I’ve watched all of Stranger Things season 5, here’s what you need to know

By Anthony Orlando, Jason Struss and Dan Girolamo Updated January 13, 2026

Season 5 of Netflix’s Stranger Things has been one of the most thrilling events in television history. The series followed the heroes of Hawkins as they raced to find Vecna after he tore open a massive Gate to the Upside Down, leading to an epic final battle for the fate of the world.

Now that the show has come to an end, many juicy details regarding the season to end all seasons have been revealed. Here’s everything that we have learned about Stranger Things 5 and the franchise’s future.

Like Stranger Things season 4, the final season was split into multiple volumes. Volume 1 (episodes 1-4) premiered on November 26, 2025. Volume 2 (episodes 5-7) premiered on December 25, 2025. The series finale premiered on December 31, 2025. This entire season was a Thanksgiving feast, a Christmas gift, and a New Year’s bash for fans of the series.

Stranger Things 5 is only available to stream on Netflix. However, Netflix announced that the show’s finale episode would have limited theatrical screenings in over 350 theaters in the U.S. and Canada. These screenings began on December 31 at 5 p.m. EST and ran through January 1, 2026.

On May 31, 2025, Netflix released a first look at Stranger Things season 5, including the episode release dates. While most of the video featured archival footage from previous seasons, it showed new footage of Joyce wielding an ax against a Demogorgon, Karen and Holly Wheeler holding each other in fear, and armed soldiers surrounding an orange light erupting from the floor. The video ends with Will screaming for everyone to run, heralding the arrival of something big and terrifying.

On July 16, 2025, Netflix released an official teaser for Stranger Things season 5. With Deep Purple’s Child in Time playing in the background, this exhilarating video features shots of Hawkins occupied by the U.S. military, with soldiers stationed in front of the Gate to the Upside Down. There are also shots of heroes facing off against Demogorgons, the Mind Flayer swirling up a radio tower, and Vecna returning with a spiky new form.

Netflix unleashed an incredible official trailer for the new season on October 30. The video shows the heroes of Hawkins as they hunt Vecna. The video shows the group venturing into the Upside Down and facing off against its monsters, culminating in armed soldiers facing a horde of Demogorgons. It all ends with Vecna lifting Will off the ground and saying he will help him “one last time.” The trailer plays to the epic sound of Queen’s Who Wants to Live Forever.

The trailer for volume 2 came out on December 15. In it, we see the heroes make more shocking discoveries about the Upside Down at Hawkins Lab. As Demodogs hunt for her in the real world, Max tries to escape Camazotz with Holly, encountering Vecna in his true form. We even see the cast fighting Dr. Kay and her soldiers, all while Diana Ross’s Upside Down plays in the background.

On December 30, Netflix released a trailer for the series finale. The video highlights all the horrors and suffering Eleven and her friends experienced throughout the show as they prepare for their final battle against Vecna.

A poster for Stranger Things 5 was released alongside the season’s official trailer on October 30. Illustrator Kyle Lambert, who worked on the posters for each of the show’s seasons, created this one. Once again, the show boasts an 80s-inspired visual style for its latest poster, which features a redesigned Vecna looming over the cast.

Lambert also designed a second poster exclusively for the finale, featuring the cast in the Abyss in front of Vecna’s lair.

Season 4 spent a lot of time introducing a variety of characters, such as Eddie, Argyle, Dmitri, Yuri, Vecna, and Victor Creel, to name a few. This all contributed to the season’s extraordinarily long runtime, which many audiences took issue with.

Though there were some new additions to the cast, the final season focused primarily on the originals, which was undoubtedly a welcome move. Here’s a quick breakdown of who’s in play:

With the major questions out of the way, let’s discuss some of the other details we know or that the show and showrunners confirmed.

Netflix revealed that Stranger Things 5 takes place in the fall of 1987, near the anniversary of Will’s kidnapping. This places season 5 over a year after season 4 and around four years after season 1 began. The show also jumped to 1989 in the finale, showing what has become of the heroes of Hawkins after they defeated Vecna.

