The long-awaited part 2 of Stranger Things season 5 dropped on Netflix, and it delivered perhaps more than people were expecting. Stranger Things seems to get better – and more terrifying – as the series progresses, explaining why the show’s popularity has ballooned massively since season 1’s premiere.
Netflix fans know that the streaming powerhouse nowadays tends to end series at season 3 or season 4, regardless of whether the storyline’s complete. Netflix ended Ozark after delivering season 4 in two batches. It also delivered Stranger Things in two sets – does it mean we’ve seen the last of Stranger Things?
The Duffer Brothers have announced that season 5 will be the last one and hinted at developing spinoffs
In February 2022, the Duffer Brothers wrote a letter to fans stating that we’d get Stranger Things season 5 as the showrunners had failed to complete the story in four seasons. Matt and Ross Duffer wrote:
“We predicted the story would last for four to five seasons. It proved too large to tell in four but – as you’ll soon see for yourselves – we are now hurtling toward our finale. Season 4 will be the penultimate season; season five will be the last.”
The Duffer Brothers also hinted at developing Stranger Things spinoffs: “There are still many more exciting stories to tell within the world of Stranger Things; new mysteries, new adventures, new unexpected heroes.
They added that the development of a spinoff would come after the completion of the original Stranger Things story. The brothers said:
“First we hope that you stay with us as we finish this tale of a powerful girl named Eleven and her brave friends, of a broken police chief and a ferocious mom, of a small town called Hawkins and an alternate dimension known only as the Upside Down.”
Season 5 will likely drop in late 2023 or early 2024 and have an emotional end
It took three years for season 4 to appear on Netflix, but let’s keep in mind that the world had a pandemic to deal with. Filming for season 4 ended in September 2021, and the season arrived nine months later.
The showrunners haven’t started filming season 5. If they started sometime in 2021, season 5 would arrive in late 2023 or early 2024.
Netflix has confirmed that it will maintain its binge model when releasing the final Stranger Things. Peter Friedlander, Netflix’s head of scripted series for the U.S. and Canada, told Variety:
“For the fans of Stranger Things this is how they’ve been watching that show, and I think to change that on them would be disappointing. To not give them exactly what they’ve been expecting—which is Stranger Things is a seasonal experience, they go through that with them—I think that it would be an abrupt change for the member.”
Considering season 4’s ending, fans can expect Stranger Things season 5 to get right into the action. There’s a lot at stake, meaning the team must move fast to save themselves and their town.
We expect an emotional ending, one likely to make us shed a few – or many – tears. Matt Duffer told The Wrap:
“We do have an outline for Season 5 and we pitched it to Netflix and they really responded well to it. I mean, it was hard. It’s the end of the story. I saw executives crying who I’ve never seen cry before and it was wild.”