It’s all coming to an end. Netflix’s hit original series Stranger Things has reached its final season, leaving fans in high anticipation after Season 4 ended with a wild cliffhanger. After it first entered our lives in 2016, it’s going to be hard to say goodbye to the treasured show that many of us have […]
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It’s all coming to an end. Netflix’s hit original series Stranger Things has reached its final season, leaving fans in high anticipation after Season 4 ended with a wild cliffhanger. After it first entered our lives in 2016, it’s going to be hard to say goodbye to the treasured show that many of us have come to love. Primarily following a group of four friends that live in the eerie town of Hawkins, Indiana, the guys are pulled into an otherworldly mystery as they come across the Upside Down and befriend a young girl with astonishing powers.
Even with production halts due to the pandemic and the cast’s busy schedules, Stranger Things has been able to persevere and has finally reached its conclusion, which will be released in full by the end of the year. Before we begin our mourning period too soon, we do have a whole other season that’s in the works. From the cast to the plot, here’s everything we know so far about Stranger Things Season 5.
Cast
Every series regular is set to return for Season 5, including Millie Bobby Brown, Finn Wolfhard, Gaten Matarazzo, Caleb McLaughlin, Noah Schnapp, Sadie Sink, Joe Keery, Maya Hawke, Natalia Dyer, Charlie Heaton, and Priah Ferguson. Of course, we can’t forget the adults—David Harbour, Winona Ryder, Brett Gelman, and Cara Buono, who is seen hiding with her daughter, Holly Wheeler, in a bathtub in one of the teasers. In the fourth season, we were introduced to the main villain, the main man (or should we say, monster) who’s been behind it all the whole time: Vecna. The head antagonist was played by Jamie Campbell Bower, who is confirmed to return for Season 5.
Paul Reiser and Matthew Modine are both confirmed to return, while it is still up in the air what role their characters will play. Last time we saw Dr. Owens (Reiser), he was being detained in the Nina Project facilities. As for Modine, Dr. Brenner was killed in Season 4, but it is likely he will return in a flashback sequence. As for any additions to the cast list, Jake Connelly, Alex Breaux and Linda Hamilton are confirmed. Nell Fisher will be acting as Holly Wheeler, presumably playing a bigger role this season than in any other, given the second episode title „The Vanishing of Holly Wheeler“.
Stranger Things Season 5 Plot
Season 4 left off on a major cliffhanger, and the new season picks up roughly a year-and-a-half after the events of the previous one. For the past couple of weeks, trailers and teasers have been released queuing fans into what they can expect. Last we saw, Eleven (Bobby Brown) went up against Vecna, and while she didn’t kill him, she injured him enough to retreat and heal his wounds in preparation for the coming war. In the newest trailer and a new clip released by Netflix yesterday, Eleven is seen training to go up against Vecna. Her training consists of a timed obstacle course monitored by Hopper and Joyce, which proves successful as the trailer also includes her flying over fences in regular Hawkins and the Upside Down. There are also several clips that feature Mike (Wolfhard) and Eleven alone and engaged in intimate conversations about the events transpiring, hinting that there will be some resolution to their relationship.
Max (Sink) was shockingly killed at the hands of Vecna, but fortunately was brought back to life by Eleven and is now resting in a coma. Due to Vecna opening gates in Hawkins, Demogorgons are on the prowl and are seen several times in the trailer, including one chasing Lucas (McLaughlin) and an unconscious Max into a hospital elevator. Hopper (Harbour), Joyce (Ryder), and Murray (Gelman) have returned to Hawkins after killing captured Demogorgons in a Soviet prison, while the remainder of the group is left reeling from the difficult battle they just faced. However, the party is active and preparing for battle as seen in clips of all of them surrounding Mike as he describes a plan of attack, as well as various clips of other members going into battle in the Upside Down and regular Hawkins.
The Duffer Brothers teased on the podcast Happy Sad Confused that Season 5 will feel very full-scale: „It’s going to feel a lot larger in scale than Season 1, but we wanna go back to a lot of things we did in Season 1, a lot of original groupings and parings – there’s something nice about coming full scale,“ the brothers said in the podcast. „It’s gonna feel bigger than Season 1, much more massive in terms of the stakes and the scale, but we wanna revisit a lot of things we did in Season 1.“
Two weeks ago, this was confirmed when Netflix released the first five minutes of the first episode titled „Chapter One: The Crawl“, in which we are reacquainted with a young Will Byers (Noah Schnapp) hiding out in the Upside Down version of Castle Byers, singing The Clash’s „Should I Stay or Should I Go“ to himself. All of a sudden, the castle is taken apart by a Demogorgon hunting Will. Will manages to escape by climbing up a tree and almost makes it out of the monster’s clutches before falling and losing consciousness. The Demogorgon takes him to what we find out is Vecna’s lair, in which Vecna has been waiting for Will’s arrival. „At long last“, he says as he manipulates the vines to tie Will up, „we can begin“. What Vecna intends to „begin“ with Will is unclear, but it involves Vecna inserting a vine into Will’s mouth, which is presumably to fill him with Upside Down substances that will cause him to have a connection to the dimension forever.
In general, it seems that this season will focus much more on Will and Eleven’s character journeys as they grapple with their own relationships with the Upside Down. Not only that, we can presume that this season will go into more detail as to how and why Will survived by himself in the Upside Down that first season.
Stranger Things Season 5 Trailer
Stranger Things Season 5 Release Date
Stranger Things 5 is set to release in three parts, the first volume coming out on Nov. 26, followed by the second volume on Dec. 25. Stranger Things Season 5 will end with a three-hour finale on Dec. 31, which will also be available to watch in theaters across North America. All volumes will be available to stream on Netflix.
