The fifth and final season of the American science fictionhorrordrama television series Stranger Things, marketed as Stranger Things 5, was released on the streaming service Netflix in three parts. Consisting of eight episodes in total, the first two volumes premiered on November 26 and December 25, 2025, respectively, with the finale released on December 31. It was produced by the show's creators, the Duffer Brothers, along with Shawn Levy and Dan Cohen.
After the events of the fourth season, in the fall of 1987, the group seeks to find and kill Vecna following the opening of rifts throughout Hawkins. Their mission becomes more complicated when the military establishes a quarantine in town and begins hunting Eleven. As the anniversary of Will Byers' disappearance approaches, the group must unite for a final battle against a new deadly threat.
While hiding in the Upside Down in 1983,[b]Will is caught by Vecna and infected by a tentacle. In 1987, 19 months after the Rifts incident,[c] a contingent of the US military, led by Dr. Kay and Lt. Robert Akers, have placed Hawkins under quarantine and created a base camp within the Upside Down while still on the hunt for Eleven, who trains in hiding with Hopper and Joyce. Will, Lucas, and Mike lay low, though Dustin provokes the school basketball team by continuing to honor Eddie. Steve, Robin, Jonathan, and Nancy work at WSQK, a local radio station, where they relay coded messages to the group about opportunities to sneak Hopper into the Upside Down, that they call "crawls", to find Vecna's hideout. Dustin is viciously beaten at Eddie's grave, causing him to miss the next crawl, which goes awry when a Demogorgon attacks a military caravan, forcing Hopper to take shelter within the Upside Down. Will telepathically witnesses the attack and sees the Demogorgon head towards the Wheeler residence just as it tears open a gate in the bedroom of Mike and Nancy's younger sister Holly.
The Demogorgon attacks and severely injures Mike and Nancy's parents, Karen and Ted, before disappearing with Holly to the Upside Down. Eleven follows the Demogorgon through a gate into the Upside Down and finds Hopper. The two then search for Holly until they encounter a giant wall surrounding the edge of Hawkins. Jonathan accuses Steve of competing for Nancy's attention before a bloodied Dustin finds them, while Lucas continues tending to a comatose Max in hopes she will wake up. As Karen and Ted remain hospitalized, Nancy and Mike theorize that "Mr. Whatsit", Holly's imaginary friend, may be real and involved in Holly's disappearance. Robin proposes using Will's telepathic link to Vecna's hive mind to track Holly in the Upside Down. Karen informs Nancy and Mike that Mr. Whatsit's first name is Henry, whom they realize is Vecna's human form, Henry Creel. Will discovers that his earlier visions were actually from Henry's point of view as he stalked Holly, realizing he can know Henry's targets before they are taken.
Henry targets Holly's classmate and bully, Derek Turnbow, as his next victim. Hopper and Eleven fail to break through the massive wall and are ambushed by soldiers, but manage to overpower them. Hopper and Eleven interrogate Akers, concluding that Dr. Kay is holding Henry at the base. Will, Nancy, and Mike inform the group that Henry lured Holly by claiming he was her imaginary friend, prompting them to devise a plan to use Derek as bait to trap the Demogorgon, and implant a tracker in it to reach Holly before more children are taken. The group arms themselves using weapons smuggled in by Murray and enlists Erica to drug Derek and his family. The team splits up, transporting the unconscious family to an abandoned barn while converting Derek's house into a trap for the Demogorgon. The plan unravels when Derek wakes up and Will realizes the Demogorgon has located his group. Meanwhile, Holly finds herself in Henry's childhood home. In the nearby forest, she encounters Max.
Hopper and Eleven infiltrate the military base intending to kill Henry. They defeat Dr. Kay and her soldiers, discovering that the captive inside is Eleven's adoptive sister Kali. Max explains to Holly that they are trapped inside a psychic realm made of Henry's memories, nicknamed "Camazotz" by Holly, where Max has remained ever since her brief death. Will's group is attacked by a Demogorgon until Dustin, Steve, Nancy, and Jonathan chase it into the Upside Down. Meanwhile, the military detains children in Hawkins who could be potential victims. Will experiences a vision of Holly and three other children being restrained by tentacles in Vecna's lair, with empty spots for eight more. Will's group infiltrates the base to smuggle the children out of Hawkins. However, Henry in his Vecna form and three Demogorgons emerge from the Upside Down, slaughter most of the soldiers at the Hawkins base, and kidnap Henry's targets, including Derek. Before retreating back into the Upside Down, Henry tells Will that he intends to use the children, whom he calls "perfect vessels", to reshape the world. Will then unlocks psychic abilities and kills the Demogorgons to save Mike, Lucas, and Robin.
