look at it, it’s almost a two-hour ramp-up before our kids really get drawn into the supernatural mystery," Matt Duffer said. “You get to know them, you get to see them in their lives, all while they’re struggling with adapting to high school and so forth … Steve’s trying to find a date. All of that. “None of that, obviously, is going to be occurring in the first two episodes of this. I mean, this is, for the first time ever, we don’t wrap things up at the end of 4. So, it’s going to be moving, I don’t know if it will be moving at 100 mph at the start of Season 5, but it’s going to be moving pretty fast. Characters are already going to be in action, they’re already going to have a goal and a drive, and I think that’s going to carve out at least a couple of hours and make So, expect Season 5 to have less than nine episodes, or to have a shorter runtime than Season 4. The Duffer brothers also confirmed that the last episode of the series will be a grand two-hour long finale. Stranger Things co-creator Matt Duffer confirmed that Season 5 will ditch unconventional runtimes. “I don’t think the run times will be as extreme in Season 5,” Matt Duffer told The Hollywood Reporter. “We’re trying to return to the simplicity of the structure in season one, with bigger scale and scope. Except for the finale, which I’m expecting will be pretty massive.” On Aug. 25, 2022, the writing team’s Twitter account shared the early stages of developing the final season, which reveals eight episodes being planned, potentially confirming that the goal is for Season 5 to consist of eight installments. However, note that they’re still in the early stages of development, so plans could still change.
What are the titles of the Stranger Things Season 5 episodes?
On Nov. 6, 2022, the official Stranger Things Twitter account revealed that the title of the first episode of Season 5 is The Crawl. The tweet also revealed a photo of the script for the first episode, which was written by The Duffer Brothers. The tease comes as part of the Stranger Things Day celebration.
Unfortunately, fans will have to wait for the other episode titles to be revealed, but we’ll update you here once they’re officially announced.
Are there any plans for Stranger Things after Season 5?
In July 2022, Matt and Ross Duffer launched a new label with Netflix called Upside Down Pictures, and several exciting projects are already confirmed, including the untitled Stranger Things spin-off, a new stage play set within the world and mythology of Stranger Things, and a new Death Note live-action TV series among a few others. If you want to find out more details, you can read everything we know about the the Stranger Things spinoff. Netflix’s Tudum 2022 virtual event lineup also includes Stranger Things, so we might get an update for the final season or the spinoff series on Sept. 24. (Note that we will update this article when more information about Stranger Things Season 5 comes out).
