Stranger Things Season 5
Credit: Netflix
Post updated 11.27.25.
Now that the first four episodes of Stranger Things 5 are out on Netflix, fans are eager for more. The first four episodes clock in at well over four hours, so we have plenty of time to spend with our heroes as they navigate Hawkins and the Upside Down, but this still only represents half of the final season, which has been split into three Volumes.
When Does ‘Stranger Things 5’ Volume 2 Come To Netflix?
The first volume consists of the four episodes currently out on Netflix. It reintroduces us to the town of Hawkins, now under military quarantine, two years after the events of Season 4. Here’s when you can expect the rest of the season:
- Volume 2 releases on Christmas Day, December 25 2025 at 5pm PT / 8pm ET. It consists of three more episodes.
- Volume 3 – the series finale – releases on Netflix on December 31 2025 at 5pm PT / 8pm ET. The finale will also be shown in select theaters.
A new Stranger Things spinoff is also coming out in 2026.
I’ll have a review of Volume 1 live here on this blog tomorrow.
Original Post:
Stranger Things Season 5 is just around the corner, with Volume 1 of Netflix’s hit sci-fi series landing this week. With new episodes just around the corner, we’re about to find out what’s happening in Hawkins, Indiana with Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown), Mike (Finn Wolfhard), Will (Noah Schnapp), Caleb (Lucas Sinclair), and Dustin (Gaten Matarazzo) as they face off for a final showdown with the Upside Down necromancer, Vecna (Jamie Campbell Bower).
Max (Sadie Sink) is still in the coma from Season 4, and judging by the trailers we’ve seen, being in a coma in the Hawkins hospital is not a very safe place to be. While we lost poor Eddie Munson (Joseph Quinn) at the end of Season 4, Stranger Things still has the bulk of its main cast still standing. Hopper (David Harbour), Joyce (Winona Ryder), Jonathan (Charlie Heaton), Robin (Maya Hawke), Joe (Steve Harrington) and Nancy (Natalia Dyer) are all set to rejoin the fight against evil.
When Does ‘Stranger Things’ Season 5 Release?
Stranger Things 5
Credit: Netflix
Stranger Things Season 5 is reportedly one of the most expensive seasons of television ever filmed, with a budget somewhere between $400 and $480 million USD, which translates to $50 to $60 million USD per episode. We’ll only see half of these episodes with the release of Volume 1.
The first four episodes of Stranger Things 5 release Wednesday, November 26 just as everyone gets off of work – and out of school – for the Thanksgiving holiday. It’s the perfect holiday watch party event, and Netflix is keeping that philosophy alive with the release of Volume 2 on Christmas Day and the series finale on New Year’s Eve.
Stranger Things 5, Volume 1 won’t release at midnight local time, like so many other Netflix shows do, but rather earlier in the day so that subscribers have plenty of time to watch and discuss the show that same evening. Undoubtedly, we will all be left on a massively frustrating cliffhanger – though at least the wait for Volume 2 will be relatively short (unlike the three-year gap between Season 4 and 5).
Here’s the exact time Stranger Things 5 releases on Netflix in your timezone:
- Wednesday, November 26 at 5pm PT (Los Angeles)
- Wednesday, November 26 at 6pm MT (Denver)
- Wednesday, November 26 at 7pm CT (Chicago)
- Wednesday, November 26 at 8pm ET (NYC)
- Thursday, November 27 at 3am UTC / GMT(London)
- Thursday, November 27 at 4am CET (Berlin)
- Thursday, November 27 at 6am MSK (Moscow)
- Thursday, November 27 at 11am CST (Singapore / Beijing)
- Thursday, November 27 at 12pm JST (Tokyo)
- Thursday, November 27 at 2pm AEDT (Sydney)
- Thursday, November 27 at 4pm NZDT (Auckland)
What Happened In ‘Stranger Things’ Season 4?
Stranger Things Season 5
Credit: Netflix
Season 4 was split up across four major locations, with groups of our heroes scattered across Hawkins, California, Russia and the Upside Down. In Hawkins, students begin dying in mysterious and often grotesque ways, and the authorities turn to D&D player and affable outcast, Eddie, as their top suspect. We learn that it’s actually the evil Upside Down entity, Vecna, targeting these teens. He sets his sights on Max, still grieving over Billy’s death, who uses her walkman and Kate Bush’s “Running Up That Hill” to protect herself from his dark sorcery.
As Nancy, Robin and the other Hawkins heroes investigate, they discover that Vecna is actually Henry Creel, the first child to make his way into the research facility under Dr. Brenner (Matthew Modine) where he was known as Number One (ten spots above Eleven).
In California, Eleven struggles with bullies and the loss of her powers. She’s eventually taken to another military facility run by Dr. Owens (Paul Reiser) in an attempt to restore her powers. Here, through memory reconstruction, she recalls Henry Creel and her past with him, including his attack on the other children and her use of powers to banish him to the Upside Down.
Mike, Will, Jonathan and Jonathan’s new stoner buddy, Argyle (Eduardo Franco) go on a road-trip to track down Eleven after government agents attack the Byers residence.
Meanwhile, in Russia, Hopper has somehow survived the blast at the end of Season 3 and is being held prisoner in a frigid gulag where he tries and fails to escape before Joyce and Murray (Brett Gelman) come to his rescue. They fight some Upside Down monsters to assist the others in their showdown against Vecna in the Upside Down.
The series culminates in this final confrontation, with Eleven facing off against Vecna while the others are slowly strangled by supernatural vines and Max clings to life. Eddie is killed when he and Dustin enter the Upside Down, but ultimately everyone else escapes, though giant Upside Down rifts open in Hawkins (before shutting and then weirdly re-opening again). By the time we get to Season 5, the military has placed the entire city under lockdown.
I thought Season 4 was mostly quite good, but I had some very real problems, especially with the final two episodes, which were a bit messy and way too long.
What’s Happening At The Beginning Of ‘Stranger Things’ Season 5?
Here’s the official summary for Stranger Things Season 5:
“The fall of 1987. Hawkins is scarred by the opening of the Rifts, and our heroes are united by a single goal: 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.”
You can read more about Stranger Things 5’s episode runtimes, episode titles and theories about each of the episodes right here. The Walking Dead creator Frank Darabont will be directing one of the episodes. Newcomers to the cast include Linda Hamilton, Jake Connelly and Alex Breaux. Are you looking forward to the final season? Let me know on Twitter, Instagram, or Facebook.
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/erikkain/2025/11/27/stranger-things-5-release-date-time-netflix-volume-1-episodes/
