- The final season of “Stranger Things” is releasing almost a decade after the first season.
- First volume premieres on Nov. 26, followed by more episodes on Dec. 25 and 31.
- Netflix will screen the finale in over 350 theaters during the New Year’s holiday.
Almost a decade after the release of Season 1, the fifth season of “Stranger Things” will finally premiere in less than a month, and the newly released trailer gives fans a glimpse into what they can expect from the final season.
Netflix released a nearly three-minute-long trailer on Thursday for the final season of its hit coming-of-age sci-fi series. The first season of the series premiered in 2016.
The official description of the new season reads: “The fall of 1987. Hawkins is scarred by the opening of the Rifts, and our heroes are united by a single goal: find and kill Vecna. But he has vanished — his whereabouts and plans unknown. Complicating their mission, the government has placed the town under military quarantine and intensified its hunt for Eleven, forcing her back into hiding.”
The description continues: “As the anniversary of Will’s disappearance approaches, so does a heavy, familiar dread. The final battle is looming — and with it, a darkness more powerful and more deadly than anything they’ve faced before. To end this nightmare, they’ll need everyone — the full party — standing together, one last time.”
Here’s a look at what viewers can learn from the trailers as well as when they will be able to watch the new season.
What fans will see in the new trailer
The new trailer opens in the Upside Down version of the Hawkins Library, which is covered in slimy vines. This spot is where Will Byers (Noah Schnapp) was found after he went missing during the series’ first season.
The song “Who Wants to Live Forever” by Queen plays throughout the trailer as it lays out the situation the citizens of Hawkins, Indiana, are in.
Viewers learn that Vecna (Jamie Campbell Bower) is back and determined to invade the real world, meaning all of the fan-favorite characters must come together to “find Vecna and end this once and for all,” as Finn Wolfhard’s character Mike says in the trailer.
The trailer also shows Demogorgons tearing through soldiers that are holding Hawkins under quarantine, and Lucas (Caleb McLaughlin) is seen holding a still-comatose Max (Sadie Sink) in a hospital elevator as a Demo-dog runs toward them.
Other characters are shown working to take down Vecna in various ways.
At the end of the trailer, Vecna stands in a military base, which is in flames and full of dead soldiers, as he levitates an incapacitated Will toward him.
“William,” he says “you are going to help me — one last time.”
When will Season 5 be released?
“Stranger Things” Season 5 will have eight total episodes, which will be released in three parts, all during holiday weekends, per Variety.
Volume 1, consisting of the first four episodes, will be released on Nov. 26, and the next three episodes will make up Volume 2, which will be released on Christmas. The series finale will be released on New Year’s Eve.
Each episode drop will be at 5 p.m. PST.
Netflix is also releasing the finale in over 350 movie theaters on New Year’s Eve and it will play through Jan. 1, 2026, per Variety.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Netflix has already released all the episode titles for the season as well: “The Crawl,” “The Vanishing of (censored for now),” “The Turnbow Trap,” “Sorcerer,” “Shock Jock,” “Escape From Camazotz,” “The Bridge” and “The Rightside Up.”
Watch the full trailer here
A few months ago, Netflix released a teaser trailer for the show’s final season. Fans can watch that teaser here:
This is not the end of the ‘Stranger Things’ universe
According to The Hollywood Reporter, the show’s creators have previously hinted at upcoming projects in the “Stranger Things” universe.
“There are more ‘Stranger Things’ stories to tell and in the works,” co-creator Matt Duffer said. “It’s a bit early at this point to talk about them, but we’re deeply involved in every one — it’s very important to us that anything with the ‘Stranger Things’ name on it is of the highest quality and not repetitive — that it has a reason to exist and always blazes its own path."
He added: “And also, it needs to basically just be … awesome. Or we need to think it’s awesome. And there are a lot of what we think are awesome things in the pipeline,” per The Hollywood Reporter.