Stranger Things season 5: predicted release date on Netflix, confirmed cast, story rumors, and more

It feels like a lifetime since Stranger Things season 5 was announced – and it’s going to be a long while before we see the massively successful Netflix show’s final season land on our screens. Indeed, with five months of its shooting schedule left to go, we’re unlikely to see Stranger Things‘ fifth chapter for another 18 months.

Still, there’s plenty for you to read about one of the best Netflix shows‘ last entries ahead of its return. In this guide, we’ve rounded up the latest news and rumors about Stranger Things 5. That includes our prediction on when it’ll be released on the world’s best streaming service, plus details on its cast, story, and the franchise’s future.

Full spoilers follow for Stranger Things season 4. Potential spoilers for Stranger Things season 5 are also inbound, so proceed at your own risk.

Stranger Things season 5 release date prediction

Stranger Things season 5 doesn’t have a release date yet. Principal photography began in early January, but that Stranger Things season 5 filming start date all but confirmed it won’t be released in 2024. Co-creator Ross Duffer (see the Instagram post below) also revealed season 5’s shooting schedule had only reached its midway point on July 3, so it’ll be December before “That’s a warp!” is shouted on set for the last time. In short: that’s got us worried that Stranger Things 5 won’t arrive until 2026.

If that proves to be the case, almost four years will have passed since work began on season 5. Indeed, script work officially begun in August 2022, with the first episode’s title being revealed in November of that year. It’s called ‘The Crawl’, and we have four big theories on what Stranger Things 5’s first episode title could mean. 

So, when do we think Stranger Things season 5 will air? Our best guess is early 2026. Sure, Netflix could play its ‘release it in two parts’ card, enabling the streaming titan to release Stranger Things 5 Volume 1 in late 2025. That would require a crunch period for its post-production crew, though, who’d have to complete work on its first batch of episodes in time for a late 2025 launch. With plenty riding on the show’s last hurrah, including giving it the send-off it deserves, we think Netflix will give the series’ thousand-strong crew as much time as they need to make it as good as possible and ensure they get a full calendar year to deliver a barnstorming finale. So, don’t be surprised if it isn’t released before 2026 arrives.

Stranger Things season 5 trailer: is there one?

There isn’t an official trailer yet, but Netflix has released a behind-the-scenes featurette to celebrate reaching the halfway mark of season 5’s monstrous filming schedule.

The video, which you can view above, represents our first proper look at Stranger Things season 5 – one that reveals new characters, fan-favorite team-ups, and a possible time jump. We might get another featurette once filming wraps but, in terms of a real teaser, we wouldn’t expect one to debut until the 2025 edition of Stranger Things Day (i.e. November 6), which would be a fitting time to release one.

Stranger Things season 5 cast: confirmed and rumored

Major spoilers follow for Stranger Things season 4.

Netflix hasn’t officially announced who’ll be part of Stranger Things season 5’s cast. Based on the behind-the-scenes images we’ve seen on the cast and crew’s various social media accounts, plus the behind-the-scene featurette, though, we expect this lot to return:

• Millie Bobby Brown as Eleven
• Winona Ryder as Joyce Byers
• David Harbour as Jim 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
• Joe Keery as Steve Harrington
• Natalie Dyer as Nancy Wheeler
• Charlie Heaton as Jonathan Byers
• Maya Hawke as Robin Buckley
• Jamie Campbell-Bower as Vecna
• Brett Gelman as Murray Bauman
• Priah Ferguson as Erica Sinclair
• Linda Hamilton as TBC

The biggest casting news, outside of those returning from season 4, is a major Terminator star has joined the Stranger Things 5 ranks. Linda Hamilton, who’s synonymous for her role as Sarah Connors in the sci-fi franchise, is the most notable newcomer. There’s no word on who she’s playing, though.

As for other returning characters who might show up in Stranger Things season 5, Karen Wheeler (Cara Buono) is definitely back (thanks to Reddit for the catch). We believe Ted Wheeler (Joe Chrest), Lieutenant Colonel Jack Sullivan (Sherman Augustus), Vickie (Amybeth McNulty), and Suzie (Gabriella Pizzolo) will return, too. Doctor Sam Owens’ (Paul Reiser) fate is unknown after he was left handcuffed to a pipe in the subterranean Nina Project in season 4, but we’d be surprised if he isn’t back.

