Stranger Things season 5: Release date, spoilers, cast, news and trailers

7 November 2022, 00:01

When does Stranger Things 5 come out? Creators Matt and Ross Duffer have now confirmed that season 5 will be the end of the Netflix series.

Stranger Things fans, it’s official – Stranger Things 5 has finally been confirmed as the final season of the Netflix series.

In a statement alongside the release date for Stranger Things 4, the show’s creators, the Duffer brothers, said: “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 towards our finale. Season 4 will be the penultimate season; season 5 will be the last.”

The latest news about Stranger Things 5?

• Stranger Things 5 episode 1 will be titled ‘The Crawl’.
• Writing on season 5 has officially begun, as of August 2nd.
• Filming will reportedly begin at some point in 2023, which means a 2024 release date is likely.
• Season 5’s storyline will also take place entirely in Hawkins, with Will Byers as the main focus.
• Season 5 will echo the vibe of season 1, but on a much bigger scale.
• Season 5 will reportedly feature no new characters, according to the Duffer brothers.

But when will it be released? What will in happen in season 5? And who will be returning to the cast? Look, we know it’s a loooong way off but, here’s everything we know about Stranger Things season 5 so far…

When does Stranger Things 5 come out on Netflix?

Will there be a Stranger Things 5?

Yes, Stranger Things 5 is happening – and it will be the final season.

In a new interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Ross Duffer previously said: “Season four won’t be the end. We know what the end is, and we know when it is. [The pandemic] has given us time to look ahead, figure out what is best for the show. Starting to fill that out gave us a better idea of how long we need to tell that story.”

It sounds like the Duffer brothers are confident that they can deliver another iconic season of the show, which is a really great sign considering how incredible season 4 was.

When will Stranger Things 5 be released?

Well, that all depends on when the season begins filming. In August 2022, the Duffer brothers confirmed that they have started writing season 5. And in a profile with British GQ, David Harbour hinted that filming is set to begin at some point in 2023.

There’s currently no confirmation on exactly when filming will begin on season 5, but hopefully it shouldn’t take as long as the wait for season 4.

In an interview with Variety, the Duffer brothers said: “Don’t hold us to it, but the gap should be quite a bit shorter this time, due to the fact that we already have an initial outline, and we can’t imagine there will be another six-month forced hiatus.”

Fans will likely have a better idea once production begins on season 5.

READ MORE: Stranger Things creators reveal their plans for season 5 made Netflix execs cry

Will there be a time jump in Stranger Things 5?

As any fan of Stranger Things will know, every season starts with a little bit of a time jump. The timeline jumped from November/December 1983 in season 1 to October 1984 in season 2, and then to July 1985 in season 3. Season 4 takes place in March 1986, eight months after the Battle of Starcourt.

But now it seems like the Duffer brothers might be considering another time-jump. Speaking to TVLine, they said a lengthy gap is almost unavoidable because of the ages of the younger actors: “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.”

What year will Stranger Things 5 be set in?

Each season of Stranger Things takes place one year later, but it remains to be seen whether season 5 will take place in 1987. With the Upside Down spreading fast in Hawkins, and the threat of Vecna becoming very very immediate, just how far forward in the timeline will they jump?

We’ll update this article as soon as we know more information.

If the show goes beyond March 1988 then it could coincide with the release of Beetlejuice which, of course, stars the real life superstar Winona Ryder.

READ MORE: Stranger Things 5 will feature a time jump

How many episodes will Stranger Things 5 have?

We’ll have to wait for confirmation about the length of season 5, but considering seasons 1 and 3 had 8 episodes, and seasons 2 and 4 had nine episodes, season 5 will likely be around the same length. It all depends on how much story the Duffer brothers want to tell in the final season.

The episode runtimes will likely be much shorter than season 4’s episodes, too – except for the series finale. The Duffer brothers have said the final episode of season 5 will last “at least two hours,” but not as long as the final episode of season 4.

In other interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Matt Duffer teased that the finale “will be pretty massive.”

What are the Stranger Things 5 episode titles?

Well, the finally have our first episode title for the final season. Announced on November 6th 2022 for Stranger Things Day, season 5 episode 1’s title was revealed to be: ‘The Crawl’.

Now, what the hell does that mean? Does it reference Vecna’s ‘crawl’ away from the Creel House after being shot out of the window by Nancy? Does it reference one of the characters ‘crawling’ into the Upside Down? Is it a reference to the lyrics of Metallica’s ‘Master of Puppets’? “Come crawling faster”?! EDDIE?!!

Will Stranger Things 5 be the final season?

Yes. Stranger Things season 5 will be the final season of the show, but it won’t be the end of the Stranger Things universe.

In statement discussing the future of the franchise and the season 4 release date, the Duffer brothers said: “There are still many more exciting stories to tell within the world of Stranger Things; new mysteries, new adventures, new unexpected heroes.”

In an interview with Collider, David Harbour also said that season 4 lays the groundwork for the ending of the show: “We’re introducing new stuff, but we’re also tightening and wrapping up in a certain direction. To make it have a clear, clean, specific, and definite ending at some point, which I can’t really talk about.”

Producer Shawn Levy also told Collider in a separate interview that he and the Duffer brothers have the end in sight: “There is a plan and that too will be shared not quite as soon as a sense of when season four is coming out, but soon enough.”