In Camazotz, the kidnapped children awaken, and while most believe Henry's claim that he saved them, Holly and Derek do not. Max and Holly traverse Henry's memories of Holly to search for an escape as Derek distracts him. Henry discovers the plan, threatens Derek's family, turns into Vecna, finds Holly, and strangles Max. Will's group reanimates a dead Demogorgon using the radio tower's voltage so Will can reconnect to the hive mind and kill Vecna. Will possesses Vecna's body, breaking his leg and speaking through him to tell Max and Holly to run; Henry expels him from his mind soon after, causing Will to pass out. In the Upside Down, Hopper and Eleven escape the military base with Kali, who reveals Dr. Kay was using her blood, just as Dr. Brenner used Henry's blood, in failed experiments to give children powers, believing Eleven is key. At Hawkins Lab, Dustin theorizes that the wall surrounding the Upside Down is a protective shield and that destroying it can weaken Henry. Nancy and Jonathan find a mysterious sphere on the roof of the lab. Dustin finds Brenner's journal and realizes he is wrong, but fails to warn the others before Nancy shoots the sphere.
After the sphere detonates, the building starts to melt and Nancy and Jonathan are trapped in a room. Believing they will die, they end their relationship on good terms by being honest with each other before the melting halts. Dustin explains to Steve that the Upside Down is not an alternate dimension but a wormhole to another realm. Max and Holly find a memory of a young Henry killing a man in self-defense after being shot in the hand. Erica and Murray recruit Scott Clarke to help locate Dustin's group. Meanwhile, Henry uses the unconscious Will to track Max in the real world and sends Demodogs to kill her at the hospital. Hopper, Eleven, and Kali reunite with the others in Hawkins, and Eleven frees Will. At the hospital, Lucas, later joined by Robin and her girlfriend Vickie, protect Max from the Demodogs, with Karen ultimately saving them by detonating a laundry machine. Seeing her exit made from Lucas's music, Max helps Holly find her own way out by reminding her of her past bravery, allowing both to escape separately.
Max awakens safely in the real world while Holly finds herself trapped in the other realm. Dustin and Steve rescue Nancy and Jonathan and witness Holly falling through the Upside Down before Henry pulls her back with telekinesis. Erica, Murray, and Mr. Clarke locate Dustin's group, and everyone reunites as Dr. Kay orders Akers to hunt Eleven. Dustin explains that "the Abyss" is a separate dimension, and Max reveals Henry's plan to merge it with their world. Steve suggests drawing the dimensions closer so Eleven can confront Henry while the others blow up the Upside Down. Kali tells Eleven that once Henry is defeated, they must die to prevent Kay or anyone else from repeating Brenner's experiment. Will comes out as gay so Henry cannot use that against him. Erica and Mr. Clarke open the military base for Murray to drive most of the group back into the Upside Down. When Holly awakens in Henry's home, she is beaten after failing to convince the other kids of the truth, while Derek stays silent to protect his family. Henry links with the twelve children, placing them into trances to carry out his plan.
As the others make their way to the Abyss, Eleven, Kali, and Max enter Henry's mind and stop him from merging the worlds, but he transforms into Vecna, escapes and tricks Hopper into breaking the link. Akers fatally shoots Kali, prompting Eleven to kill him and his soldiers, while Holly leads the other children out of Henry's mind. Will witnesses Henry's past and learns he was corrupted by a fragment of the Mind Flayer, which he fully embraces despite Will's pleas. The Mind Flayer rises as a giant kaiju, and Henry is ultimately impaled by Eleven and Will, while the others destroy the Mind Flayer. The group rescues the children and Joyce decapitates a dying Henry. After returning to Hawkins and detonating the Upside Down, the group is arrested by Dr. Kay, but released when Eleven chooses to stay behind in the Upside Down. Eighteen months later, life is normal again: the older teens reunite, Hopper proposes to Joyce, and the younger teens graduate and play Dungeons & Dragons, as Mike imagines their futures and theorizes how Eleven may still be alive.