Season 4 of Stranger Things proved to be the show’s biggest yet in terms of scope. It followed the heroes as they lived separately and traveled through the U.S., Russia, and even the Upside Down. In contrast, the final season followed the cast in Hawkins and the Upside Down.

While that may not sound like anything new, a giant Gate ripped through Hawkins in season 4, causing the military to quarantine the town. Overall, season 5 spends a considerable amount of time in the Upside Down, as the heroes repeatedly enter this realm in their search for Vecna.

Season 5 revealed a new location in the world of Hawkins: the WSQK radio station. Radio devices have been crucial in previous seasons of Stranger Things, from the kids’ signature walkie-talkies to Eleven using radio to focus her telepathy. Not only do Robin and Steve run a radio show together, but the heroes also use the station as a secret base during their hunt for Vecna.

Season 5 revealed that the heroes spent almost a year searching for Vecna, who disappeared after the season 4 finale. Though some of them assumed he died from his injuries, unsurprisingly, he was alive.

Vecna was also using his psychic powers to speak to Holly and many of her classmates, masquerading as “Mr. Whatsit.” Literary enthusiasts will recognize this as a reference to “Mrs. Whatsit,” a character in A Wrinkle in Time.

Vecna had his Demogorgons kidnap these children, saying they would be “perfect vessels” and easier to manipulate. It was later revealed that Vecna planned to use these twelve kids to amplify his powers to merge Earth with his own. Vecna did something similar with Will in season 2, who actually forged the tunnels beneath while he was possessed.

Will Byers played a pivotal part in the show’s first two seasons, as he was the first person to be dragged into the Upside Down. Though the third and fourth seasons explored Will’s isolation from his friends and his closeted sexuality, he has very much taken a back seat from the rest of the group. However, Matt Duffer revealed to Collider that season 5 would focus on Will and show him “come into his own.”

Season 5 explored Will’s relationship with Vecna, who personally forged a psychic link with the boy in season 1. Will used his connection to Vecna’s hive mind to search for him with Robin. He saw through the Demogorgon’s eyes as it attacked the military and pursued the Wheelers. He could also see through Vecna’s eyes as he infiltrated people’s minds.

Will had a stellar hero moment when he harnessed Vecna’s powers, using telekinesis to kill multiple Demogorgons that threatened his loved ones. He even used this newfound power to take control of Vecna, later snapping the villain’s arm clean off his body. Since the show began with Will’s disappearance, it’s only fair that it ended with him getting the spotlight.

Eight episodes have been confirmed for season 5. Here are the titles and runtimes for each episode: 

The Duffer Brothers directed the first, second, fourth, seventh, and eighth episodes of the fifth season. Likewise, Shawn Levy, the show’s executive producer, directed the sixth episode and co-directed the seventh. Levy previously directed two episodes in each season, including the fan-favorite Dear Billy.

Frank Darabont directed the third and fifth episodes of season 5. Darabont is famous for directing three acclaimed Stephen King adaptations: The Shawshank Redemption, The Green Mile, and The Mist. Since King’s works heavily influenced the Duffers in the making of Stranger Things, having a director well-versed in adapting such stories seems like a match made in Heaven.

Season 4 featured some shocking character deaths, including that of Eleven’s “papa,” Dr. Brenner. Though this isn’t the first time that Brenner appeared to bite the dust, the Duffers confirmed on Happy Sad Confused that the doctor is dead “for real this time.”

As for Max, she was left in a comatose state after her brief death in season 4. However, Max returned as a prisoner inside Vecna’s mind, nicknamed “Camazotz” by Holly. She then teamed up with Holly to escape their prison, reuniting with her loved ones in the real world in The Bridge.

In the show’s last episode, the Party finally killed Vecna, with Joyce furiously chopping the villain’s head off his body. It is unclear whether the Mind Flayer survived the final battle. Even after the Party took down its giant, physical form, some of its particles were still active, as seen when they flew out of Holly’s body. Whatever its fate, the Party destroyed the wormhole leading to the Abyss, which should prevent the Mind Flayer from attacking Earth.

