Season 4 of Stranger Things was the first to air in two parts, and although the wait between the two was short, it was just the right length to give us time to catch our breath and prepare for a heart-stopping final stretch, made up of just two episodes but almost four hours long. An epic finale with revelations, deaths, and mysteries that must be resolved in the fifth season will be the one that puts the finishing touch on the series created by the Duffer brothers.
All good things must come to an end, and so will strange things. The series first premiered in the summer of 2016 and will end with the airing of season 5, which has no official release date yet but is expected to air sometime in 2025, mainly due to the writers strike.
Take note below of everything we know about the final installment of the successful Netflix series.
Stranger Things season 5 release date
There is still no official date for the release of season 5 of Stranger Things.
After the long wait between the third and fourth seasons, everything pointed to the fifth not being extended in time and that it could be released sometime in 2024, but it was finally affected by the US writers’ strike, as confirmed at the time by Duffer themselves: “Writing doesn’t stop when filming starts. While we are excited to begin production with our incredible cast and crew, that is not possible during this strike. We hope that a fair agreement can be reached soon so that we can all get back to work. Until then, over and out.”
For now, the good news is that filming for the fifth season has already begun; it did so in January 2024, and the creators, protagonists, and other members of the team have already shared several images from the set on their social networks.
If all goes well, Stranger Things season 5 is set to premiere sometime in 2025.
Who comes back and who doesn’t?
The last installment left a few deaths, leaving room for speculation about who may and may not return in Season 5. Eddie (Joseph Quinn) is the only one of the cast to die in Upside Down, so he won’t be back for the final battle against Vecna. It also seems unlikely we’ll see Dr. Brenner (Matthew Modine), who returned to help Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown) regain her powers but is killed by the military in Season 4.
Those who will return are the main cast of protagonists—Eleven, Mike, Dustin, Will, Max, Lucas, Nancy, Jonathan, Robyn, Steve, and, of course, Joyce and Hopper—along with Argyle (Edvardo Franco) and Vecna himself (Jamie Campbell Bower), since Will (Noah Schnapp) reveals that he is still alive but seriously injured, and that when he recovers, he will do whatever it takes to finish them all off.
There are also new additions: as announced at the 2023 TUDUM event, Linda Hamilton, an 80s icon for her role as Sarah Connor in Terminator, will be part of the final season, although nothing has been revealed about her role.
What date will season 5 be set?
It was straightforward to think, given the intensity with which season 4 ended, that the series might pick up immediately afterward in its next installment. However, as in previous installments, the team has made use of a time jump to justify the physical changes of its characters. It has been reported that the team has requested vintage cars from 1988, which would imply that season 5 could take place two years after the previous one ended.
What will the final season be about?
If you cried with Stranger Things Season 4 Volume 2, get your tissues ready for this final installment. It will be a final battle against Vecna in Hawkins itself, as we saw in the finale, where a huge portal to the Upside Down has opened in the city and is already starting to wreak havoc on it.
Upon returning to Hawkins, Mike could sense that Vecna was injured but still alive, and he warned Mike that he would never stop until he was done with everything and that the only option was to kill him. Additionally, in an interview with Collider, the creators revealed that Will would be the “main focus” of season 5, as the final episodes “return to season one,” in which Will was trapped in the Upside Down.
“Season 5 is going to hit the gas from the opening scene,” Ross Duffer told The Wrap. “I saw executives cry like I’d never seen before, and it was crazy.”
Who will survive? We’ll have to wait until the film’s premiere to find out.
Possible spin-offs after the end of the series
Although Stranger Things season 5 is the last, the Duffer brothers have already explained that it will not be the end of the series, as they are going to prepare new spin-offs:
This is what the official statement announcing the end of the series read. But Ross Duffer has also confirmed in an interview with Variety that another story is already being developed in parallel to season 5:
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