Concerning the series’ primary villain Vecna, he disappeared after being severely injured by Nancy, Steve, and Robin in the season 4 finale. Again, his fate is unknown, but leaked images from the season 5 set confirm Campbell-Bower has filmed some scenes, albeit as Vecna’s original human self Henry Creel (see the Stranger Things Spoilers X/Twitter fan account post above).

As for actors who aren’t returning, Eduardo Franco has confirmed (per IGN) he didn’t receive the call to reprise his role as fan-favorite season 4 character Argyle. Joseph Quinn’s Eddie Munson won’t be back, either, following his death in the season 4 finale. Other season 4 caracters in Dmitri Antonov (Tom Wlaschiha) and Yuri Ismaylov (Nikola Duricko) are unlikely to appear as well.

Hamilton’s casting aside, the Duffer brothers also told IndieWire they’ll only introduce new characters if they’re going to be “integral to the narrative”. With Stranger Things season 5 primarily focusing on the core cast, you shouldn’t expect any other new characters to feature in the mainline show’s final outing.

Stranger Things season 5 plot rumors

Full spoilers follow for Stranger Things season 4. Potential season 5 spoilers are also discussed.

We don’t know anything official about Stranger Things 5’s plot – well, apart from the fact it won’t end with an “it was all a dream/fantasy” Dungeons and Dragons-style scenario, as confirmed by the Duffers (per Metro UK). What we do know is Stranger Things season 5 will test our runtime limits, with Maya Hawke revealing that “basically, eight movies” are being filmed for the series’ final chapter.

Speaking on Stranger Things season 4 volume 2 unlocked episode in July 2022, the Duffer brothers did their best to tease some story-based elements without giving anything significant away, too.

“It’s going to be unlike any other season,” Matt Duffer suggested. “We’re starting season 5 and things are already going. In the way Max was impacted by [season] three and how that impacted her narrative in four, Dustin has been impacted a lot by the death of Eddie, so that’s going to impact his storyline in five. We’re going to see a side of him we’ve not seen before. It’s also going to be like season one on steroids.”

“Our characters are going after Vecna from minute one,” Ross Duffer added. “We have a lot to do, in terms of a few more revelations, and also we need to make sure we give our characters time to make these final arcs.” 

Interestingly, the Duffers confirmed they’ve rewritten parts of season 5 (per Netflix Tudum) based on fan feedback, which slightly alters the series’ ending. On X/Twitter, the Stranger Things writing team suggested it’s “like if season 1 and season 4 had a baby. And then that baby was injected with steroids.”

Who is the villain in Stranger Things season 5?

Before the end credits roll for the final time, our heroes must join forces to try to stop Vecna – the show’s primary antagonist – for good. 

In the season 4 finale, Vecna was severely injured by Nancy, Steve, and Robin at Creel House. When the trio try to find Vecna’s body, though, it’s gone, with the series’ main villain crawling off to recover from his defeat.

That said, he was technically victorious in season 4. Max, his final victim, died for a whole minute following his attack, which caused four gates to the Upside Down to open in the center of Hawkins, thereby allowing it to start merging with the real world. Vecna, then, will want to finish what he started – i.e. destroying everything that our heroes hold dear.

To put a stop to his world-ending plan, the show’s main characters are already assembled in Hawkins so, while they might break into smaller groups to cover as much ground as possible, they’re still effectively working together. Speaking on the Happy Sad Confused podcast, Matt Duffer said that was an intentional creative decision heading into season 5, adding: “We want to go back to a lot things we did in season 1 and a lot of the original groupings and pairings that we had.”

Finn Wolfhard, who plays Mike Wheeler, also alluded to this plot thread, telling Collider: “It’s the last season, so we kind of want to get back to the roots of why the show was so special in the first place, and why the dynamics are so special in the first place, and sort of getting back to that.”

What will happen to Max and Will in Stranger Things season 5?

As for Max, she’s in a medically-induced coma following her near-fatal encounter with Vecna in the Stranger Things season 4 finale. When Eleven went searching for Max’s consciousness/soul/whatever you want to call it in the Void in said finale, however, she couldn’t find her, so nobody knows if Max will ever wake up.

Sink has since confirmed she’s as much in the dark as fans are about Max’s fate, but you can read our thoughts on how Max’s story could go one of two ways in Stranger Things season 5. In new images posted from the season 5 set (see the below Instagram post’s third photograph), Ross Duffer teased Lucas will try to coax Max out of her unconscious state using music – and, in particular, her love to Kate Bush.

As for The Upside Down’s most notable victim, aka Will Byers, Schnapp dropped a big hint to Vogue about his season 5 character arc, saying: “There’s a lot in store for Will. It ties back to where it begins, full circle. I’m excited for fans to see where we wrap his character. I think they’ll be really pleased, but also shocked.” 

