For the first time since 2022, “Stranger Things” fans can watch a new episode — or at least part of one.
On Nov. 6 — the day Will Byers goes missing in Season 1 of the hit Netflix series — “Stranger Things” shared the first five minutes of its fifth and final season.
And as “Stranger Things” creators Matt and Ross Duffer have hinted over the three years since releasing Season 4, it all goes back to the beginning.
‘Stranger Things’ releases first 5 minutes of Season 5
Although the final season will pick up 18 months after the Season 4 finale, the opening scene shows a flashback to the first season, when Will Byers is trapped in the Upside Down, hiding in his makeshift fort and shakily singing The Clash’s “Should I Stay or Should I Go” for comfort.
This opening scene appears to pick up where Season 1, Episode 7 ends, showing what happens to Will once a demogorgon in the Upside Down comes for him.
A battle ensues between Will and a demogorgon. Will races out of the fort and climbs up a tree in an effort to escape. But the demogorgon ends up overtaking him and dragging him away to a dark lair.
As vines wrap around Will, ensnaring him in the lair, another monster slowly emerges out of the darkness: Vecna.
This is a fairly big reveal for “Stranger Things.” Viewers were first introduced to Vecna last season, but now it’s clear he’s been a part of the storyline — and connected to Will — all along.
“At long last,” Vecna tells Will in the opening scene. “We can begin. You and I, we are going to do such beautiful things together, William. Such beautiful things.”
In the Season 4 finale, Will indicated that he could feel to a degree what Vecna is thinking. Now, it’s more clear why this connection exists.
The opening scene, which already has more than 3 million views on YouTube, sets the tone for the final season returning to the show’s roots. It also seems to indicate that Will, who was somewhat sidelined in the fourth season, will play a greater role.
‘Stranger Things’ comes full circle
The Duffer brothers have long hinted that the fifth season will be somewhat of a full-circle arc for the show, marking a return to what captivated audiences in the first place.
The opening scene indicates the final season will move in that direction.
“We wanna go back to a lot of the things we did in Season 1,” Matt Duffer previously told Entertainment Weekly. “A lot of the original groupings and pairings that we had in Season 1 — there’s something nice about coming full circle.”
The final episode of “Stranger Things,” which will hit Netflix and select theaters on New Year’s Eve, has received high praise — and tears — from cast members.
“The last 30 minutes of it are pretty clear in our heads,” Ross Duffer told Entertainment Weekly long before production on Season 5 began. “So if we can make the journey entertaining, I think that we have an end that will hopefully satisfy. You can’t satisfy everyone, but the hope is that it’s something that feels right for this story.”
When does ‘Stranger Things’ Season 5 come out?
Below is the release schedule for the fifth and final season of “Stranger Things”:
- Season 5, Volume 1 (the first four episodes) — Nov. 26 at 6 p.m MST (the day before Thanksgiving)
- Season 5, Volume 2 (the next three episodes) — Christmas, 6 p.m. MST
- Season 5 finale — New Year’s Eve, 6 p.m. MST