After almost an entire decade, Stranger Things is coming to an end. The Netflix show’s cast of plucky tweens are now full-blown adults, and the suburban horror story has evolved into a multiversal saga. But how do you wrap up a series that has defined pop culture for so long?? The answer is hiding in plain sight. Go back to the beginning. A new behind-the-scenes look at Stranger Things Season 5 reveals the final season is doing just that.
Deadpool & Wolverine director Shawn Levy recently released some photos from the set of Stranger Things Season 5, including glimpses of Winona Ryder, Maya Hawke, and the Duffer Brothers. In one image, the show’s iconic alphabet wall with string lights from Season 1 is visible. It’s unlikely the set would be so prominently shown if it was just in storage, so it looks like we’ll see it again in Season 5.
We may not know how this set will be incorporated into Stranger Things Season 5, but it’s likely we’ll see a flashback to Season 1 when Will Byers was first abducted into the Upside Down — unless those wild time travel theories are proven correct.
But while we don’t know how we’ll see this, we can narrow down what episode it will appear in. In all four seasons of Stranger Things, Shawn Levy directed Episodes 3 and 4. If that pattern continues, that’s likely when we’ll see Joyce’s desperate attempts to reach her son back on screen.
Stranger Things has a tall task ahead of it with Season 5, but this hint suggests that just as the series has emphasized nostalgia for the 1980s during its tenure, its final season will focus on the nostalgia of the past eight years. With any luck, that will mean Scoops Ahoy hats, Hellfire Club t-shirts, Eggo waffles, “R.I.P. Barb” memes, smudged eyeliner, and lots of Kate Bush.
While the cast may look a lot different than they did in 2016, somehow these characters will revisit their past and say goodbye to the story in the way it deserves.
