Despite what some may think, Demon Slayer Season 5 is not on the horizon.
The hit anime series - based on Koyoharu Gotouge's beloved manga of the same name - is about to head back to theaters with a new compilation movie bridging the gap between seasons (read more about the 2024 Demon Slayer movie here).
This theatrical run comes ahead of the show's fourth season which will tackle the acclaimed Hashira Training Arc from the manga.
Demon Slayer Season 5 Release Confusion Explained
Some fans are confused, thinking the upcoming season of Demon Slayer is its fifth.
The reason behind this Season 5 confusion comes thanks to wide swaths of the fanbase watching the anime series on Netflix.
On the streamer, Demon Slayer is shown as having four seasons, but that is not the case.
Instead, Netflix breaks the show up into arcs, which there have been four of so far.
Season 2 included two sizable arcs from the manga in The Mugen Train Arc and the Entertainment District Arc, which is why it is broken up on Netflix.
Thus why, on the platform, it breaks the series up into four parts, as opposed to the three that line up with its seasons.
Looking over on Crunchyroll (where the series can also be streamed), one can see the show lined up as it should be with three seasons and two compilation movies.
The streamer could have done the same thing with Season 1 - which covered six arcs across its 26 episodes - but with so many of them only including a handful of episodes, it makes sense why they would not have been broken up.
As the episode count of Demon Slayers has been trimmed over time, one can expect each season to cover only one major story arc per season, hopefully avoiding this sort of confusion for fans going forward.
Will Demon Slayer Season 5 Ever Happen?
As fans wait eagerly for Demon Slayer Season 4 to debut (something that should come fairly soon), the question of a potential Season 5 will almost surely come up.
Season 5 has yet to be officially announced, but one can assume it will eventually come.
Demon Slayer has continued to hit with fans, with each season bigger than the last. So it would make sense for the powers that be to continue to pursue the on-screen adaptation of the beloved manga.
Following the Hashira Training Arc, the Demon Slayer manga only has two more major arcs in the Infinity Castle Arc and Sunrise Countdown Arc.
According to reporting, there is a chance Season 5 could be Demon Slayer's last - or at least the last to cover the manga's events.
Reputable anime news insider @oecuf0 wrote on X (formerly Twitter) in August 2023 that Demon Slayer studio Ufotable is prepping an Infinity Castle Arc movie for release sometime before Season 5.
This would allow the studio to cover part of the series' final chapter on the big screen (somewhere the IP has seen plenty of success so far) while taking on the rest in a fifth season of the anime.
There is also always the chance - given the size and scope of both the Infinity Castle Arc and Sunrise Countdown Arc - the studio may opt to release both of these arcs in the form of theatrically released film.
While Ufotable has enjoyed plenty of success in the Demon Slayer anime, it is hard to deny the potential the series has on the big screen, with the series' Mugen Train movie raking in over $500 million worldwide (via Box Office Mojo).
However, that is all speculative, as no official confirmation of the Infinity Castle movie or Demon Slayer Season 5 has been made public.
Demon Slayer is streaming now on Netflix and Crunchyroll.
Read more about Demon Slayer:
Demon Slayer Season 4: Release, Cast and Everything We Know
New Demon Slayer 2024 Movie Gets Unsurprising Rating
Demon Slayer Movie 2024 Release, Cast & Everything We Know
Demon Slayer 2024 Movie Streaming: When Will It Release Online?
