Stranger Things season 5
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Get ready, Hawkins. The final chapter of Stranger Things is coming. Stranger Things 5, the fifth and final season of the American science fiction horror drama, will arrive on Netflix. Eight episodes, released in three parts: Volume 1 on November 26th, Volume 2 on December 25th, and the grand finale on December 31st, 2025. Produced by the Duffer Brothers, Shawn Levy, and Dan Cohen, this season brings back your favorites: Winona Ryder, David Harbour, Finn Wolfhard, Millie Bobby Brown, Gaten Matarazzo, Caleb McLaughlin, Noah Schnapp, Sadie Sink, Natalia Dyer, Charlie Heaton, Joe Keery, Maya Hawke, Priah Ferguson, Brett Gelman, Cara Buono, and Jamie Campbell Bower. They're joined by Amybeth McNulty, stepping up to the main cast, and the legendary Linda Hamilton.
A year after the chaos of season four, in the fall of 1987, the fight for Hawkins continues. The rifts have opened, and the group is on a mission to find and defeat Vecna. But the military has arrived, hunting Eleven, complicating everything. As the anniversary of Will Byers' disappearance looms, one last, desperate battle against a deadly threat awaits.
The cast returns with Winona Ryder as Joyce Byers, David Harbour as Jim Hopper, Millie Bobby Brown as Eleven, Finn Wolfhard as Mike Wheeler, Gaten Matarazzo as Dustin Henderson, Caleb McLaughlin as Lucas Sinclair, Noah Schnapp as Will Byers, Sadie Sink as Max Mayfield, Natalia Dyer as Nancy Wheeler, Charlie Heaton as Jonathan Byers, Joe Keery as Steve Harrington, Maya Hawke as Robin Buckley, Brett Gelman as Murray Bauman, and Priah Ferguson as Erica Sinclair. Also starring are Jamie Campbell Bower as Vecna, Cara Buono as Karen Wheeler, Linda Hamilton as Dr. Kay, and Amybeth McNulty as Vickie.
The journey began with a letter from creators Matt and Ross Duffer, hinting at a fifth and final season back in 2022. Despite initial plans for a shorter run, the world of Stranger Things proved too compelling to end. Due to the pandemic, the Duffer Brothers were able to meticulously outline season five before season four even began shooting, later refining their plans based on feedback. Directorial duties will include Dan Trachtenberg, executive producer Shawn Levy, and even a return from retirement for Frank Darabont.
Writing for the final season kicked off in August 2022, with the first episode, "Chapter One: The Crawl," penned by the Duffer Brothers. Some ideas from season two have found their way into this concluding chapter. The tone? Imagine season one and four had a baby, then injected it with steroids. Despite a pause due to the writers' strike, writing resumed with urgency, as the cast, though still young, can't stay teenagers forever. By October 2023, writing was over halfway complete. Ross Duffer has described the first episode as the most "eventful" in the series, with the second featuring their "craziest cold open" yet. Mike Wheeler will step back into a leadership role, more confident and mature. The truth about the Upside Down will be revealed, and the main characters' stories will reach their definitive conclusion, alongside the fate of Vecna and his monstrous creations. A military quarantine adds another layer of conflict, with Linda Hamilton's Dr. Kay leading the charge to capture Eleven. The finale aims to avoid the reception of other major series endings, with the cast expressing confidence in its special nature.
The cast is back in full force, with the exciting addition of Linda Hamilton. Amybeth McNulty returns as Vickie, and new faces like Nell Fisher, Jake Connelly, and Alex Breaux join the fray. Filming began in January 2024, with Millie Bobby Brown stating nine months of shooting remained. Maya Hawke described the season as "basically eight movies," with incredibly long episodes. Filming wrapped on December 20, 2024, with the final shot being a lone lunchbox. This season will also feature new filming techniques, including first-person "demo-vision."
Post-production is already underway, with visual effects ahead of schedule. The editing process is complete, and each episode reportedly cost between $50 to $60 million, making for a staggering overall budget.
Marketing is ramping up. A missing poster for Eleven was released, followed by new footage and the official release dates during Tudum. The first promotional poster dropped in July, accompanied by a teaser trailer featuring Deep Purple's "Child in Time," and a striking new look for Vecna.
Prepare for the epic conclusion. Stranger Things 5 arrives in three parts: November 26, 2025, December 25, 2025, and the series finale on December 31, 2025. The series finale will also have a limited theatrical release in the US and Canada until January 1, 2026. This is the end of an era.
The fifth and final season of the American science fiction horror drama television series Stranger Things, marketed as Stranger Things 5, will be released on the streaming service Netflix. The season, which will consist of eight episodes, is set to be released in three parts, with two volumes on November 26 and December 25, 2025, and the finale on December 31. The season will be produced by the show's creators, the Duffer Brothers, along with Shawn Levy and Dan Cohen.
