- calendar_today August 25, 2025
Stranger Things Final Season Features Feature-Length Episodes
Netflix has released the first official teaser for Stranger Things Season 5, and boy, is it everything we could have asked for and more. The five-minute extended trailer, which you can watch below, is packed to the brim with new action, easter eggs, and that signature foreboding atmosphere that leaves you longing for more.
It doesn’t take long for the characters to start duking it out, either. The new footage contains more than a few tips of the hat to horror/sci-fi classics like Jurassic Park and Hellraiser, and some well-deserved face time for fans’ favorite badass Linda Hamilton.
The finale picks up from where Season 4 left off, which was, to put it mildly, an apocalyptic cliffhanger. Vecna—the horned, unholy evil behind all the monsters and chaos—managed to open a giant portal, letting the Upside Down spill into Hawkins in its entirety. Season 5, it seems, will follow suit in terms of epic plot developments and payoffs. The teaser hints at a significant time skip, and Season 5 will take place in the fall of 1987. Coincidentally, 1987 was also the third anniversary of Will Byers’ disappearance, which, in turn, was the event that started the entire Stranger Things story in Season 1.
Season 5 will contain eight episodes, but they’re all feature-length, so don’t go getting any funny ideas about a “normal” Stranger Things season. These episodes are more like feature films, so it’s essentially eight Stranger Things movies on Netflix.
As for the story itself, the synopsis for the fifth and final season of Stranger Things, which can be found at the top of this post, sets up most of the central conflicts. Hawkins, as a town, has been irrevocably altered by the Rifts and Vecna’s apocalyptic mayhem. All the Hawkins crew and the Stranger Things newcomers can agree on is the need to find and kill Vecna as soon as possible. The problem is, Vecna could be anywhere. And, he hasn’t made a move yet. The U.S. military has quarantined the area and intensified its manhunt for Eleven, who has again been forced to go on the run.
On top of all that, the third anniversary of Will’s disappearance is fast approaching. In Stranger Things’ world, if there’s one thing more terrifying than a reanimated corpse or a coven of upside-down witches, it’s a date on a calendar. The official Stranger Things teaser trailer makes it clear: all bets are off now. The final battle for Hawkins is here, and it’s darker and more violent than the ones we’ve seen before. Everyone will need to be there, all the allies, for the final battle.
The whole Hawkins crew will be back in Season 5, as well as several important recurring characters. Amybeth McNulty and Gabriella Pizzolo, who play Vicki and Suzie, respectively, are both expected to reprise their roles, along with Dustin’s girlfriend Suzie. Jamie Campbell Bower will also be back as Vecna.
Several new faces will be joining the crew, as well. Linda Hamilton will play a character named Dr. Kay, and there’s more than a little Linda Hamilton energy in that short tease. (We’re getting some Linda Hamilton fatigue by the way, but the tradeoff is worth it.) Some of the other new Stranger Things cast members include Nell Fisher as Holly Wheeler, Jake Connelly as Derek Turnbow, and Alex Breaux as Lt. Akers.
If you’re looking for some old-school nostalgia and classic Stranger Things gags, you’ll be in luck. One of the longer Stranger Things Season 5 teaser scenes in the trailer, which takes place in a kitchen and features Lucas being hunted by demo-dogs, is eerily reminiscent of the famous velociraptor kitchen scene from Jurassic Park. Plus, of course, hearing Vecna’s inhuman, low-key “found you” is, well, familiar. Bone-chilling.
Emotionally, the teaser packs a wallop as well. If you’re a fan of Eddie Munson (Matthew Modine), that scene where the High Dragon’s gravestone is vandalized with the words “Burn in hell” might cut deep. Despite Eddie’s sacrifice in the Season 4 finale and his subsequent canonization by the Stranger Things fandom, not everyone in Hawkins still sees Eddie as a hero. Eddie was, to some, a villain and a traitor. Despite how the fifth season handles the Eddie Munson mythos, Eddie’s death was one of the biggest gut-punches Stranger Things has ever dealt its characters or its fans, up there with Bob Newby’s death in Season 2.
You also need to be aware of Netflix’s new release strategy for Stranger Things Season 5, because it might not go over very well with viewers. Instead of dropping all eight episodes at once, Netflix will release the new season in three installments, or “volumes.” The first volume will be available November 26, 2025. Volume 2 will come out on December 25, 2025, while the third and final installment will debut on December 31, 2025. Yep. It’s a Stranger Things holiday, and nobody asked for this.
The new release schedule means it’s going to be a long time between now and the Hawkins’ final stand, and it’s also going to mean a lot of Stranger Things fan theories and content to keep up with over the next few months. Stranger Things will be a holiday season topic of conversation for the foreseeable future.