Production
Development
On February 17, 2022, Stranger Things creators Matt and Ross Duffer released an expansive letter 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.[5] The duo had originally indicated the show was planned to run for a maximum four seasons, but a five season run was later teased by producers in 2017.[6]
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.[7] In June 2023, it was announced that Dan Trachtenberg had been hired to direct an episode of the season.[8] Executive producer Shawn Levy was confirmed to be directing at least one episode in the season by September 2023.[9] However, after the movie Predator: Badlands (2025) was greenlit, Trachtenberg became unable to direct his episode, so it was directed instead by Frank Darabont.[10] Darabont came out of retirement to direct two episodes, having been a huge fan of the series alongside his wife.[11]
Writing
Writing for the fifth season began on August 2, 2022, about a month after the release of the fourth season's second volume.[12] 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.[13] 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.[7] The writers team described the tone of the season as if "season 1 and 4 had a baby" which was "injected with steroids".[14] On May 6, 2023, the Duffers announced that writing for the season had been paused due to the 2023 Writers Guild of America strike.[15] On September 27, the day the strike ended, the Twitter account of the Stranger Thingswriters' room posted an image stating "We're back",[16] 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.[17] On October 14, 2023, it was revealed that writing was over halfway done.[18] 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.[19]
The table read for episode 4 occurred on December 6, 2023, and the final table read occurred on September 8, 2024, in Stage 16 of the Atlanta production facilities used in previous Stranger Things seasons.[20] It was attended by the Duffer Brothers, Levy, and the cast members. By this time, the actors had not read the script up to the finale since the Duffer brothers generally do not share their work with the cast.[21] 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.[22] 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.[23] 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 finale wrapping up their stories, Vecna, and the creatures of the Upside Down (Demogorgons, the Mind Flayer, and Demobats).[24] 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 Dr. Kay (Linda Hamilton), to capture Eleven.[4] Eleven now "has better control over her powers" and uses them "in more innovative ways", with Matt saying that the most accurate example would be "probably the Force".[25]Finn Wolfhard said that one of the concerns was the finale would have a negative reception like the one of Game of Thrones (2011–2019), but when they read the script for the episode they knew that "it was something special",[4] The Duffers mentioned that Vecna is now "stronger and scarier than ever" like "Freddy [Krueger] on steroids" with, for example, his powers now being "effective" in the real world and not only in the Upside Down. Ross Duffer mentioned that Dustin Henderson is grieving and "struggling" over what happened to Eddie Munson, which will put "challenges" on his relationship with Steve Harrington and how it will be "destabilizing" that he will not be, as he has been in previous seasons, the one who keeps the group "together and keep everyone aligned".[26] The Duffers mention that this season reveals what the Upside Down really is and why Vecna took Will Byers in the first season. Will is a central character of the season in order for the story to "go full circle" and explore his "connection and relationship" with Vecna. For Vecna, they drew inspiration from the "bad guys" in The Terminator (1984) and Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991), as well as Darth Vader's entrance in the Star Wars film Rogue One (2016) to showcase "his powers in full display".[27]
The Duffers discussed Will's powers, a decision they had been considering for some time. They mentioned that his powers aren't like Vecna's or Eleven's; he can only control what's inside Vecna's and the Upside Down's hive mind, with Ross mentioning that his power source comes from Vecna and it's as if he's "puppeteering" it.[28]Noah Schnapp mentioned that he feels that the relationship between Will and Vecna are similar to the one Harry Potter and Lord Voldemort have in the Harry Potter franchise, and that more of those parallels would be shown throughout the season.[29] The events of the prequel play Stranger Things: The First Shadow (2023) hint that that the Mind Flayer was the one who made Henry accept his dark side and connection to the Upside Down. Therefore, Matt hinted that the finale would reveal who "the real evil is": Vecna or the Mind Flayer.[28] Ross Duffer said they never intended the ending of Eleven to be with her staying with Mike and the rest of her friends, as it was necessary for her to "go away" so the group could "move on" and to close the story of Hawkins and the Upside Down.[30]
In June 2023, during Netflix's Tudum event, it was announced that Linda Hamilton would be joining the cast.[34] Hamilton had contacted the Duffers through Zoom, with them providing her information about the "shape" of her character, but not the story.[35] In July 2024, Nell Fisher, Jake Connelly, and Alex Breaux were revealed to have joined the cast in undisclosed roles.[36][37] 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.[38] Fisher was later confirmed to appear as Holly Wheeler, who was previously played by twin actresses Tinsley and Anniston Price in the first four seasons.[39]