He continued: “I can say this. No one’s making it up as we go along and there is an endgame, if you will.”

WARNING: SPOILER AHEAD FOR STRANGER THINGS 4’S ENDING!

What will happen in Stranger Things 5?

Now that the final two episodes of season 4 have been released, we finally have some idea as to what might happen in season 5.

Viewers have now learned about Vecna, his history, his origins and his connection to Eleven. And now that we know he’s still looming over Hawkins thanks to Will’s senses, season 5 will obviously continue that storyline.

In an interview with Variety, the Duffer brothers also teased that the remaining mysteries of the Upside Down will be the main focus of season 5 – including the significance of the Upside Down being stuck on the date that was Will was taken back in 1983.

“We don’t actually resolve that this season but it plays that moment where they realise it’s frozen in time,” they said. “It’s a huge part of season 5 and so, we just wanted to just put it out there, and get people talking about it and thinking about it.”

At the end of season 4, Hawkins has been torn into pieces by Vecna and it’s now home to a huge gateway between the real world and the Upside Down. The Upside Down now appears to be spreading throughout Hawkins, as we see in the final scene where Eleven walks out into the field by Hopper’s cabin to find the grass and flowers dying.

Teasing season 5 on the Happy Sad Confused podcast, Matt and Ross Duffer revealed that there will be none of the usual character set up we’ve grown accustomed to over the past seasons: “It’s gonna be moving – I don’t know if it’s gonna be going 100 miles an hour at the start of 5 – but it’s gonna be moving pretty fast. Characters are already going to be in action, they’re already gonna have a goal and a drive.”

Season 5 will also take place in Hawkins, echoing the vibe of season 1 but on a much bigger scale.

“It’s going to feel a lot larger in scale than season 1, but we wanna go back to a lot of things we did in season 1, a lot of original groupings and parings – there’s something nice about coming full scale,” the brothers teased. “It’s gonna feel bigger than season 1, much more massive in terms of the stakes and the scale, but we wanna revisit a lot of things we did in season 1.”

READ MORE: Stranger Things 5 will focus on Will and Vecna will return as the villain

Elsewhere, season 5 will likely delve into what actually happened to Max. Max was killed by Vecna in the season 4 finale, but she came back to life and is now in a coma. Eleven appeared to have revived her using her happy memories, but the season ended before that was explained.

The Duffer brothers have now revealed that the fact that Max is in a coma will be “incredibly relevant” to season 5’s storyline.

“Season 5, and the fact that she’s in the coma…I can’t really get into the details but it is important that she is,” Matt Duffer teased. “And that is going to have a major effect on 5. It’s not a ‘cheat’, it’s incredibly relevant to 5.”

Stranger Things 5 cast: Who will return?

Let’s start with the good news, shall we? The returning cast members for Stranger Things 5 include: Millie Bobby Brown (Eleven), Finn Wolfhard (Mike), Noah Schnapp (Will), Gaten Matarazzo (Dustin), Caleb McLaughlin (Lucas), Priya Ferguson (Erica), Joe Keery (Steve), Natalia Dyer (Nancy), Charlie Heaton (Jonathan) and Maya Hawke (Robin).

Seeing as Max is in a coma, Sadie Sink will also likely return but who knows in what capacity. We’ll have to wait and see what happens with her storyline.

And of course, Winona Ryder and David Harbour will be back in business as Mom and Dad, a.k.a. Joyce and Hopper, who are now (finally) together.

Brett Gelman (Murray) and Cara Buono (Karen Wheeler) will hopefully return. And while his whereabouts are currently unknown, it’s possible that we could see Paul Reiser’s Dr. Owens again. Seeing as they didn’t die, we could also see the return of Tom Wlaschiha’s Dmitri and Nikola Đuričko’s Yuri, too.

Basically, anyone who didn’t die could return in season 5. And to be honest, anyone who is dead could also pop back up in flashbacks or Vecna’s visions.

The Duffer brothers have also explained that they’re trying not to add anymore new characters to season 5. Explaining why to IndieWire, they said: “We’re doing our best to resist [adding new characters] for Season 5. We’re trying not to do that so we can focus on the OG characters, I guess.”

READ MORE: Stranger Things creators confirm Max is now braindead and blind

Will Eddie Munson be in Stranger Things 5?

Despite his definitive death in season 4, fans are desperate to see Joseph Quinn’s Eddie Munson somehow return in season 5.

As previously mentioned, Eddie could realistically pop up in flashbacks using footage from season 4. But with Vecna still on the loose, there’s also possibility that Dustin’s traumatic visions could conjure up an undead version of Eddie, much like Billy in Max’s vision. But that’s all speculation at the moment, of course.

As for the elaborate theory about Eddie returning as Kas the Bloody Handed? For now, it remains a theory. A good one, but still just a theory.

Will Vecna be in Stranger Things 5?

Yes, Jamie Campbell Bower will be back in business as the Upside Down villain. At the end of season 5, Nancy shot a burning Vecna out of the window at the Creel House and viewers saw him lying on the ground. We later found out that he had disappeared.

In an interview with NME, Jamie teased his return: “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 fucking pushed the buttons now, that classic Jason Voorhees thing – you’ve made a big mistake.”

Although he doesn’t know what season 5 has in store yet, Jamie also teased: “I think Vecna and Will have a connection that’s yet to be explored.”

Read more about Stranger Things 5 here: