Stranger Things is gearing up for its fifth and final season, filming on which will kick off in June 2023, according to cast member David Harbour.
Harbour, who plays Detective Jim Hopper in the Netflix series, announced the news back in March at the Middle East Film & Comic Con in Abu Dhabi.
"We're walking into season 5. I've got a couple more months to train," he said (via Collider).
He continued: "We start shooting that in June, though, and that will be the final season. I did a lot of training for season 4. He [Hopper] was in a very specific position, that Russian prison. It was about making him a different guy and sort of shedding a layer of himself physically, mentally, and emotionally.
"But now he's back in town, he's back in America where they have cheeseburgers, so he will be well-fed."
While fans will be gutted to say goodbye to the wildly popular Netflix show, Harbour previously pointed out that it's the right time for the series to end.
"It is, of course, very bittersweet. You know, there’s a sadness there. But also, we’ve all grown up. It is time for us to leave that nest and try other things and different projects," he told Discussing Film.
"And to let the Duffer brothers try different things as well. I mean, those guys are so talented. I want to see what they come up with next. So it is bittersweet, but it’s definitely time."
That doesn't mean it won't be emotional though. In fact, the Duffer brothers previously teased that they made Netflix bosses cry with their planned finale – so there's no hope for us.
"We did get our executives to cry, which I felt was a good sign that these executives were crying," Matt Duffer said (via The Hollywood Reporter). "The only other times I’ve seen them cry were, like, budget meetings."
The fifth and final season will see Will (Noah Schnapp) and co return for the final battle for Hawkins and, after the death of Joseph Quinn's Eddie in season 4, we're concerned for our heroes, especially Max (Sadie Sink), whose fate was left uncertain in the finale.
Matthew Modine is also dying to know if his character, Dr Brenner, will come back.
"Is he dead?" he asked during an exclusive interview with RadioTimes.com.
"I wish I knew, I love Millie Bobby Brown, I love [creators] the Duffer brothers, and [producer] Shawn Levy," he added. "And it was such a wonderful show to go to work on, it was fun every day that I worked on the show.
"I hope that there's some way to resuscitate Dr Brenner and put him in season 5 because it would be wonderful to be part of the last season."
If you're wondering who could return and when it's likely to land on Netflix, read on for everything you need to know about Stranger Things season 5.
Will there be a Stranger Things season 5?
Yes, Stranger Things 5 has already been confirmed and, in fact, writers began work on the new chapter back in August 2022.
The news was confirmed by the Stranger Things writers' Twitter account with a picture of a white board with the series logo captioned 'Day 1'.
As detailed above, Harbour recently revealed that filming will begin in June 2023 - so not long to go now!
The series was officially renewed in February 2022 when Netflix and 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."
While nothing has been confirmed, Wolfhard also recently teased a potential spin-off, revealing he pitched an idea for the Duffer brothers - only for them to say they'd already been considering it.
He told Jimmy Fallon on The Tonight Show: "I was like, 'If you guys are actually gonna do a spin-off, it should be this,' and I said it, and the Duffers looked at each other and said, 'Can we talk to you for a second?' And they pulled me off and they were like , 'That is the idea, who told you?!'"
Wofhard is clearly keeping tight-lipped on the idea, but could it mean a return to Hawkins in the future?
Stranger Things season 5 potential release date
Though season 5 is unlikely to land on Netflix for a while, filming kicking off in June 2023 is great news, especially given that fans had to wait three years between season 3 and 4, and it looks like we could see the fifth season land as soon as early 2024.
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.
How many episodes are in Stranger Things season 5?
The episode count for Stranger Things season 5 is currently unknown.
One thing is for certain: season 5 is sure to repeat the success of season 4, which smashed viewership records despite the hefty episode runtime, with episode 9 clocking in at an eye-watering two hours and 19 minutes.
However, the episodes won't be as long this time round except for the big finale, which is set to be “pretty massive”.
"The runtimes being as long as they were was something of a surprise to us. Ross and I have been trying to analyse how they ended up that long, because the scripts aren’t even that long," Matt Duffer told The Hollywood Reporter.
"We’ve realised that our writing style has changed a little bit, in terms of how we space out description. I think that added to some length. Also, we had an additional plot with Hopper in Russia. It’s a pretty dense season. We weren’t sure they were that long, really, until we got into edit."
Ross added: "Our concern is pacing. If we can hold your interest for an hour and 15 minutes, then that’s a win. We did discuss breaking up [the finale]. We ultimately decided if it’s too long for someone, they can pause it and they can come back. It’s like reading a book. You can watch it at your own pace."
Matt added on the Happy Sad Confused podcast: "The only reason we don't expect it to be as long is because 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."
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]."
As well as shorter episode runtimes, the Duffers have also teased season 5 could feature a time jump to explain the young cast's ageing and bring the characters' ages in line with the actors'.
The writers have also let slip the title for episode 1 – The Crawl. While it doesn't give much away, fans have been scrambling to think of what it could refer to.
Who could return to 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."
Meanwhile, Modine recently told RadioTimes.com about how he'd love to return - so perhaps that door isn't completely shut.
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 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's more, things are (for once) looking hopeful for Will, after Schnapp teased a "beautiful" ending for the character.
"I can just tell you that I'm very very excited for what's to come. I think they did a great job with Will's character this season, and beautifully addressed everything they needed to," he told Forbes.
"The way they closed the show is just perfect – the story started with Will, and it’ll end with Will."
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!
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