Returning as series regulars are Winona Ryder, David Harbour, Finn Wolfhard, Millie Bobby Brown, Gaten Matarazzo, Caleb McLaughlin, Noah Schnapp, Sadie Sink, Natalia Dyer, Charlie Heaton, Joe Keery, Maya Hawke, Priah Ferguson, Brett Gelman, Cara Buono, and Jamie Campbell Bower. They are joined by Amybeth McNulty, who is promoted to the main cast after appearing as a guest in the previous season, and newcomer Linda Hamilton.
== Premise ==
A year after the events of the fourth season, in the fall of 1987, the group seeks to find and kill Vecna after the Rifts opened in Hawkins. The mission becomes complicated when the military arrives in Hawkins and begins hunting Eleven. As the anniversary of Will Byers' disappearance approaches, the group must fight one last time against a deadly threat.
== Cast and characters ==
=== Main ===
Winona Ryder as Joyce Byers
David Harbour as Jim Hopper
Millie Bobby Brown as Eleven / Jane Hopper
Finn Wolfhard as Mike Wheeler
Gaten Matarazzo as Dustin Henderson
Caleb McLaughlin as Lucas Sinclair
Noah Schnapp as Will Byers
Sadie Sink as Max Mayfield
Natalia Dyer as Nancy Wheeler
Charlie Heaton as Jonathan Byers
Joe Keery as Steve Harrington
Maya Hawke as Robin Buckley
Brett Gelman as Murray Bauman
Priah Ferguson as Erica Sinclair
=== Also starring ===
Jamie Campbell Bower as Vecna / Henry Creel / One
Cara Buono as Karen Wheeler
Linda Hamilton as Dr. Kay
Amybeth McNulty as Vickie
=== Confirmed ===
Joe Chrest as Ted Wheeler
Nell Fisher as Holly Wheeler
Jake Connelly as Derek Turnbow
Alex Breaux as Lt. Akers
Sherman Augustus as Lt. Colonel Jack Sullivan
Clayton Royal Johnson as Andy
Hunter Romanillos as Chance
== Episodes ==
== Production ==
=== Development ===
On February 17, 2022, series creators Matt and Ross Duffer released an expansive letter about Stranger Things that included, amongst other revelations, the fourth season's two-part release schedule, their intention to produce a spinoff series set in the world of the show for Netflix, and the renewal of the series for a fifth and final season. The duo had originally indicated the show was planned to run for a maximum four seasons, but a fifth season run was later teased by producers in 2017.
As with seasons past, planning for the fifth and final season of Stranger Things began before the preceding season's release. However, due to disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the Duffers were able to completely outline the fifth season before the fourth had even begun shooting, which was a departure from their usual development cadence. They then revisited their outline and reworked the structure and events of season five based on feedback they received after the release of season four, even going so far as to alter the series' ending. In June 2023, it was announced that Dan Trachtenberg had been hired to direct an episode of the season. Executive producer Shawn Levy was confirmed to be directing at least one episode in the season by September 2023. Frank Darabont came out of retirement to direct two episodes, having been a huge fan of the series alongside his wife.
=== Writing ===
Writing for the fifth season began on August 2, 2022, about a month after the release of the fourth season's second volume. On November 6, 2022 (Stranger Things Day), it was announced that the first episode would be titled "Chapter One: The Crawl" and would be written by the Duffers. As noted by the Duffers in the WGFestival 2022, some unused ideas originally conceived for the second season were implemented in the fifth season's storylines. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic's effects on the entertainment industry, the Duffers had time to outline the fifth season before even the fourth season could be shot, edited and released, but once the fourth season was released, the Duffers received some feedback from both the fans and collaborators of the show, leading them to re-write some plans for the season, namely the series finale, and pitch them to Netflix, though they noted that most of their original plan stayed unchanged. The writers team described the tone of the season as if "season 1 and 4 had a baby" which was "injected with steroids". On May 6, 2023, the Duffers announced that writing for the season had been paused due to the 2023 Writers Guild of America strike. On September 27, the day the strike ended, the Twitter account of the Stranger Things writers' room posted an image stating "We're back", confirming that writing had resumed. Netflix reportedly would prioritize writing this script because Stranger Things was profitable and because the actors, though still young, could not continue to portray teenagers forever. On October 14, 2023, it was revealed that writing was over halfway done. The Duffer Brothers mentioned the ease of writing the split in parts of the season as opposed to the split that was "necessitated" in the fourth season due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
In August 2025, Ross mentioned that the first episode is the most "eventful" of the entire series along with the series premiere and that the second has the "craziest cold open" they have done. With Variety, Matt revealed that we would see Mike Wheeler "became the leader again" but in a more "confident" and "mature" version than the one from the first season. The season will reveal the truth and what the Upside Down really is. It will also mark the end of the main characters' stories, with the final part of the series finale providing a time to wrap up their stories, Vecna, and the creatures of the Upside Down (Demogorgons, the Mind Flayer, and Demobats). The military gains weight in the season establishing a military quarantine to try to cover the "portal disaster" and assigning a team, known as "The Wolf Pack" and led by Linda Hamilton's scientist Dr. Kay, to capture Eleven. Wolfhard said that one of the concerns was the finale and that it wouldn't be and have a reception like the one of Game of Thrones, referring to "The Iron Throne", but when they read the script for the episode they knew that "it was something special".
