See Stranger Things 5 Volume 2 Trailer and Everything Else You Need to Know About the Final Season

Warning: Spoilers for Stranger Things 4: Volume 2 and Stranger Things 5: Volume 1 ahead.

The beginning of the end is here. After much waiting, season 5 of Stranger Things, the show's final season, is unfolding, and if you've already watched Volume 1, get ready because the trailer for Volume 2 is officially here, and then all that's left is the finale.

In February 2022, the Duffer Brothers announced the news that season 5 would be Stranger Things' swan song in an open letter shared with fans alongside the official poster for season 4. The Duffer Brothers have served as the series creators and showrunners since Stranger Things premiered on Netflix back in 2016.

The Duffer Brothers also revealed that though Stranger Things may be coming to an end, its universe will not. “There are still many more exciting stories to tell within the world of Stranger Things; new mysteries, new adventures, new unexpected heroes.”

With the promise of so much and so little left on the horizon, we've gathered everything we know so far about Stranger Things season 5, including trailers, release dates, plot details, cast info, and more. Below, check out everything you need to know about Stranger Things 5 and click on a topic to jump there directly.

Courtesy of Netflix

Stranger Things 5 follows the Hawkins gang's final adventure as they team up to crack their biggest mystery yet: how to defeat Vecna once and for all.

The official synopsis for the season, as shared by Netflix, is as follows: “The fall of 1987. Hawkins is scarred by the opening of the Rifts, and our heroes are united by a single goal: to 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.”

Netflix released the trailer for Volume 2 of Stranger Things 5 on Monday, December 15. The trailer, which you can watch above, picks up where Volume 1 ends, after Will unlocks his psychic abilities to save his friends. “We failed. We never stood a chance,” his voice then proclaims before his mother Joyce adds: “This is not over, not by a long shot.”

In the following few scenes, we see Max and Holly, who are stuck in Vecna's mind-prison (a.k.a. Camazotz), as well as Nancy, Jonathan, Steve, and Dustin getting ready for action. “This time, everything we had assumed about the Upside Down has been dead wrong,” Dustin says. As Diana Ross's "Upside Down" begins playing, we then see a determined El asking Kali to help her find Vecna to kill him, and the rest of the characters getting ready to fight back.

Previously, Netflix had released the official trailer for Stranger Things 5 on Nov. 23, just in time for Halloween. In the trailer, which is scored by Queen's “Who Wants to Live Forever,” we see Vecna getting ready to return, and the Hawkins gang, with Mike leading, getting ready to rally and take Vecna down for good and save the world. We see Eleven tapping into her full potential, Lucas escaping with Max, Vecna possessing Will, and so much chaos.

Previously, on Sunday, Nov. 23, Netflix dropped the Stranger Things 5 Volume 1 trailer, which was explicitly for the first four episodes. The trailer opened with our Hawkins faves in the middle of an “insane” plan, as Dustin proclaims, “I want to see Vecna's heart on a platter.”

To coincide with the release of the trailer for Season 5 Volume 2, Netflix put out 19 images showing what the gang is up to to defeat Vecna. We see Steve and Dustin stunned by tentacles, a ruminative Will, and much more, all of which correspond to a key moment in the trailer. You can see all the images scrolling or using the arrows below:

Also, to coincide with the release of the first teaser trailer on July 16, 2025, Netflix released the first set of photos from Stranger Things season 5, most of which correspond to key moments in that trailer. On October 30, coinciding with the release of the official trailer, the streamer put out 10 new photos. You can see them all below:

On May 31, 2025, Netflix confirmed Stranger Things season 5 would be released in three installments: Volume 1 on November 26, Volume 2 on Christmas Day, and the finale on New Year's Eve 2025. As for exact timings, each volume comes out at 5:00 p.m. PT. (That is 8:00 p.m. if you are on the East Coast.) The finale will also be released in selected theaters in the US and Canada.

Courtesy of Netflix

Stranger Things season 5 consists of eight episodes. On Stranger Things Day 2024, Netflix unveiled all eight episode titles for the fifth season, which will no doubt have fans busy trying to crack the code of each episode title before the season premieres. (Click here to find our breakdown of the episode titles and what they might reveal about the plot of season 5.)

