What We Know About Season 5 Of ‘Stranger Things’ And The Rumoured Spin-Off
It’ll likely be here sooner than you’d think.
A lot has been said about Season 4 of Stranger Things.
Some reckon it’s sparked an ’80s fashion revival, or heralded a return to the communal TV event. For others, it’s simply made them horny.
But regardless of how you feel about Netflix’s wildly successful franchise, built off the back of 1980s nostalgia — an era that most of its viewers didn’t experience — you can’t deny that it has captured our attention this year in a way that nothing else has.
The show’s fourth season, which has been deemed even more cinematic than its predecessors, finished up over the weekend. But it’s not over for the town of Hawkins just yet.
Will There Be A Fifth Season?
Fans can take solace in the fact that there will definitely be a fifth season of the hit show, though it will be its last. “Seven years ago, we planned out the complete story arc for Stranger Things, at the time, we predicted the story would last four to five seasons,” said the show runners known as The Duffer brothers.
“It proved too large to tell in four, but — as you’ll soon see for yourselves — we are now hurtling toward our finale. Season 4 will be the penultimate season; Season 5 will be the last,” they added. “There are still many more exciting stories to tell within the world of Stranger Things — new mysteries, new adventures, new unexpected heroes.” (And new money to be made. Kidding.)
What Will Season 5 Be About?
The creators reveal in a Variety interview that they are “setting the stage for some big reveals in our final season”, including more detail about why the Upside Down exists, and what all of those monsters actually mean.
The Duffer brothers also suggest that we’ll hear more about Will, after a lot of hinting this season that he’s gay. “Certainly, his journey and arc is far from finished,” they say.
Given how fast the show’s actors are becoming adults, they added the show is probably in store for an ‘X years later’ situation. “I’m sure we will do a time jump,” they told TV Line. “Ideally, we’d have shot [Seasons 4 and 5] back to back, but there was just no feasible way to do that.”
What Is The Season 5 Release Date?
There’s no set date as of yet, but it looks like it’ll be a shorter wait than the three-year gap between Seasons 3 and 4, unless there’s another pandemic. “During the six-month pandemic hiatus, we outlined Season 5 and pitched it to Netflix,” the Duffers also told Variety.
“Everyone there had also been present when we first pitched the show in 2015. While we were strangers then, we were now friends, and there were a lot of tears when it was over. It’s just been an extraordinary journey for all of us, and while it’s hard to believe that we’re approaching the end, we feel incredibly lucky to have such amazing partners.”
Are We Getting A ‘Stranger Things’ Spin-Off?
Looks like it! On a podcast known as ‘Happy Sad Confused’, Ross Duffer said that he’s working on a new series that would share “connective tissue” with Stranger Things, with the most crucial connection being the “storytelling ability”. They remain pretty tight-lipped on the other details.
“We think everyone — including Netflix — will be surprised when they hear the concept, because it’s very, very different,” they said to Variety. But somehow Finn Wolfhard — who is one crazy smart kid — correctly guessed what it was going to be about. But aside from Finn, no one else knows!”