Netflix had their big live Tudum event on Saturday night, where they announced return dates for their most popular shows and premiered trailers and clips. Stranger Things’s much anticipated final fifth season will premiere on November 26, the day before Thanksgiving in the US, with the second part to come out on Christmas and the finale on New Year’s Eve. It’s not surprising that it won’t come out all at once. They’ve been releasing their most popular shows in at least two parts to keep subscribers hooked. They’ve done this with shows like Squid Game, Emily in Paris, Outer Banks and Bridgerton and plan to do it for upcoming releases including Wednesday season two (It’s coming out August 6th and September 3rd). In Stranger Things’s case they know it will be a hit and want to build up anticipation and buzz I guess. They also had a three part release for the final season of my alltime favorite Netflix series, Cobra Kai, only in that case we had to wait 3-4 months between drops. You can probably tell that I find this annoying. Here’s more from People:
Mark your calendars, because we officially have a premiere date for Stranger Things season 5.
Netflix announced at its Tudum 2025 live event on Saturday, May 31, that the show’s final season will air in three parts: Volume 1 on Nov. 26, Volume 2 on Christmas and the series finale on New Year’s Eve.
At the live event, Stranger Things stars Finn Wolfhard, Caleb McLaughlin and Noah Schnapp shared their favorite memories from the show and hyped up the final season, before a teaser clip was unveiled, showing all the drama that’s to come.
Their co-stars Gaten Matarazzo and Millie Bobby Brown also made an appearance via pre-recorded video messages, expressing their love for the fans who have supported them through the years.
What’s next for Netflix – a weekly release format? I somewhat understand the two part release schedule, we’ve become used to this even as it takes the teeth out of the best shows. I’m thinking of Squid Game, which is back for part two of season two next month after a really disappointing midseason finale. It took six months for Netflix to premiere season two and I’m almost uninterested in this point. (You know I’ll still watch it.) It’s rude for Netflix to premiere great shows like this and then make us wait months! At least Stranger Things is only making us wait a month between part one and two and then less than a week for the finale. They probably learned from Cobra Kai and Squid Game that viewers lose interest after so long.
Here’s the video with the announcement. There’s new footage in there, including the opener with Winona Ryder’s character Joyce talking to Will in a car, Sadie Sink’s character Max in a hospital bed (Max and Lucas better have a happy ending!), Finn Wolfhard’s character Mike protecting his friends during a standoff, and Noah Schnapp’s character Will yelling “run.” These kids are getting so old! Stranger Things premiered nine years ago, when some of the actors were young teenagers. Now Millie Bobby Brown is married and stars like Caleb McLaughlin and Finn Wolfhard are all grown up. If you’d like a more thorough breakdown of this video, I recommend Film Stocked’s breakdown, which includes so much analysis about the background characters and possible scenarios. Oh and there’s a new synopsis for season five, similar to a Star Wars filmcrawl.
Photos courtesy of Netflix and credit Getty Images for Netflix
I forgot about this show
I’m actually glad they’re doing this, given how long each episode is rumoured to be. Time to digest and speculate is important to a show like this, I think.
I’m pretty sure it so people can’t get Netflix for a month and then cancel. Now they have to keep Netflix for at least 3 months.
Yeah, it’s bizarre. In the ST timeline, I think we are still only like 2 years from the beginning of the story and now the kids are full grown adults with probably no explanation in the show as to why they have aged so much. I remember even in the last season, which was how many years ago now, they had to use AI to show Eleven at a slightly younger age in flashback scenes.
Are they only showing scenes from earlier seasons with the exception of Winona because they know how bizarre the real time aging looks or they’re just that secretive?
They were adorable children in season 1.
I will totally start the last season, and see if i want to watch the whole thing.
But i am going to need a 15 minute refresher on the last season which i have totally forgotten.
And probably the season before that.