• Episode 1: The Crawl
• Episode 2: The Vanishing of Holly Wheeler
• Episode 3: The Turnbow Trap
• Episode 4: Sorcerer
• Episode 5: Shock Jock
• Episode 6: Escape from Camazotz
• Episode 7: The Bridge
• Episode 8: The Rightside Up

While eight may seem like a small episode count for a final season, Maya Hawke emphasized the crew's focus on the length and quality of the eight episodes. While speaking to Podcrushed in early July 2024, Maya Hawke joked that the show was “cursed” by delays, but it was all worth it. “We’re making, basically, eight movies," clarified Hawke. "The episodes are very long.”

How long? Well, Ross Duffer spilled the beans in an Instagram post on October 13, 2025, revealing the runtimes for the first four episodes of season 5 (a.k.a. Stranger Things Season 5: Volume 1), which are as follows:

• Episode 1: 1 hour 8 minutes
• Episode 2: 54 minutes
• Episode 3: 1 hour 6 minutes
• Episode 4: 1 hour 23 minutes

The runtimes for the remaining episodes, which will be included in Volume 2, as well as the finale, are yet to be confirmed. However, since episode 4 is significantly longer, fans are speculating that the runtimes will increase as the season progresses.

While appearing on the Happy Sad Confused podcast, Ross Duffer joked that the series finale will have “like, eight endings.” One thing from season 4 will be repeated, though, and that's the film-length finale runtime. “We’re more likely to do what we did here, which is to just have a 2.5-hour episode,” added Matt about the series finale, which will also hit select theaters in the US and Canada.

On September 24, 2025, Netflix released a three-minute special featurette looking back at the legacy of Stranger Things, offering a never-before-seen, behind-the-scenes glimpse at season 5.

In the featurette, which you can watch above, the Duffer Bros. and the actors look back on their journey since the show's inception, reflecting on their experiences while offering a few exclusive previews of season 5, both behind-the-scenes and on-set.

In addition to the video, Netflix also released 16 new behind-the-scenes pictures from the filming of Stranger Things season 5, which you can see by swiping left or using the arrows below:

Back in July 2024, Netflix had previously released another behind-the-scenes peek at the production. The streamer dropped the very first look at Stranger Things 5 with never-before-seen set footage in celebration of the cast and crew reaching the halfway mark of filming on July 15, 2024.

“We're about halfway through filming now, and it's exciting," series star Caleb McLaughlin says via voiceover in the clip. "There's so much going on. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Stranger Things season 5.” Millie Bobby Brown, entering the soundstage, then says: “I started when I was 10, I'm now turning 20 years old. It feels very weird.” (Well, she's now also a mom!)

The clip then takes us inside the lot where the show is filming, sharing sneak peeks of Linda Hamilton entering her trailer, Vecna's return, Lucas and Max's reunion, a slimy, menacing dark hole, walls engulfed by the vines of the Upside Down, Maya Hawke and Joe Keery, and so many more exciting reveals.

“Like every season, you never know what to expect. 100% the wait will be worth it,” says McLaughlin. Noah Schnapp agrees, just scenes later: “I think this is gonna be the best season yet.” “Season 4 was big, season 5 definitely feels bigger," says Jamie Campbell Bower, who plays Vecna. Watch the full video below!

On December 20, 2024, Netflix announced that production had officially wrapped on Stranger Things season 5. The streamer celebrated the end of filming the final season with ten never-before-seen behind-the-scenes photos of the cast and crew on set over the past year — you can check them out in the gallery below by swiping left or using the arrows.

Back in August 2022, the @strangerwriters X account had previously posted an update with only two words: “Day 1.” Pictured was a whiteboard with a hand-drawn Stranger Things 5 logo, and in the reflection of the whiteboard, you can make out a bunch of people seated around a table. The writer's room had officially begun, and Stranger Things 5 was officially in development. By September, the writers' room had finished grid-blocking the entire plot of the season.

Filming for Stranger Things 5 was intended to begin in May 2023. However, during the first week of May, the Writers Guild of America officially went on strike. Only a few weeks later, the Screen Actors Guild union also went on strike, halting production on both ends for over 140 days. On September 27, 2023, the writers confirmed that development on season 5 had resumed with a short and sweet message written on an otherwise blank script page: “We're back.”

