The beginning of the end! After six years at Netflix, Stranger Things is getting ready to wrap up its journey with a fifth and final season.
Ahead of the show’s highly-anticipated season 4 premiere, creators Matt and Ross Duffer announced that they were going to end the series after one more chapter in Hawkins, Indiana.
“Seven years ago, we planned out the complete story arc for Stranger Things,” they detailed in an open letter in February 2022. “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.”
The writing team hinted that they were planning to expand the Stranger Things universe with more projects. “There are still many more exciting stories to tell within the world of Stranger Things: new mysteries, new adventures, new unexpected heroes,” the message concluded. “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.”
Later that year, the Duffer Brothers opened up about their vision for the final episodes and addressed the season 4 episode split.
“The original plan was to release it all at once again. But as we began turning over episodes, everyone began to feel the season was too big to be released in one batch — at nearly 13 hours, it is really more two seasons than one,” they told Variety in May 2022 after Volume 1 dropped the first seven episodes. “Episode 7 is as big as any season finale we’ve ever had, so it made sense to everyone involved to split the season there. Episode 7 really serves as the end of the second act — and we feel that our final act had enough meat on the bone to make up Volume 2.”
As fans prepared for Volume 2 of season 4, Ross and Matt revealed that they were hoping the final season wouldn’t have such a long wait. “We always knew that Season 4 was going to be the penultimate season, and that its ending would dive directly into Season 5. During the six-month pandemic hiatus, we outlined Season 5 and pitched it to Netflix,” they shared at the time. “Don’t hold us to it, but the gap should be quite a bit shorter this time, due to the fact that we already have an initial outline, and we can’t imagine there will be another six-month forced hiatus.”
Scroll down for everything to know about season 5 of Stranger Things so far:
In May 2022, director Shawn Levy discussed the process of being clued into the show's conclusion by the Duffer Brothers. "No one is winging it. Honestly, I think that the Duffer Brothers have [an idea of how the show end] and they have teased it for me over the past six and a half years. But they keep things very private amongst themselves until it is fully formed," Levy exclusively told Us Weekly at the premiere for Stranger Things season 4. "Then they bring it to me and then we take the next steps. It is very, very clear now and it became clear for a while now that we have one season more that feels worth it and reliably amazing." At the time, the director praised the hard work that goes into making Stranger Things. "We don't want to be one of those shows that outstays its welcome and is flailing while it searches for a way to stick the landing," he added. "We really want to stick the landing. I feel like we have been able to do that every season and we also want to do it for the series." Courtesy of Netflix © 2022
For Priah Ferguson, who plays Erica Sinclair, the final season of Stranger Things is all about wrapping loose story lines up. "I definitely want to see closure for the whole series. Hopefully at the end of season 5, I want to see closure and the whole situation being resolved," she told Us in May 2022. "I don't want it to end on a very traumatic situation like the past seasons have. I want it to be that we defeated the monster and we won over it." Netflix
"The final few [episodes of the show] are going to be more like a Return of the Jedi. Not tonally, but just in terms of — They’re going from the beginning," Matt told The Wrap in May 2022. "There’s going to be less ramp up. And I think people will understand what I’m talking about when they see the end of season 4. It’s like, we’re just going." Ross pointed out that there wouldn't be the same story structure, adding, "There’s a lot of build-up and set-up [each season], and season 5 is just going to be pedal to the metal from the opening scene. At least that’s what I remember from the outline." Tina Rowden/Netflix © 2022
During an interview in June 2022, Joseph Quinn revealed that he expects to reprise his role in the final season. "Oh, yeah, I think so. I can't see why not. I'd be furious if they're not bringing me back," he told Digital Spy after season 4 debuted. Following Eddie's shocking death in the season 4 finale, Quinn teased that he won't rule out a future cameo. "It'd be fun, wouldn't it?" he told E! News in July 2022. "I'd be very up for it. But yeah, let's see." He also opened up about how he would like Eddie to be remembered after his character died for Hawkins. "It'd be nice to clear his name," Quinn added. "I don't know how we're gonna do that. But it feels unjust, doesn't it? He paid the ultimate sacrifice for a town that thinks he's a monster. But he's not. So hopefully, they can figure that out." Courtesy of Netflix © 2022
“I’m sure we will do a time jump,” Ross told TVLine in June 2022. “Ideally, we’d have shot [seasons 4 and 5] back-to-back, but there was just no feasible way to do that. So these are all discussions we’re going to have with our writers when we start the room up." In July 2022, Matt opened up about the narrative speed of season 5. "Season 5 is going to start pedal to the metal. We're not going to do the ramp-up. There's no time," he told Collider. "There's no normalcy, obviously, once you've reached the end of four. It's just going to be going 100 miles an hour from the beginning." Courtesy of Netflix
In June 2022, the Duffer Brothers hinted that the hierarchy of the Upside Down would be explored in the final season. “A lot of those answers for the Upside Down is really what the basis of Season 5 is about," Ross told Variety at the time. One month later, the writing duo elaborated on their vision. "Yeah. It's mostly in Hawkins, and there's a lot obviously in the Upside Down," Matt told Collider in July 2022. "I think one of the things that's exciting about season 5 is [that] season 4 was interesting to us because everyone was scattered to the winds. That's what was unique about it. But this is about everyone finally coming back. Coming back together, coming back to Hawkins. ... There's something interesting to re-explore some of the season one dynamics again, except on this grander scale." Courtesy of Netflix © 2022
"I think we're aiming for eight episodes again. We don't want it to be 13 hours. We're aiming for more like 10 hours or something," Matt told Collider in July 2022. "I think it's going to be longer than season 1 because we just have so much to wrap up, but I don't think it's going to be as long as Season 4." At the time, Ross noted the writers room will start up shortly after season 4 debuted the second installment. "I know that the writer's room is going to start in that first week of August," he added. David Harbour, for his part, pointed out that fans will still have a long wait to go. "I think we’ll [shoot] next year. They’re finishing writing it this year, and they need to prep and stuff, so hopefully, it’ll be this year,” he told British GQ. “But I think that’s the plan. So it’d probably come out mid-2024, based on our track record.” Netflix
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