At long last, the kids of Hawkins return to the Upside Down. Or should we say: The Upside Down comes to Hawkins. In 2025, Netflix’s mega-hit young adult horror series Stranger Things will return for its highly anticipated fifth and final season. The series is set to wrap up all of its remaining story threads — namely the threat of Vecna, the mastermind behind the show’s haunts and ruler of the nightmare realm known as the Upside Down.
The kids of Hawkins, Indiana aren’t kids anymore. They’re much older and a bit wiser than the middle schoolers we knew who played Dungeons & Dragons in Mike’s basement. But even now, they are not safe from the dangers that lie ahead. Here’s all we know so far about Stranger Things Season 5, from when to expect the release date to who will join the cast and more.
Is Stranger Things coming back Season 5?
Yes! Stranger Things Season 5 is in production. Back in 2017, series creators the Duffer Brothers told Entertainment Weekly that they planned for four seasons of Stranger Things total, but left room for more. In February 2022, the Duffer Brothers penned, or rather typed, an open letter (published by Netflix) that announced a fifth season would be the last.
When is the Stranger Things Season 5 release date on Netflix?
Stranger Things Season 5 is slated to hit Netflix in 2025. A specific release date date is unknown.
Historically, Stranger Things has released most of its seasons in summertime. The only exception is Season 2, which hit Netflix on October 27, 2017. (That was the season set during Halloween, so it was perfect timing.) While it’s possible, and perhaps very likely, that Stranger Things will drop Season 5 between May and July, Netflix could still reserve the blockbuster season for a later date in 2025. The decision ultimately depends on Netflix.
Going by historical patterns, expect Stranger Things Season 5 between May and July 2025.
What is the plot of Stranger Things Season 5?
Being the final season, Stranger Things Season 5 is poised to conclude the story of Eleven (still played by Millie Bobby Brown), her friends and family, and Vecna (Jamie Campbell Bower), who was the first subject in a dark experiment conducted by the Hawkins National Laboratory.
To quickly recap: Season 4 ended with all the main characters reuniting in Hawkins. Max (Sadie Sink) is still in a coma, and Eleven is unable to find her consciousness using her psychic powers. Hopper (David Harbour) escaped a gulag and is now home again with Eleven.
Fan favorite Eddie Munson (Joseph Quinn) heroically sacrificed himself in the Upside Down – but not before a gnarly guitar solo of Metallica’s “Master of Puppets” to lure the demobats away from the others. (“Chrissy, this is for you.”)
All of Hawkins is still picking up the pieces of a seismic earthquake (or what they think was an earthquake) that rocked their sleepy town. But soon they will know exactly what opened the “doorway to hell.” The closing shot of Season 4 has the town looking up at darkened skies where “snow” (actually volcanic ash) falls from the sky. Eleven herself sees the horizon, with the ground emanating pools of lava, fire, and smoke. In short, the Upside Down is spilling into Hawkins, and the barriers separating the dimensions are collapsing.
Season 5 will undoubtedly see the characters make one last stand against Vecna, who was only down but not out at the end of Season 4. They will also try to stop their town from being engulfed in a dimensional tear. Because if one town can be swallowed up by its evil parallel world, what’s to stop that from happening all around the world?
Who are the cast members of Stranger Things Season 5?
The official cast of Stranger Things Season 5 is quite large, with virtually all the main characters who survived Season 4. For convenience, let’s break them up into distinct groups:
The Main Kids
- Millie Bobby Brown as Eleven, the mysterious girl with psychic powers.
- Finn Wolfhard as Mike Wheeler, the de facto leader of the boys.
- Gaten Matarazzo as Dustin Henderson, the enthusiastic “nerd genius” whose encyclopedic knowledge of Dungeons & Dragons has given everyone language for the monsters they encounter.
- Caleb McLaughlin as Lucas Sinclair, the level-headed and mature one. At Hawkins High, Lucas has grown into an athlete and member of the basketball team.
- Noah Schnapp as Will Byers, the sweet and shy one whose disappearance in the Upside Down kicked off the story in Season 1.
- Sadie Sink as Max Mayfield, the “new kid” with a punk rock edge. Max briefly dates Lucas before breaking up just before the start of Season 4. Haunted by her older brother Billy’s passing, Max wants to fade into a wallflower but is targeted by Vecna.
The Older Kids/The Other Siblings
- Natalia Dyer as Nancy Wheeler, Mike’s older sister. Dates Jonathan.
- Charlie Heaton as Jonathan Byers, Will’s older brother. Dates Nancy.
- Joe Keery as Steve Harrington, once the coolest guy at Hawkins High. Nice hair. Used to date Nancy. Adoptive father of Dustin. (Kidding. Or are we?)
- Maya Hawke as Robin Buckley, Steve’s platonic best friend coming to terms with her sexuality.
- Priah Ferguson as Erica Sinclair, Lucas’ younger sister who plays D&D better than anyone in town.
The Adults
- Winona Ryder as Joyce Byers, Will and Jonathan’s neurotic and ferocious mom. Has a thing with Hopper.
- David Harbour as Jim Hopper, chief of police in Hawkins who has become close with Joyce. Having lost his daughter to cancer before the show, he grows attached to Eleven as her unofficial foster father.
- Brett Gelman as Murray Bauman, an eccentric journalist who has become strangely indispensable.
Jamie Campbell Bower is also set to reprise his role as Vecna, the ultimate villain our characters have ever and will ever meet. Linda Hamilton, best known for her role as Sarah Connor in the Terminator film franchise, is joining the cast of Stranger Things Season 5 in an undisclosed role. Hamilton’s recruitment was announced in June 2023 during Netflix’s fan convention Tudum, which was live-streamed from São Paulo, Brazil.
“I don’t know how to be a fangirl and an actress at the same time,” Hamilton said in her announcement video. “I’m gonna work on that.”
Is there a trailer for Stranger Things Season 5?
Not yet. Production on Stranger Things Season 5 began on January 8, 2024. Filming was slated to start sooner than that in 2023, but the Hollywood union strikes prevented cameras from rolling sooner. Despite the amount of filming completed, there is not yet an official trailer for Season 5.
On July 15, 2024, Netflix uploaded a special behind-the-scenes look at Season 5. While there is little revelatory information, it’s still a neat preview of what’s to come, with its quick glimpses enough to fuel speculation and theories until the show returns.
How many seasons of Stranger Things will there be in total? Will there be a Season 6?
After Season 5, that’s it. Season 5 is the last season of Stranger Things, with the Duffer Brothers closing the book for good.
This shouldn’t rule out new stories in the Stranger Things universe, however. A stage play prequel, Stranger Things: The First Shadow, opened in London’s West End in December 2023 and is set to come to Broadway in March 2025. An animated spin-off show is also in development.