Then, Netflix announced Stranger Things 5 had begun production on January 8, 2024. The streamer posted a black and white photo of the series' entire cast and crew reunited on the official Instagram account. “🚨THIS IS A CODE RED🚨 STRANGER THINGS 5 production has officially begun!!!” read the caption.

Ross Duffer basically confirmed the late-December wrap date with an Instagram post. The Duffer Bros. posted a full cast and crew photo from a soundstage in celebration of hitting the halfway mark of production on season 5. “Week 24. Happy halfway to the best cast and crew ever,” he wrote in the caption. (Two people were blurred out in the center of the pic.)

Courtesy of Netflix

The majority of the main cast made it out of season 4 alive and were present in the final scene of the season, so all of the main cast returned for season 5. This includes Millie Bobby Brown (Eleven), Finn Wolfhard (Mike), Caleb McLaughlin (Lucas), Gaten Matarazzo (Dustin), Noah Schnapp (Will), Priah Ferguson (Erica), Natalia Dyer (Nancy), Charlie Heaton (Jonathan), Maya Hawke (Robin), Joe Keery (Steve), David Harbour (Hopper), and Winona Ryder (Joyce).

While we might not know what the future holds for most characters, Joe Keery did spill the beans about Steve Harrington in season 5, promising “good things” will happen to his character. During an appearance on The Movie Dweeb podcast in February 2024, Keery confirmed his beloved character does “get to have some good, good things this time around.”

Of course, Keery's comments could mean anything. He might be hinting at Steve and Nancy's rekindled relationship — or he might just be referring to some more hijinks with besties Dustin and Robin. Only time will tell.

Courtesy of Netflix

A total of four new cast members joined Stranger Things 5: child actors Jake Connelly and Nell Fisher (previously seen in Bookworm), Alex Breaux (Waco: The Aftermath, See, When They See Us), and The Terminator star Linda Hamilton.

While speaking to IndieWire in August 2022, the Duffer Brothers broke down their rationale behind bringing new characters on the show and praised the adaptability and performances of actors brought on the series after season 1, like Joseph Quinn, Sadie Sink, Maya Hawke, and Dacre Montgomery. Though they avoid introducing multiple new core characters in a given season, the Duffer Brothers admitted that new characters can bring fresh ideas, just like new plot devices or new creatures to battle.

“I just like shaking it up, so we shake it up by changing the plot or adding in a new monster,” said Matt. “We’re doing our best to resist [adding new characters] for Season 5. We’re trying not to do that so we can focus on the OG characters, I guess.” With such a finite amount of time left with the OG Hawkins gang, it makes sense that the Stranger Things writers want to make sure that fans aren't left feeling shortchanged by the series finale.

Courtesy of Netflix

Prior to filming the season, the Duffer Brothers said they were not entirely sure what this last season would look like, but they knew for sure how it would end. “It's like that lighthouse blinking in the distance... while a lot of season 5 is actually pretty blurry, the last 30 minutes of it are pretty clear in our heads,” said Ross. "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."

The creative duo previously told The Wrap that top dogs at Netflix shed real tears once they shared their ideas for the arc of season 5. “I saw executives crying who I've never seen cry before, and it was wild,” they shared. And they are not the only ones who cried.

“The end of this episode when we were reading it — just us reading it — about halfway through, people started crying,” David Harbour (Hopper) shared. “Then about the last 20 minutes, it was just uncontrollably crying, waves of different people. Noah Schnapp being my favorite.”

“As sad as it was, I’m so excited to see the world’s reaction to watching the finale because there’s not going to be a dry eye, it’s going to be sad,” he added. “Not to be so negative, it is a really great season and people will love it.”

Back in the summer of 2022, Schnapp confirmed that his character Will was gay, and that Will was in love with Finn's character Mike. Six months later, Schnapp came out as gay on TikTok, much to the love and support of his fans, family, and castmates. Schnapp reflected on the impact Will had on his own self-actualization in his August 2023 cover story for Variety.