There were still casualties on both sides of the conflict, as Kali was fatally shot by Lt. Akers, who was then killed by Eleven. Eleven herself seemed to have died when she stayed in the Upside Down when it was destroyed, not wanting the military to harvest her blood to create more evil psychics like Vecna.

However, Mike theorized that Eleven teamed up with Kali to fake her death so she could escape and live a happy, peaceful life. The fact that Eleven spoke to Mike telepathically when the military used their suppression devices on her supports this theory, as she would have to be out of range to use her powers. Whether or not Eleven survived the Upside Down’s destruction, Kali surely lost her life in the wormhole’s collapse.

Eighteen months after the Upside Down’s collapse, the U.S. military has left Hawkins, and all the characters have gone their separate ways. Most of the younger heroes have either left town for college or have taken up new jobs. Steve became a local coach and sex-ed teacher, Jonathan is studying filmmaking in college, and Nancy dropped out of school for a job at the Boston Herald.

We also see Mike, Dustin, Lucas, Will, and Max graduate from Hawkins High School. Hopper and Joyce even get engaged, with the former suggesting they move to Montauk.

The Upside Down was one of the show’s greatest mysteries for years, but audiences finally got some concrete answers about it in season 5. Dustin learns from Brenner’s notes that the Upside Down is actually a wormhole leading to another dimension dubbed “The Abyss.” This world is the true home of the Mind Flayer, the Demogorgons, and all the other monsters the heroes have faced throughout the series.

The Upside Down was also held together by a sphere of “exotic matter” hovering over its version of Hawkins Lab. While this was assumed to be a Vecna’s “shield generator,” it was actually the only thing linking both worlds. When Nancy shot a bullet into this exotic matter, it tore a hole in the giant wall surrounding the Upside Down, nearly sucking everyone into oblivion. The Upside Down was completely destroyed when the Party blew up the exotic matter in the finale.

The popular Netflix series took over London’s West End with its stage play, Stranger Things: The First Shadow. This story depicts the origins of many of the show’s adult characters, including Henry Creel, who encountered the Mind Flayer in Nevada as a child. He disappeared for 12 hours and returned with his psychic powers and an overwhelming urge to kill.

In season 5, we see that young Henry found a rogue government scientist in a Nevada cave, holding a strange briefcase. The Rightside Up revealed that Henry was possessed by the Mind Flayer as a child after being exposed to a stone in the briefcase, implied to have originated from the Abyss.

As revealed in The First Shadow, season 5 confirmed that all the psychic children raised in Hawkins Lab were created by infusing their pregnant mothers with Vecna’s blood. Dr. Kay has been trying to replicate these experiments by using Kali’s blood for transfusions, but the latter claimed that only Eleven’s blood would suffice.

Although this is the final season of the main series, we will see more shows set in the Stranger Things universe. While speaking to Variety, the Duffers said, “There are still many more exciting stories to tell within the world of Stranger Things. New mysteries, new adventures, new unexpected heroes.”

Netflix will release the animated series, Stranger Things: Tales From ’85. Via Collider, this spin-off series is inspired by the Saturday-morning cartoons the Duffer Brothers grew up watching, such as Beetlejuice and The Real Ghostbusters. The revealed plot synopsis for the show reads:

“Welcome back to Hawkins in the stark winter of 1985, where the original characters must fight new monsters and unravel a paranormal mystery terrorizing their town in Stranger Things: Tales From ’85, an epic new animated series.”

There will also be another live-action spin-off. Following the series finale, Matt Duffer revealed that the stone from the Abyss that Henry discovered will play a role in the spin-off’s story:

“The spin-off is going to delve into that and explain that, and you’re going to understand it. But it’s a completely different mythology. So it’s not a deep exploration of the Mind Flayer or anything like that. It’s very fresh and very new, but yes, it will answer some of the loose threads that are remaining.”

Whatever the spin-offs’ stories are, with the Duffers, we’re certainly in for a wild ride, so buckle up.