Schnapp also told US magazine that Will is the “center point” of Stranger Things 5, before revealing (via Forbes) that the whole show “end with Will”. Based on the below ‘Chapter 1, Scene 1’ X/Twitter post, it’s likely to begin with a de-aged Will, too.

Ross Duffer corroborated Schnapp’s comments in conversation with Variety, adding: “Will really takes center stage again. This emotional arc for him is what we feel is going to hopefully tie the whole series together. Will is used to being the young one, the introverted one, the one that’s being protected. So part of his journey, it’s not just sexuality – it’s Will coming into his own as a young man.”

Who is going to die in Stranger Things season 5?

As for potential character deaths, we think Eleven and Mike will survive. That’s in spite of Wolfhard saying he’d be open to Mike dying under one condition (via GQ). Hopper, Joyce, and Will have all been through a lot as well, so we suspect they’ll make it out alive. Everyone else, though, is fair game as far as we’re concerned. Stranger Things season 5 is going to be the deadliest yet, which implies some main characters will bite the dust.

Brown claims she doesn’t actually want Eleven to die, despite initially joking that she’d like it to happen, while Hawke told NME she’d “love to die and get my hero’s moment”. Natalie Dyer hopes Nancy will live to tell the tale, though (via Cosmopolitan).

Teasing what else fans can expect, Matt Duffer told TVLine that season 5 will likely feature a time jump, before revealing (via the previously linked to Happy Sad Confused podcast) it’ll get right into the action from episode 1. That’s before a tense and captivating final few episodes, which he describes as being like Lord of the Rings in its makeup.

“It [the season 5 finale] is going to be Return of the King-ish with eight endings,” he said. “If you just watch Return of the King, it feels like too many endings. [But] if you watch all of them back-to-back, which I’ve done multiple times, it’s exactly right. If it were any shorter, it would feel cheap and wrong.”

As for other subplots that need resolving, Lieutenant Colonel Sullivan is surely still tracking Eleven, believing she’s responsible for the deaths in and around Hawkins. We also need to see how Eddie’s death impacts the usually jovial Dustin – Gaten Matarazzo teasing in the season 4 volume 2 unlocked episode that “it’s going to be rough for him to find a light at the end of the tunnel.”

We have to find out why the Upside Down is seemingly stuck in 1984 as well. We still don’t have all the answers about what this realm actually is (outside of snippets revealed in prequel stage play Stranger Things: The First Shadow), why it’s spookier and more dingy than the realm Henry Creel first traveled to, or what The Mind Flayer is exactly. Ross Duffer (per Stranger Things season 4 volume 2’s unlocked episode) claims those queries will be answered.

Then there’s the loose end concerning number eight – aka Kali Prasad. We haven’t seen Kali since season 2 and, unlike every other test subject under Doctor Brenner’s supervision (who had telekinetic abilities), she had different powers. Why was she the odd one out? And will we see her again? It’s possible Stranger Things season 5 won’t answer these questions. After all, the Duffers have retconned some early season plot points in later instalments (via Variety). Maybe Kali’s story is just one of those lingering mysteries we’ll never get closure on.

The future of Stranger Things

Stranger Things: The First Shadow | Meet Henry Creel | Netflix – YouTube

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Season 5 of Stranger Things will bring the curtain down on the show’s main story – and, in our opinion, David Harbour is right – it’s time for Stranger Things to end. 

However, there are other projects in the works at Upside Down Pictures, the Duffers’ production company. The studio will develop movies and TV shows exclusively for Netflix, including two Stranger Things spin-offs – one of which is confirmed to be an animated series (per Variety).

The first spin-off to arrive, however, was a prequel stage play titled Stranger Things: The First Shadow, which began its London West End residency in December 2023 and will play at The Phoenix Theater until February 16, 2025.

Set in 1959, it tells the tale of the Creel Family’s arrival in Hawkins, and shows us Jim Hopper, Henry Creel, and other notable characters in their teens. As good as that sounds, we think this spin-off of Stranger Things season 5 will hit the big Marvel and Star Wars problem. Based on a huge plot point it’ll contain, The First Shadow‘s big lore reveal will need addressing in season 5 for anyone who doesn’t get the chance to watch the play, too.

For more Stranger Things coverage, check out these five shows that you should watch while we wait for season 5’s arrival and then read our thoughts on five Stranger Things spin-off ideas that could work.

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