Cast and crew report for duty: Stranger Things season 5 is about to start filming. Or at least they will be once the writers' strike is over. Yes, Netflix's star series won't film as planned, as the Duffers delayed Stranger Things season 5 production due to the strike.
The Netflix show's writers recently dropped a big hint about Stranger Things season 5 that indicates the first installment will be a major inspiration.
In case you haven't heard, this is the end of the road for the series. Matt and Ross Duffer announced Stranger Things 5 was the last run back in February 2022, giving us ample warning that they are going to finish this story.
Then came Stranger Things 4, which felt bloated and full of storylines that didn't matter. Things were saved (only to be blown up) by the four-hour drop known as Stranger Things 4 volume 2.
Because while we know Stranger Things season 5 is coming to Netflix eventually, it seems like we have a long time to wait.
Stranger Things season 5 production begins ... once the strike is over.
Before the Duffers showed solidarity with the Writers' Guild of America strike, we had reason to believe cameras would start rolling soon.
As reported by Collider, David Harbour revealed at the Middle East Film & Comic Con in Abu Dhabi that Stranger Things season 5 begins filming in summer 2023. Specifically, he said "We're walking into season five. I've got a couple more months to train. We start shooting that in June, though, and that will be the final season."
He also revealed a little more about what to expect as Hopper gets back to being himself, noting "I did a lot of training for season four. He [Hopper] was in a very specific position, that Russian prison. It was about making him a different guy and sort of shedding a layer of himself physically, mentally, and emotionally. But now he's back in town, he's back in America where they have cheeseburgers, so he will be well-fed."
Stranger Things season 5 release date speculation
Trying to figure out Stranger Things season 5's release date is tougher than trying to win a mind fight with Vecna. Fortunately, we've already got word from inside about when to expect Stranger Things 5 release date to drop.
David Harbour (Hop himself) told British GQ about the plans that are already in place, revealing, "I think we’ll [shoot] next year. They’re finishing writing it this year, and they need to prep and stuff, so hopefully it’ll be this year," Harbour said. "But I think that’s the plan. So it’d probably come out mid-2024, based on our track record."
There you have it, folks, expect to wait at least another year before Stranger Things season 5 drops.
Stranger Things season 5 plot
The big plot of Stranger Things 5 is simple: the end of the world has reached Hawkins. Vecna's four gates have opened, draining the color out of Hawkins and replacing parts of the city with a volcanic hellscape. The giant spider-like monster is coming for humanity, and this is (or at least seems like it is) the war that Dr. Brenner and Dr. Owens warned Eleven about.
Inside of that story, we'll see Eleven's continued fight with Vecna/Henry/001, who is also haunting Will Byers in a particular way. We need Will to play a role in defeating Vecna, so his story isn't just being the tragic and likely-closeted-gay character whose experience is defined by pain.
We also rounded up all the questions Stranger Things Season 5 needs to answer.
Now that the couplings of Hopper and Joyce and Robin and Vickie are finally at clearer points, we have one remaining love-triangle to examine. Nancy, Steve and Jonathan exist in an uneasy tension, and Jonathan's secret acceptance to Lenora Hills Community College will likely complicate things further. If Nancy and Steve start hooking up while he's out of town, we bet Jonathan is going to be Vecna's next target.
Dustin will likely start off Stranger Things season 5 mourning the loss of Eddie Munson (though this Stranger Things 4 fan theory is giving some hope that Eddie could come back), but we're unsure if anyone outside of the gang will be. This will likely put Dustin in a more emotionally fragile state, while the rest of Hawkins sees him as a conspiracy theorist.
Stranger Things season 5 cast speculation
Going back to Hawkins, and staying there, kinda means we're committed to the core group of Stranger Things characters we've come to know and love. This is why we don't expect to see Tom Wlaschiha as Dmitri Antonov in this next run. His story is told.
As for who we expect, Stranger Things 5 could not happen without our favorite (increasingly older) kids. That means Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown), Mike (Finn Wolfhard), Dustin (Gaten Matarazzo), Lucas (Caleb McLaughlin), a possibly-comatose-or-blind Max (Sadie Sink) and Will (Noah Schnapp) should all be coming back. Oh, and we need to know what movies Lucas has been bringing to the hospital to "screen" for Max.
We've also tracked how the Stranger Things kids have aged over the years, in case you need a clearer look at how much aging can happen in around six years.
Then, you've also got guaranteed returns for the slightly older crowd, as Steve (Joe Keery), Nancy (Natalia Dyer), Jonathan (Charlie Heaton) and Robin (Maya Hawke) all survived season 4. That said, we don't know if Jonathan and Nancy's relationship will make it to the series finale.
Of course, the eldest chaperones to the Upside Down, Joyce (Winona Ryder) and Hopper (David Harbour), are givens. For Dustin's sake, we hope Lizzy Yu is back as Suzie Bingham.
From the list of secondary characters, we hope for the returns of Erica (Priah Ferguson), Sam Owens (Paul Reiser) and Murray (Brett Gelman). Owens could have perished in the NINA lab explosion, though that wasn't shown on screen. We could see Argyle (Eduardo Franco) return, but he seems less likely, as he's based out of Lenora Hills in California, not Hawkins.
Robert Englund could easily come back as Victor Creel, since his son Henry aka Vecna (Jamie Campbell Bower) is still alive in some manner, as Will Byers told us. And, yes, we expect Bower to reprise his role.
Stranger Things season 5: Who's dead?
Sadly, we're not likely to see Joseph Quinn as Eddie Munson. The Duffers have confirmed that he is definitely dead. So is Dr. Martin Brenner (Matthew Modine). Jason Carver (Mason Dye), the rich kid at school, who put a target on the Hellfire Club and its leader, is also dead and unlikely to return.
E! News reports that Ross and Matt Duffer want to do more with Grace Van Dien, who played Chrissy, Hawkins High's lead cheerleader and one of Vecna's victims. It would take some supernatural play at work to bring Chrissy or Eddie back for Stranger Things season 5.
Stranger Things season 5 will be shorter (except for the finale)
The most-maligned aspect of Stranger Things 4 was bloated it felt. Fortunately, Matt Duffer has said they expect season Stranger Things 5 to be shorter. Speaking to Happy Sad Confused podcast, he explained that this season will hit the ground running and be short on pre-amble.
"The only reason we don’t expect to be as long is, this season, if you look at it, it’s almost a two-hour ramp up before our kids really get drawn into a supernatural mystery ... You get to know them, you get to see them in their lives, they’re struggling with adapting to high school and so forth, Steve’s trying to find a date, all of that. None of that is obviously going to be occurring [in season 5]," Duffer said.
Except, that is, for the final episode. Duffer added, "We’re more likely to do what we did here, which is to just have a 2.5-hour episode."
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