=== Casting ===
The fifth season features the return of Winona Ryder, David Harbour, Finn Wolfhard, Millie Bobby Brown, Gaten Matarazzo, Caleb McLaughlin, Noah Schnapp, Sadie Sink, Natalia Dyer, Charlie Heaton, Joe Keery, Maya Hawke, Priah Ferguson, Brett Gelman, Cara Buono, and Jamie Campbell Bower. In June 2023, during Netflix's Tudum event, it was announced that Linda Hamilton would be joining the cast. Hamilton had contacted the Duffers via Zoom, providing her with information about the "shape" of her character, but not the story. When production began in January 2024, a set photo released by the team confirmed the return of Amybeth McNulty as Vickie. In July 2024, Nell Fisher, Jake Connelly, and Alex Breaux joined the cast. Amidst filming in mid-October 2024, a casting call was announced by Knight Edge Media for Jim Hopper's late daughter Sara, who was previously portrayed by Elle Graham in the first season, with indications she would similarly feature in flashback sequences with a requirement of the chosen actress to resemble Graham back then. In November 2024, Nell Fisher was confirmed to appear as Holly Wheeler.
=== Filming ===
Harbour originally expected to shoot his scenes as Jim Hopper for the season concurrently with those of his character Alexei Shostakov / Red Guardian for the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) film Thunderbolts* (2025), which was originally planned to be shot at the same time as the season in Atlanta. However, the 2023 Hollywood labor disputes caused both productions to be delayed. Because of this, the Duffers' initial agreement with Ryder upon joining the show back in mid-2015, that of letting her take a break from the series to reprise her role as Lydia Deetz in a possible Beetlejuice (1988) sequel that Tim Burton had been seriously planning since 2000, did not need to be granted as Ryder shot Beetlejuice Beetlejuice (2024) amid the disputes before filming on the season began. After a significant delay due to the disputes, production of the fifth season began on January 8, 2024. By March 2024, Brown stated that there had been nine months left of filming and that she had then read the script for six episodes. On June 27, Hawke revealed on the "Podcrushed" podcast that the season will consist of "basically eight movies", and that the episodes are "very long". On July 3, Ross Duffer revealed that production was halfway done. In October 2024, Wolfhard stated to People that they were "almost done shooting". Filming wrapped on December 20, 2024. The last shot recorded on set was a lunchbox that "didn't include any of the cast".
The Duffer brothers revealed that this season they have been able to try new types of ways to film scenes, such as first-person shots of the Demogorgon, the "demo-vision."
=== Post-production ===
In January 2025, the Duffers announced that post-production for the season was underway and that work on the visual effects was "ahead of schedule". In October, the Duffer Brothers revealed that the editing process of the season was already complete.
In October, it was reported each episode to have cost $50–60 million, reaching a budget of $400–480 million.
== Marketing ==
In January 2025, a missing poster for Eleven (displayed as Jane Hopper) was released. New footage from the season was released on May 31, 2025 during the celebration of Tudum alongside the release dates. On July 15, 2025, the first promotional poster was released.
A teaser trailer was released on July 16, 2025, featuring the song "Child in Time" by Deep Purple. Aya Tsintziras of Game Rant praised the emotional charge between the characters in the teaser. One of the most talked about aspects of the teaser was Vecna's redesign, which had a "thinner" and "spinier" appearance.
== Release ==
The season is set to be released in three parts: the first volume of four episodes will debut on November 26, 2025, followed by the second with three episodes on December 25, and the series finale on December 31.
The series finale will also be released on select theaters in the United States and Canada until January 1, 2026. It was previously reported that the finale wouldn't be released on theaters because a lot of people watched the series on Netflix and to give them "what they want". Despite initial pushback, it was reported that the plan to release the finale in theaters had been "in the works for some time," with Ross Duffer stating that it had been in the works for a year.
== Notes ==
== References ==
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