Stranger Things season 4 part 2 is upon us, as the Hawkins gang battle to save their town from the darkness yet again in two supersized episodes, including an epic two-and-a-half-hour finale.
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| Stranger Things season 5: Release date speculation, cast predictions, and latest news |
Given that things were far from wrapped up at the end season 4 – is Max OK?! Someone..? Anyone..? – fans may expect the fifth and final season to have even longer episodes.
But there’s good news for people with short attention spans: Stranger Things season 5 will in fact have shorter episodes than the plus-sized fourth outing.
"The only reason we don't expect it to be as long is that if you look at it, it's almost a two-hour ramp-up [in season 4] before our kids really get drawn into the supernatural mystery," said co-creator Matt Duffer on Happy Sad Confused Podcast.
He continued: "You get to know them, you get to see them in their lives, what they're struggling with, adapting to high school, and so forth. Steve's trying to find a date, all of that. None of that obviously is going to be occurring in the first two episodes of [season 5]."
Read on for everything you need to know about Stranger Things season 5.
And in the meantime, why not check out our season 4 part 2 review.
Will there be a Stranger Things season 5?
Yes, Stranger Things 5 has already been confirmed.
It has, so you don't need to worry that the series will be left on a cliffhanger.
The series was officially renewed back in February when Netflix and the show's creators the Duffer Brothers confirmed that season 4 would be "the beginning of the end".
They said in a statement: "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 soon see for yourselves – we are now hurtling toward our finale. Season 4 will be the penultimate season; season 5 will be the last.
"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."
When will Stranger Things season 5 be released?
Stranger Things 5 is likely to premiere in 2024.
We don't yet know exactly when the new season will be released but as it hasn't yet gone into production and given the monumental amount of effort that goes into creating each, we'd guess it could be a couple of years off.
While season 2 arrived just over a year after season 1, the show's production has slowed as the scope of the series has expanded. Season 3 took two years to arrive, while season 4 took 3 years, although this was in part due to delays from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Therefore, we would say that 2024 is a fairly good bet for when we will get new episodes.
We also don't yet know what release model the new season will take. Seasons 1 to 3 all released their entire seasons in one go, while season 4 was released in two volumes, with volume 1 containing seven episodes and volume 2 containing two.
Whether season 5 sticks with this new, split model we'll have to wait and see.
Who could return to be in the Stranger Things season 5 cast?
We don't yet have a confirmed cast list for Stranger Things season 5 but we'd expect all the surviving central characters to be back for more. This includes the villainous Vecna, who was defeated in the season finale but we're sure is likely to be back.
Here's a full list of the cast we'd expect to be back for Stranger Things season 5:
- 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
- Paul Reiser as Dr Sam Owens
- Jamie Campbell Bower as Peter Ballard/Henry Creel/One/Vecna
- Cara Buono as Karen Wheeler
- Eduardo Franco as Argyle
- Gabriella Pizzolo as Susie
Two characters that likely won't be back for more are Eddie Munson (Joseph Quinn) and Dr Brenner (Matthew Modine), who both met their ends in season 4.
However, Quinn told RadioTimes.com about how pleased he was with Eddie's journey.
"I think there's a great beginning, there's a great middle and a great end for the character," he told us.
"And as an actor you want characters with those kinds of arcs. So whilst it would have been great to come back for another season and get together with all those lovely people again, I think it was a brilliantly realised ending for a brilliantly written character."
Someone whose fate was left more open is Sadie Sink's Max, with the character currently in a coma and doctors unsure if she'll ever wake up. However, if we were to make a bet we'd expect her to still return in some form for season 5.
Meanwhile, if you were concerned about Max's status going into the final season due to her health predicament, then actress Sadie Sink is even less clear.
Speaking to Deadline, Sink discussed what she knew from the showrunners: "They’ve been very secretive about season five in general. We did have a conversation. They called me before I read the ninth episode because in the script it literally says that Max dies. So they called me beforehand and were like, ‘just warning you, this is in there, so you’re not like truly shocked.’
"I have no idea what’s coming in five and what that looks like. Max’s storyline is very up in the air, ’cause obviously she’s in a coma and Eleven can’t find her in the void. So who knows where she is and what state she’s in."
What will Stranger Things season 5 be about?
We don't know exactly what story season 5 will tell but we've already had some teases from the creators and cast in interviews.
When season 5 was first announced, the Duffer Brothers said in a statement that the "complete story arc" was planned out seven years ago, and that the fifth outing will see the culmination of that plan.
In a later interview with SFX, they confirmed that the ending still fits "the rough sketch" they created, but it has become "more interesting and exciting than originally envisioned by me and Ross".
They said: "We know what the ending is. It's conceivable that it changes but I think it's unlikely because it's one of those endings that just feels, and has always felt, right. And it also feels sort of inevitable. Then when you come up with it, you're like, 'oh yeah well, that is absolutely what is has to be'."
Another thing we know is that season 5 is likely to feature a time jump, as Ross Duffer previously told TVLine: "I'm sure we will do a time jump. 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."
It also looks like season 5 is, like the previous seasons, going to be a bit of an emotional rollercoaster. Ross Duffer told The Wrap that when the creators pitched the final outing to Netflix "they really responded well to it. I mean, it was hard. It’s the end of the story. I saw executives crying who I’ve never seen cry before and it was wild."
During an interview with Josh Horowitz on his Happy Sad Confused podcast, the Duffer Brothers teased a brisk pace for the final season, which will take place in Hawkins and pick up from season 4's cliffhanger ending, which saw The Upside Down finally merge with the regular world.
Duffer added: "For the first time ever, we don't wrap things up at the end of [season] 4, so... it's going to be moving pretty fast. Characters are already going to be in action.
"They're already going to have a goal and a drive, and I think that's going to carve out at least a couple hours and make this season feel really different."
We can't wait!
How many episodes are in Stranger Things season 5?
The episode count for Stranger Things season 5 is currently unknown.
However, as detailed above, we do know that the episodes will mostly be shorter for the final season.
Is there a trailer for Stranger Things season 5?
No, there isn't a trailer available for Stranger Things season 5 just yet, but we'll make sure to keep this page updated as soon as we have any further news or a trailer becomes available.
Stranger Things seasons 1-4 are available on Netflix now.
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