The brilliant minds behind Netflix’s Stranger Things are essentially geniuses in how to build anticipation given the huge gap between seasons, but we can confirm the series has finished filming its fifth and final season.
The cast shared photos and messages to commemorate the occasion.
“This show, character, and every person involved made me who I am today,” Sadie Sink, who plays Max Mayfield in the series, wrote on Instagram.
The actress also shared that the show had brought her to her “best friends” and that she was eternally grateful.
Finn Wolfhard, who plays Mike Wheeler, said he was “still in shock” after filming wrapped.
“We shot it for a year and I’ll miss all my friends and our characters terribly,” he shared.
Millie Bobby Brown who plays Eleven in the series shared a simple message to fans as the show finished filming the final episodes. She posted a number of throwback pictures taken throughout the past four seasons and captioned the picture “with love, el ❤️”.
Fans haven’t been given much insight into the final season, aside from the Executive Producer Shawn Levy revealing there will be “lost of tears” in the upcoming season – like fans didn’t experience enough torment during the season four finale which aired May 27, 2022.
In the lead up to the fifth season, we’ve gathered everything fans need to know about the final Stranger Things season including premiere date, cast and spoilers.
Robin and Steve are back with their shenanigans for season five. (Credit: Instagram)
When is the Stranger Things season five release date?
Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos confirmed Stranger Things will return in 2025 during the comapny’s Q2 2024 Earnings Interview.
Protagonist Finn Wolfhard also previously revealed to GQ that the series would most likely return in early 2025.
Prior to the writers strikes, the Duffer Brothers affirmed fans there would be a shorter waiting time than previous seasons three and four which was roughly three years apart.
“The gap should be quite a bit shorter this time, due to the fact that we already have an initial outline, and we can’t imagine there will be another six-month forced hiatus,” naively told Variety in mid-2022.
Who is the cast for Stranger Things in season five?
Most of the main characters survived season four and were present in the finale.
Therefore, it is safe to assume that majority of the cast will return to their Stranger Things characters for season five. Including Millie Bobby Brown (Eleven), Winona Ryder (Joyce Byers), Finn Wolfhard (Mike Wheeler), Gaten Mattarazzo (Dustin Henderson), Caleb MacLaughlin (Lucas Sinclair), David Harbour (Jim Hopper), Natalie Dyer (Nancy Wheeler), Charlie Heaton (Jonathan Byers), Joe Keery (Steve Harrington), Maya Hawke (Robin Buckley) and Noah Schnapp (Will Byers).
Sadie Sink is in the right hand corner. What role will she play in season five? Credit: Instagram)
However, the biggest question circulating the Stranger Things fandom, is whether or not Sadie Sink will reprise her character as Max Mayfield. After a traumatic season four volume two finale, Max was blinded, and her body left broken after an attack from Vecna – now she lays in a coma she may never wake up from.
Netflix shared a black and white photo of the cast (above), with Sadie sitting in the bottom right corner.
“THIS IS A CODE RED🚨 STRANGER THINGS 5 production has officially begun!!!,” the caption read.
It wasn’t long after this when the Stranger Things official Instagram account shared a behind-the-scenes image of Sadie and Caleb on set – with a radio on the bedside table. Is Lucas still holding on to the hope Max will return?
Sadly, fans bid farewell to Eddie Munson, played by Joseph Quinn, in one of the final episodes.
What is the plot for Stranger Things season five?
Following on from the season four finale, the gang’s final adventure may be their biggest and scariest yet as they attempt to defeat Vecna.
The Duffer Brothers revealed to Collider that the last season will primarily be set in Hawkins and the Upside Down, as opposed to season four which jumped across the world from California, Russia, and Indiana.
“This season – it’s like season one on steroids,” Matt Duffer told The Guardian. “It’s the biggest it’s ever been in terms of scale.”
Matt added the final season will be reminiscent for fans as “the boys and Eleven [will be] interacting more in line with how it was in season one.”
What have the cast said about season five?
While speaking on the Happy Sad Confused podcast in October 2024, Stranger Things star David Harbour – who portrays Hopper – revealed the final episode had the cast “uncontrollably crying.”
“”The end of this episode when we were reading it — just us reading it — about halfway through, people started crying,” he said. “Then about the last 20 minutes, it was just uncontrollably crying, waves of different people.”
Despite the emotional wreck that fans will no doubt become during the final season, David assured it has been done beautifully.
“It’s such a great episode, and it’s such a great season. You guys will love it,” he concluded.
A few months later, Maya Hawke revealed the episodes are “basically” movies given their duration.
“They are very intense and serious about the quality of the continued writing, and so it takes a long time to write each season and a long time to shoot them,” she told hosts Penn Badgley, Nava Kaveline, and Sophie Ansari on Podcrushed podcast.
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