Stranger Things: The Final Season
After seven years, the beloved sci-fi series, Stranger Things, is readying to say goodbye. On November 6, 2023, what better way to mark the notable date in the world of the Upside Down than by cataloging everything we know about the final season?
When the show hit Netflix in July 2016, it became an unexpected cultural phenomenon. The stars, many of whom landed their first major roles with this show, were barely preteens, and the draw for many was Winona Ryder.
Since then, however, Stranger Things has broken several Netflix records. Season four of the now-hit series set a Nielsen record for the most watched show ever at the time, racking up more than 7 billion minutes of viewing time in a single week. It was also the most streamed series of the entire year.
When the show, created by Matt and Ross Duffer, announced its fifth season would be the last, fans were overcome with a sense of sadness, though it wasn’t unexpected. After all, the once-child stars are now well into their late teens and early 20s.
“Seven years ago, we planned out the complete story arc for Stranger Things,” the Duffer brothers wrote in an open letter to fans in February 2022, noting that the show was coming to an end. “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 four of the hit series, which was split into a two-part release, revealed that every villain taken on by the Hawkins crew — played by Millie Bobby Brown, Finn Wolfhard, Noah Schnapp, Gaten Matarazzo, Caleb McLaughlin, Priah Ferguson, Natalia Dyer, Charlie Heaton, Maya Hawke, Joe Keery, David Harbour, Winona Ryder and Brett Gelman — stemmed from one Big Bad: Henry Creel (Jamie Campbell Bower), also known as “001” and “Vecna.”
The final season of Stranger Things was originally set to begin production in the summer of 2023, but the dual writers and actors strikes delayed production. The Duffer brothers closed down the show’s writers room on May 6, at the start of the WGA strike. When that strike ended, the co-showrunners announced they were back in business.
On January 8, 2024, several months after this story first published, Netflix announced that the final season had officially gone into production. By now — September 2024 — production is past the halfway point.
Below, The Hollywood Reporter breaks down everything there is to know (so far) about Stranger Things’ fifth and final season — from new and returning cast members to what chaos Vecna might bring to Hawkins in its last run.
When Will ‘Stranger Things’ Season 5 Be Released?
Back in February 2022, ahead of season four of Stranger Things dropping on Netflix, the Duffer brothers announced that the upcoming installment would be the penultimate, and season five would be the last of the show. They wrote an open letter explaining that when they began the story seven years prior, they pictured it running for four or five seasons.
“With nine scripts, over 800 pages, almost two years of filming, thousands of visual effects shots and a runtime nearly twice the length of any previous season, Stranger Things 4 was the most challenging season yet but also the most rewarding one,” the Duffer brothers wrote, noting it was “the beginning of the end.”
The letter continued, “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.”
Had the Duffers wanted to continue the show, they may have hit some walls with the actors. Brown, Keery and Harbour, among others, have all expressed being ready to say goodbye to the series, despite having a lot of love for it and their fellow stars.
But, the world of the Upside Down isn’t ending at Netflix.
In July 2022, the Duffer brothers revealed plans for a spinoff series — the details of which are being kept under wraps — along with an animated series set in the same world. It was one of five projects the siblings announced as part of their overall deal with Netflix, including a stage play set within the world of Stranger Things.
Stranger Things: The First Shadow has since arrived on London’s West End (and, soon, Broadway) with a three-hour, effects-driven stage spectacle spinning a new origin story for the nefarious Vecna.
What do you think about the final season of Stranger Things? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
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