‘Stranger Things’ Season 5: Everything We Know So Far About The Final Season (June 2024 Update)

Don’t get too comfortable atop Netflix’s most popular TV shows list, Jenna Ortega: Stranger Things is returning soon. Well, maybe “soon” is overstating it. How about this? Stranger Things is returning for its fifth and final season… eventually. It’s been nearly two years since season 4 of the hot Netflix series from the Duffer Brothers concluded, and fans have been pleading for information about the ending ever since.

After reading about the worst ways for Stranger Things to wrap up, here’s everything we know about season 5, including plot details, returning cast members, and whether there’s a premiere date.

Plot

Stranger Things was officially renewed for a fifth and final season in February 2022. Since then, scant few details about the plot have been revealed. We know the premiere begins with the sound of “COLD WILD” and that the season consists of eight episodes, but there’s no official synopsis yet.

Back in 2022, however, the Duffer Brothers did share that season 5 is “pulling” a lot of ideas that weren’t used in a previous season. “A lot of our big ending stuff has pulled from stuff that we thought was going to be in season 2,” Ross said at WGFestival. That includes answering a lot of questions about the mysterious Upside Down — many of which involve the return of Vecna.

But the “epic” final season won’t be all lore, according to Finn Wolfhard (Mike Wheeler). “This last season is sort of a crossroads, and so we’re getting back into a lot of the dynamics of season one, which is really fun,” he told The Hollywood Reporter. “There’s some ‘leader Mike’ moments, and it’s a very grand season, obviously. Every season has gotten bigger and bigger and bigger, and this season is huge, but it’s also kind of isolated as well.”

This being the final season and all, some main characters will (probably?) die, but will it be enough to satiate Millie Bobby Brown and Gaten Matarazzo’s bloodlust? The Duffer Brothers are firm that “we’re not Game of Thrones,” but “we should kill more people,” Matarazzo pleaded earlier this year. “This show would be so much better if the stakes were much higher, like at any moment any of these kids can kick it. I feel like we’re all too safe.”

We’re also not safe from rumored time jumps. That’s nothing new for Stranger Things, but this leap forward might be more substantial than usual, due to the young cast looking older than the last time we saw them.

Cast

Millie Bobby Brown (Eleven) is busy being a “wifey” to Bon Jovi’s son in Universal Studios, but she’ll be back for season 5, as confirmed by a cast photo. Also returning: David Harbour (Jim Hopper), Winona Ryder (Joyce Byers), Finn Wolfhard (Mike Wheeler), Noah Schnapp (Will Byers), Gaten Matarazzo (Dustin Henderson), Caleb McLaughlin (Lucas Sinclair), Sadie Sink (Max Mayfield), Charlie Heaton (Jonathan Byers), Natalia Dyer (Nancy Wheeler), Joe Keery (Steve Harrington), Maya Hawke (Robin Buckley), Brett Gelman (Murray Bauman), Priah Ferguson (Erica Sinclair), Jamie Campbell Bower (Vecna), Cara Buono (Karen Wheeler), and Amybeth McNulty (Vickie).

Newcomers include The Terminator legend Linda Hamilton, who considered retiring from acting before landing a role on the show. Even if season 5 stinks, it’ll have been worth it to keep Hamilton around.

Release Date

Alas, Netflix hasn’t revealed the release date for season 5. But it will be in 2025.

Trailer

There’s no season 5 trailer, but there is Dustin (“Dusty Bun”) and Suzie singing the song from The NeverEnding Story. We’ll take what we can get.