The role of Mrs. Harris was written for Hope Hynes Love, who was the high school drama teacher of the Duffers.[40] The season marked the return of Linnea Berthelsen as Kali Prasad / Eight, whose last appearance was on the second season. The Duffers talked about including her in each season, but not "just putting her in, to put her in", and found the right moment on this one. They mention that she will have a "big impact on Eleven's journey", with Brown mentioning that it impacts Eleven's life because she doesn't have "much family in her life" or many people that understand her as Kali does.[41]
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.[42] However, the 2023 Hollywood labor disputes caused both productions to be delayed.[43] 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.[44]
After a significant delay due to the disputes, production of the fifth season began on January 8, 2024.[45] 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.[46] 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".[47] On July 3, Ross Duffer revealed that production was halfway done.[48] In October 2024, Wolfhard stated to People that they were "almost done shooting".[49] Filming wrapped on December 20, 2024.[50][51] The last shot recorded on set was a lunchbox that "didn't include any of the cast".[19] The Duffer brothers, despite the scheduling and time constraints that could have arisen, managed "to structure it" so every actor's last day was really their last scene. Keery revealed that everyone felt some "fatigue" after filming for a year, material which he describes as "incredible". Certain actors, such as Nell Fisher, had also filmed scenes from the finale prior to the table read.[21]
The Duffers revealed that they have been able to try new methods of filming for this season, such as first-person shots of the Demogorgon, the "demo-vision".[4]
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".[52][53] In October, the Duffers revealed that the editing process of the season was already complete.[24]
In October, it was reported each episode to have cost $50–60 million, with the season as a whole reaching a budget of $400–480 million.[54]
Marketing
In January 2025, a missing poster for Eleven (displayed as Jane Hopper) was released.[55] New footage from the season was released on May 31, during the celebration of Tudum alongside the release dates.[56] On July 15, the first promotional poster was released.[57]
A teaser trailer was released on July 16,[58] featuring the song "Child in Time" by Deep Purple.[59] Aya Tsintziras of Game Rant praised the emotional charge between the characters in the teaser.[60] One of the most talked about aspects of the teaser was Vecna's redesign, which had a "thinner" and "spinier" appearance.[58][61][62]
The official trailer was released on October 30,[63] featuring the song "Who Wants to Live Forever" by Queen.[64] The trailer was accidentally posted hours earlier by Netflix.[65] On November 6, during a virtual watch party, Netflix released the five minute opening sequence to "Chapter One: The Crawl".[66] Early that month, Levy took a short break from filming Star Wars: Starfighter (2027) to be able to promote the season due to the show's 10th anniversary being a special occasion for him.[67]
Release
The season had its world premiere on November 6, 2025, in Los Angeles,[68] and was released in three parts: the first volume of four episodes debuted on November 26, the second with three episodes on December 25, with the series finale released on December 31.[69][70] For the season premiere, Netflix's bandwidth was increased by 30% to prevent slow performance, but the site crashed shortly after the premiere.[71] Upon the first volume's release, the second episode initially remained titled "Chapter Two: The Vanishing of..." on Netflix's season page, but was titled "Chapter Two: The Vanishing of Holly Wheeler" in its opening credits.[72] Netflix again crashed shortly after the finale aired.[73]
The series finale had a limited theatrical release in the United States and Canada with showtimes beginning the evening of December 31, 2025, and continuing through New Year's Day. It was previously reported that the finale would not be released in theaters. However, 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.[74] The finale was screened at 620 theaters with pre-sales of 1.1 million tickets, which were sold as concession vouchers rather than traditional admissions due to issues with the cast's residuals contracts.[75] The theatrical release generated over $25 million in concession income.[76]
Reception
On Rotten Tomatoes, the fifth season holds an approval rating of 83% based on 159 reviews. The website's critics consensus states, "Stranger Things plays its cards just right in Season 5, solidifying its pop culture classic status with genuinely captivating genre fare."[77]Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, gave a score of 71 out of 100 based on 32 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.[78]
The seventh episode, "The Bridge", was reported by most major entertainment news outlets to be review bombed on several sites due to a scene featuring one of the main characters, Will Byers, coming out as gay, and issues from some fans with either the writing, plot, or performances.[79][80]
Notes
↑Fisher is credited as "Also Starring" in all episodes except for the final episode, where she is credited with the main cast.
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