Stranger Things Spoilers: The Final Battle Begins…
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It’s time to track down Vecna.
And “end this once and for all.”
So says a main character in the very first Stranger Things Season 5 trailer, which Netflix has now released and which gives fans their initial look at the final set of episodes for this legendary drama.
“I think what’s unique about this season is that it starts a little bit in chaos because our heroes ultimately lost at the end of Season 4,” co-creator Ross Duffer previously told Tudum.
“We usually set up their normal life and how they’re going about school, and then we introduce the supernatural element. But in this case, this season is sprinting from the start.”
Fellow executive producer Matt Duffer added that the group is “not experiencing normal life. Nothing in Hawkins is normal anymore.”
On lockdown, “their movement is restricted, and there are Big Brother cameras everywhere. So not only are they active — their everyday, normal lives are anything but.”
What will this mean for each of our favorites going forward?
In the closing moments of the trailer, Vecna — standing in a military base in flames, filled with dead soldiers — levitates an incapacitated Will toward him.
“William,” he says. “You are going to help me — one last time.”
GULP.
Netflix, meanwhile, spoke to key cast members to get a preview of what’s on tap for Season 5. Consider yourself SPOILER WARNED and scroll down to learn more…
Millie Bobby Brown (Eleven): “Eleven is in training mode. She’s in a warrior state, which is the first time you see Eleven like that at the beginning of a season. As for her mindset, all she is thinking about is protecting her friends. Her friends are her chosen family, so she will do whatever it takes to protect them.”
Gaten Matarazzo (Dustin): “Dustin is in a bit of a funk. I think everybody probably is considering the state that Hawkins is in, and it’s getting a little bit harder for the gang to keep all the pieces together. We’re all dealing with the day-to-day issues of what it is to try to keep everybody safe and figure out where Vecna is, while having a lot of unpacked baggage from the events of the previous season.”
Caleb McLaughlin (Lucas): “It’s always been at the beginning of a season that everything is all good, but this is the first season we come into it and the stakes are the same as where we left off. We haven’t defeated Vecna and the problem is still there. We’re still trying to figure it out and may not be able to figure it out, so you feel that burden on Lucas as well as everyone else. Everyone is on edge, and we’re all just trying to keep hope alive.”
Noah Schnapp (Will): “Will is back in Hawkins this season. He was out of Hawkins last season, so now we’re seeing the effects of him being back in that realm. We kind of hit the ground running right away this season, which is really exciting and not how we’ve started any other season. Everyone is all in one place, and we all have the same objective.”
Sadie Sink (Max): “We [ended] Season 4 in a tough place for Max. Her final moments were of her in a hospital bed. Eleven was searching for her in the Void and couldn’t find her, so Max is definitely not the way she once was. There’s still a small glimmer of hope, though, and her friends are hanging on to that.”
Finn Wolfhard (Mike): “Mike is back in leadership mode, and he’s taken it more upon himself to help plan out these missions, and he and the whole gang are devoted to finding Vecna and ending this.”
The final season of Stranger Things will be cimprised of eight episodes, with Netflix releasing the first four (Volume 1) on November 26, the next three (Volume 2) on December 25 and the two-hour finale on New Year’s Eve.
In an unprecedented move, the streamer is also releasing the finale in more than 350 movie theaters on the same night, playing through January 1, 2026.
Get ready, folks.
Here we go.
