Talk about “leave them wanting more.” Stranger Things season 4 ended with the now iconic episode “The Piggyback,” also known as the greatest performance of Metallica’s “Master of Puppets” since Seattle 1989 (look it up on YouTube). Wrongfully demonized metalhead Eddie Munson (Joseph Quinn) has his moment of redemption as he shreds within the Upside Down to buy the gang enough time to save the life of Max (Sadie Sink) from the villainous Vecna (Jamie Campbell Bower).
The aftermath saw a lot more questions raised than answers. Will Max recover? Is Eddie really dead? Did Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown) defeat Vecna in their psychic duel or is he still a threat? And will Hawkins, Indiana be sucked into the Upside Down in its entirety? It was a monster (no pun intended) cliffhanger, and fans have been eagerly anticipating the inevitable season 5. Here’s what we know about Stranger Things season 5 so far.
This is the End
Way back in February 2022, a few months before the premiere of season 4, show creators Matt and Ross Duffer (aka The Duffer Brothers) hinted that they had no plans for Stranger Things to continue indefinitely, saying in an open letter to fans, “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 see for yourselves — we are now hurtling toward our finale. Season 4 will be the penultimate season; season 5 will be the last.” They then confirmed this earlier this year while accepting the Variety Showrunner Award at SCAD TVfest in Atlanta, Georgia and shooting down rumors of potential spin-offs. “This story, these characters’ stories, that’s done,” said Matt. “That whole story is coming to an end. There’s not like a Steve/Dustin spin-off or something like that.”
But There Are Still Big Reveals Ahead
Speaking to Netflix, the Duffers revealed that the studio asked them to put in writing the Upside Down’s massive mythology that had been previously living only in in their heads. The ensuing document ended up being 25 pages long, proving the Duffers have thought long and hard about the mysteries within the shadow world under our own. This exercise not only proved helpful to Netflix, it helped the Duffers as well, as the duo revealed during a panel at Netflix’s Geeked Week in 2022. “The last remaining questions that are answered in that document, we’ve punted a couple of those to have some big reveals in season 5,” said Ross. “And that’s really going to affect what season 5 is about.”
The Boys (and Girls) Are Back in Town
It’s not surprising perhaps that the entire OG gang is returning for the grand finale. This includes, of course, the “core 6”: Noah Schnapp as Will Byers, Millie Bobby Brown as Eleven, Finn Wolfhard as Mike Wheeler, Gaten Matarazzo as Dustin Henderson, Caleb McLaughlin as Lucas Sinclair, and Sadie Sink as Max Mayfield. It also includes David Harbour (Jim Hopper), Winona Ryder (Joyce Byers), Joe Keery (Steve Harrington), Natalia Dyer (Nancy Wheeler), Charlie Heaton (Jonathan Byers), Maya Hawke (Robin Buckley), Priah Ferguson (Erica Sinclair), Cara Buono (Karen Wheeler), Amybeth McNulty (Vickie), Brett Gelman (Murray Bauman), and Jamie Campbell Bower (Vecna/Henry Creel).
But what about season 4 breakout and internet boyfriend Eddie? In an interview with Entertainment Tonight last year, Joseph Quinn (soon to be seen as the Johnny Storm/the Human Torch in The Fantastic Four: First Steps) teased a possible return when he was told fans had “a feeling” he’d be back. “I might have that feeling, too,” he joked. “Or maybe I don’t! I don’t know. Who knows?”
There Will Be New — but Iconic — Faces, Too
Stranger Things has consistently paid tribute to its creative roots by casting icons from classic ’80s cinema, starting with Winona Ryder. But previous seasons have seen the likes of The Goonies star Sean Astin, Aliens star Paul Reiser, and Full Metal Jacket star Matthew Modine. Season 5 will add none other than The Terminator legend Linda Hamilton to the list in an undisclosed role.
