Season 4 of Stranger Things dominated social conversation last summer, especially since the showrunners decided to split the season into two parts. Without giving away too much, the final episode left many viewers feeling devastated and a little pessimistic about Hawkins’ future, not unlike the audience that left the theater after Thanos walked in. Avengers: Infinity War.
Even though they haven’t started filming Season 5 yet, there is still a lot of information floating around about it. On popular podcasts Happy Sad Confusedwriter and director duo, Matt And Ross Duffer(professionally known as Brother Duffers), announced that the final season will be held Lots different from the previous four seasons.
You read that last sentence right, season five of Stranger Things will be the series finale, sadly. The Duffer Brothers have stated that when they came to Netflix with the field, they needed at least four or five seasons to tell the story they had in mind, to which Netflix responded by awarding them a five-season contract.
Read on to find out everything we know Stranger Things Season 5.
When Will Stranger Things 5 Come Out?
Perhaps the most important question regarding Season 5, but no official release date has been given yet. However, if you make your guesses based on the show’s track record of release dates, you can conclude that season five will be out in late 2024 as early as.
Season 1 premiered on July 15, 2016. Season 2 came out 15 months later on October 27, 2017. Season 3 followed on July 4, 2019, which is about 20 months later, and thanks in large part to the pandemic, Season 4 didn’t come out until about 35 months later. .
If you calculate the average waiting time between seasons, the average is about 23.5 months or roughly two years. It would be nice if we didn’t have to wait too long, of course, but that trajectory puts us around the middle of 2024. Also, following the same pattern should give us some official previews and teaser trailers as early as six to eight months before Season 5’s release.
In an interview with the Editor in Chief of Collider, Steve Weintraub, Matt and Ross Duffer explained that they wanted to prioritize content quality over delivery speed. Between writing, pre-production, filming, and post-production, no one wants their work to be compromised because they’re rushed.
The Duffers also noted in this interview that the visual effects team is on par with the Marvel Comic Universe, but at a much faster turnaround rate. There are more visual effects scenes in the Season 4 finale alone than in the entire third season Stranger Things.
How Many Episodes of Stranger Things 5 Will Be?
In August 2022, the Stranger Things the writer sent out a tweet that seemed to indicate that Season 5 would be eight episodes long, which is on par with Seasons 1 and 3. Seasons 2 and 4 both ran longer episodes with a total of 9 episodes.
The Duffer Brothers also acknowledged that there had been some complaints about episode length, suggesting that most episodes in Season 5 would be close to the running time of the previous season’s episodes by an hour or less. At the same time, they also indicated that the final episode would be closer to 2.5 hours of “epic fight”.
Because of how things ended at the end of Season 4, there won’t be time to slowly build up to the action in Season 5. Supposedly, it’s going to be full pedal-to-the-metal from the first episode.
Back in November, the Duffer Brothers revealed the official title for the first episode of the final season as “Chapter One: The Crawl.”
What Can We Expect From Stranger Things 5?
Both of them Millie Bobby Brownwho plays Eleven, and Noah Schnappwho played Will Byers, had called out The Duffer Brothers because they had not killed off any of the original cast/characters, instead only killed off a minor side character.
While they haven’t directly addressed what their death plans will be in Season 5, they have stated that “it’s not Game of Thrones,” and they didn’t want to turn off characters just for shock value.
While the deaths that have occurred so far are poignant and meaningful to the storyline, there are many Stranger Things fans have also voiced their criticism of the “plot armor” which always seems to protect the main character group.
In another interview with Collider, executive producer and director of the series Shawn Levi expressed his thoughts on the Duffer Brothers pitch for Season 5:
I know the Brothers have hinted at this publicly, but as we sat there and heard the two hour long pitch-out for this final season storyline, I don’t think there were any dry eyes in the room at that point. the brothers are done… so yeah, this final season is going to be epic and very emotional. I think making it would also be very emotional, because this show has changed the lives of all of us who have worked on it. Anyway, writing went really well, and we can’t wait to start production next year.
Levy also revealed that he would be directing an episode of the final season.
The Duffer Brothers also revealed that Season 5 will carry some of their leftover ideas they had originally planned for Season 2.
Noah Schnapp teased an emotional but exciting ending to Will’s arc in the series
“I can only tell you that I am very excited for what is to come. I think they did a great job with Will’s character this season, and beautifully handled everything they needed. The way they closed the show was perfect — the story started with Will, and will end with Will.
When Does Stranger Things 5 Start Filming?
Back in January, Noah Schnapp revealed in a social media post the making of the film Foreign object 5 will start filming in May.
However, several months later, David Harbor revealed in an interview with Collider that filming for the fifth and final season would begin in June.
“We’re into season five. I have a few months left to rehearse. We start filming in June, and that will be the last season. I did a lot of rehearsals for season four. He [Hopper] was in a very specific position, that Russian prison. It was about making him a different man and sort of shedding the layers of himself physically, mentally, and emotionally. But now he’s back in town, he’s back in America where they have cheeseburgers, so he’ll be full.”
However, due to the WGA strike and Netflix failing to pay fair compensation to writers’ quarters, pre-production of this season has stalled with filming possibly being delayed by several months now.
What is next?
After the fifth and final season of Stranger Things looking ahead (not dissimilar to Mind-Flayer), voracious fans are eager to know what the future holds. Don’t be sad that it’s almost over, but happy that you’re along for the ride. Luckily, there’s good news about the next big things to come Stranger Things the universe and its creator.
Netflix has confirmed the spin-off series, and while The Duffer Brothers is playing up the details, they say that it will be “1,000% different” from the current series. In addition to the spin-off series, they will also oversee the production of a stage play it is based on Stranger Things universe.
This stage play will be produced by Sonia Friedman (Harry Potter and the Cursed Child) and directed by Stephen Daldry (Billy Elliot), a famous British theater duo who have worked together many times in the past.
The play will be officially titled Stranger Things: The First Shadow and will premiere at the Phoenix Theater in London. The official plot synopsis for the show reads:
Hawkins, 1959: an ordinary town with ordinary worries. Young Jim Hopper’s car won’t start, Bob Newby’s sister doesn’t want to take her radio show seriously and Joyce Maldonado just wants to graduate and go out of town. When new student Henry Creel arrives, his family discovers that new beginnings aren’t easy… and the shadows of the past have far-reaching reach.Brought to you by a multi-award winning creative team, who take theatrical storytelling and stage art to a whole new dimension, this gripping new adventure will take you back to the beginning of the Stranger Things story – and may hold the key to its ending.
The show will start in November 2023.
The Duffer Brothers have also started a new label with Netflix for their future collaboration (including a spin-off series) called “The Reverse Picture”. The label’s primary focus will be on the stories that inspired The Duffer Brothers as they grew up; where the ordinary clashes with the extraordinary and allows for powerful character arcs that prove that courage and heart can defeat evil.
In addition to the spin-off series, new label The Duffer Brothers will also be in charge of the new Stephen King miniseries adaptation of the novel, Amulet. Amblin Partners, led by Steven Spielbergwill partner with Upside Down Pictures to develop this miniseries for Netflix.
Upside Down Pictures will also be behind the second live-action adaptation of Death note for Netflix, based on the Japanese manga and anime. Instead of a full-length film like the 2017 adaptation, this new adaptation will be a television series.