Stranger Things season 5: what we know about the hit Netflix show’s return

It’s going to be a long time before we see Stranger Things season 5. As of July 3, the final chapter of the hugely successful Netflix show’s main story had only reached the midway point of its shooting schedule. In short: it’ll be many more months – perhaps even longer – before it debuts on our screens.

While we continue to wait for its arrival, there’s plenty of reading for you to do on Stranger Things‘ fifth installment. Below, you’ll learn more about one of the best Netflix shows‘ last entries, including speculation on its launch date, confirmed cast, plot rumors, and the franchise’s future on the world’s best streaming service.

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

Stranger Things season 5 release date: what we know

Stranger Things season 5 doesn’t have a release date and, while filming began in early January, Stranger Things season 5’s filming start date seems to confirm it won’t debut on Netflix in 2024. Indeed, with co-creator Ross Duffer (see the Instagram post below) confirming that season 5’s shooting schedule only reached its midway point in early July, it’ll be December before principal photography wraps. That’s got us worried that Stranger Things 5 won’t arrive until 2026.

Well before filming started, script work had 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. 

Stranger Things season 5 cast: confirmed and rumored

Major spoilers follow for Stranger Things season 4’s ending.

Netflix hasn’t announced Stranger Things season 5’s cast, but these are the individuals who’ll definitely return, based on the behind-the-scenes images we’ve seen on the cast and crew’s various social media accounts:

• 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. That’s right, Linda Hamilton, who’s synonymous for her role as Sarah Connors in the Terminator franchise, is the most notable newcomer, but we don’t know who she’s playing.

Prominent supporting characters could also appear in Stranger Things season 5. Karen Wheeler (Cara Buono) is definitely back (thanks to Reddit for the catch), and we expect Ted Wheeler (Joe Chrest), Lieutenant Colonel Jack Sullivan (Sherman Augustus), Vickie (Amybeth McNulty), and Suzie (Gabriella Pizzolo) to return, too. Doctor Sam Owens (Paul Reiser) was left handcuffed to a pipe in the subterranean Nina Project in season 4, so his fate is unclear. We’d be surprised if he isn’t back, though.

As for the show’s big bad 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 (as seen below via the Stranger Things Spoilers X/Twitter fan account).

As for those not returning, Eduardo Franco has confirmed (per IGN) he didn’t receive the call to reprise his role as fan-favorite season 4 character Argyle. Eddie Munson (Joe Quinn) won’t be back after his death in the season 4 finale, too. Other season 4 characters 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.

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). We do know, however, that Stranger Things season 5 will test our runtime limits, with Hawke revealing that “basically, eight movies” are being filmed for the series’ last hurrah.

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.”

Before the end credits roll for the final time, however, our heroes must join forces to try to stop Vecna for good. They’ve 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: “I think it [season 5] answers an insane amount of questions about the lore of Stranger Things, the world-building. I think a lot of people will be happy with getting back. 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.”

Potential Stranger Things season 5 spoilers follow.

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’ primary villain crawling off to recover from his defeat.

That said, he was technically victorious in season 4. Max 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 earth and replacing it with the Upside Down.

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

Sink has since confirmed she’s as much in the dark as fans are about Max’s fate and 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 fo Vecna/The Mind Flayer’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 ‘Chapter 1, Scene 1’ X/Twitter post you can earlier in our plot section, it’s likely to begin with a de-aged Will, too.

Ross Duffer corroborated Schnapp’s comments in a chat 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.”

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 ThingsL 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 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.

Stranger Things season 5 trailer: is there one?

There’s no trailer yet. Once one is released, we’ll update this section.

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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