Big Names Are Taking the Helm
Although Matt and Ross Duffer are still the main driving creative forces behind the series and will direct many episodes of season 5, they are bringing in some big (and iconic) names to help bring it all home — like they did with Nimrod Antal (Predators) for season 4 and Andrew Stanton (Wall-E) for season 2. Series producer Shawn Levy (Deadpool & Wolverine) will once again step behind the camera in season 5 for the episode “Escape from Camazotz,” where he will be joined by the legendary Frank Darabont (The Mist, The Shawshank Redemption), who will take “The Turnbow Trap” and “Shock Jock.”
Season 5 May Go Back to the Show’s Roots
During a Netflix press event in 2022, Ross Duffer revealed some details about season 5, including where it was drawing its inspiration. Duffer confirmed that it would be “a culmination” of all the previous seasons, and not so specifically focused as some of the others have been. “[Season] 3 is our big summer blockbuster season with big monsters, and [Season] 4 was the psychological horror. I think that what we’re trying to do is go back to the beginning a little bit, in sort of the tone of [Season 1].” As far as the scale of the action, however, Duffer did say season 5 would be on the larger side (like season 4).
The Episode Titles Have Been Revealed
The Duffer Brothers like to keep a lot of things under wraps, but they haven’t been shy about sharing episode titles in order to stoke fan curiosity and kick off a hundred thinkpieces about “what it all means.” The titles for all eight episodes (yes, only eight, but we’ll get to that in a minute) are out, so let’s go ahead and make with our own speculating:
- Episode 1: “The Crawl”
- Episode 2: “The Vanishing of…” — Clearly a reference to the title of the first episode of season 1, which started it all: “The Vanishing of Will Byers.” But who is the subject this time?
- Episode 3: “The Turnbow Trap” — Eagle-eyed fans have already noticed that “Turnbow Land Development and Realty” is on a ratty billboard visible in the Upside Down.
- Episode 4: “Sorcerer” — This could be a straightforward reference to a magician, which would fit the show’s Dungeons & Dragons theme, but it could also be a reference to the 1977 William Friedkin film of the same name about a group of diverse outcasts tasked with driving a truck filled with nitroglycerin-leaking dynamite across a perilous landscape.
- Episode 5: “Shock Jock”
- Episode 6: “Escape from Camazotz” — Camazotz is a giant bat-like creature from Mayan mythology, most often associated with night, death, and sacrifice. Wait — who sacrificed themselves at night to a swarm of bat creatures again? Is this The Munson Strikes Back episode?
- Episode 7: “The Bridge”
- Episode 8: “The Rightside Up” — Sounds like a potential happy ending, but we know better than that, right?
Season 5 Will Be Split into Three Parts
Much like season 4, Stranger Things season 5 will experiment with different run times for certain episodes, with some closer to 45 minutes/an hour and others, as Wolfhard said in an interview with Collider, “definitely film length.” Since season 4’s closer “The Piggyback” clocked in at over two hours, this is all to be expected. They have a lot to get to and a lot of potential loose ends to tie up.
This all makes even more sense when you consider that the final season will be unleashed in three parts: The first four episodes will drop on November 26, 2025 (the day before Thanksgiving in the US); episodes 5, 6, and 7 will premiere about a month later on Christmas Day; and the final episode — the one most likely to be “definitely film length” — will wrap everything up on New Year’s Eve.
Season 5 Was Influenced by… Broadway?
In 2023, one of the show’s writers, Kate Trefry, wrote a prequel play called Stranger Things: The First Shadow, which premiered in London’s West End before announcing it was coming to Broadway this spring. Taking place in 1959, the play focuses on the dark history of the Creel family. At the show’s premiere, the Duffer brothers revealed that the play was being written the same time as season 5, and while both projects were being workshopped, there was a lot of mutual inspiration going on, and elements from one will echo in the other.
Stranger Things: Season 5 – Part 1 premieres on Netflix on November 26, 2025, followed by Part 2 on December 25, 2025 and Part 3 on December 31, 2025.