“Once I did fully embrace that Will was gay, it was just an exponential speed towards accepting it for myself,” Schnapp told the publication. “I would be in a completely different place if I didn’t have Will to portray, and to embrace and help me accept myself. I think if I never played that character, I probably would still be closeted.”

Courtesy of Netflix

“I think the way I act in Season 5, honestly, might be a little different," he continued. "I will be fully aware of who I am. Knowing all of that about myself and being able to invest that in my character, I’m honestly just excited.”

In the same interview, Ross Duffer elaborated even more about Will's storyline in season 5: “Will really takes center stage again in 5. This emotional arc for him is what we feel is going to hopefully tie the whole series together. Will is used to being the young one, the introverted one, the one that’s being protected. So part of his journey, it’s not just sexuality — it’s Will coming into his own as a young man.”

Talking to IndieWire in January 2023, Finn Wolfhard teased the ending of Stranger Things 5 and opened up about one of the biggest unanswered questions of season 4: How will Mike react to Will's romantic feelings?

“I’m incredibly proud of Noah for coming out publicly like that. I think it was so incredible and brave,” Wolfhard said to IndieWire. “As far as the Mike and Will relationship goes, I always found it kind of funny, especially last season of Mike just being so clueless. I would imagine Mike is going to be totally accepting of Will, and I really want Will to have a really happy ending. And I think he will."

“What’s going to be so awesome about season five is that the Duffers are sort of trying to thread this needle of trying to get every character to have their perfect ending,” Wolfhard continued. "So I’m excited to see what ends up happening.” Us, too.

It's been rumored that Harbour knew how the series ends prior to filming, a piece of gossip that hilariously infuriated co-star Gaten Matarazzo (Dustin). And speaking of Dustin — for fans who were disturbed by the boy-genius seeming to be the only member of the group mourning Eddie's death, the Duffer Brothers also noted that Eddie will be honored in the final season, and that his death will actually have "huge repercussions" for those who made it out of season 4 alive.

Courtesy of Netflix

The Duffer Brothers have been hinting for years that this isn't the last of the Stranger Things universe, and as the end of the original series nears, they have more to share about expanding the franchise. "There's a version of [a spinoff] developing in parallel [to season 5], but they would never shoot it parallel," Ross said while speaking to Variety. "I think actually we're going to start delving into that soon as we're winding down and finishing these visual effects, Matt and I are going to start getting into it."

“The reason we haven't done anything is just because you don't want to be doing it for the wrong reasons, and it was just like, 'Is this something I would want to make regardless of it being related to Stranger Things or not?' And definitely,” said Matt. "Even if we took the Stranger Things title off of it, I'm so, so excited about it. But it is not… it's going to be different than what anyone is expecting, including Netflix."

The Duffer Brothers have also revealed that they would like to hand the spinoff to someone new. “The idea, ultimately, is to pass the baton to someone else, someone who’s hopefully really talented and passionate,” Matt added while on Happy Sad Confused. “Even the idea of Ross and I, say, doing a pilot and leaving it, it just feels silly to me. You really need to be there from the beginning to end. I think we need to find a partner to help us with that.”

But apparently, Finn Wolfhard took one guess at what the spinoff series was about and got it right. "Finn Wolfhard, he wasn't spitballing, he just went, 'I think this would be a cool spin-off,'" Ross shared with Variety. "And we were like, 'How in the world…?'"

Back in 2022, the live-action spin-off Wolfhard guessed correctly was just one of multiple projects lined up for development at Netflix by the Duffer Brothers; however, since then, the Duffer Brothers have signed an exclusive deal with Paramount.

We do have one spin-off, though: A prequel stage play titled Stranger Things: The First Shadow debuted on London's West End in November 2023 and transferred to Broadway in 2025; and an untitled animated spinoff series is also currently in development. Called Stranger Things: Tales From ‘85, the show follows the main Hawkins crew during the winter of 1985, which means it takes place between the events of the second and third seasons of the main show.

One thing is sure, though: don't expect the OG characters to appear in any derivative works beyond those. "There may be spin-offs, but the story of Eleven and Dustin and Lucas and Hopper, their stories are done here. That’s it… outside of the play. So if you want to see more of some of them, go see the play,” the Duffer Brothers told The Guardian in December 2023.

This post will be updated as more news about Stranger Things 5 breaks.