We've known that it's coming for some time now, but truth be told, we're still struggling with the idea of saying goodbye to Stranger Things after nine years of Hawkins hijinks and Upside Down shenanigans from those Duffer Brothers. And so too, it seems, is Netflix. Having already spread their flagship sci-fi series' fourth season across two volumes (with a monster 139 minute finale), the streamer used tonight's TUDUM event — featuring appearances from stars Finn Wolfhard, Noah Schnapp, and Caleb McLaughlin — to reveal that Stranger Things' fifth and final season will be releasing in three parts. A four-episode Volume 1 is due to drop on 26 November; Volume 2, comprising three episodes, is coming on Christmas Day; and the finale is set to air on New Year's Eve. Check out the announcement trailer below;
Now, for the most part this teaser for Stranger Things Season 5 is pretty much a hype reel comprising clips from seasons past (look how young Millie Bobby Brown was back then! And Gaten Matarazzo! And the lil' Mindflayer!). But once we get into the release date reveals, there are some tantalising fresh glimpses at the season ahead. Pushing the chronological needle forward to the fall of 1987, a full year and a half on from Hawkins rupturing finale of Season 4, the new series looks to be an almightily epic conclusion. There's Joyce (Winona Ryder) wielding an axe; Dustin and Steve (Joe Keery) in what looks to be the Upside Down; Hopper (David Harbour) holding Eleven as her nose bleeds and she cries out; Mike (Wolfhard) protecting a band of new nerdlings; ominous red lights coming from a rupturing floor; and Will (Schnapp) screaming "Run!" in the sort of way you'd imagine one would shout "Run!" if something eldritch and of another world was on its way. Funsies!
And that’s not all, folks. We now have an official synopsis for the season ahead too: “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. 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”
As the final season's episode titles have already revealed, the very last episode of Stranger Things is called 'The Rightside Up'. Just how exactly our band of heroes will straighten things out with the Upside Down however very much remains to be seen. We'll find out if the finale is a critical hit — or a natural one-star — for ourselves when Stranger Things Season 5 lands on Netflix on 26 November... and at Christmas... and on New Year's Eve. See you there, nerds!