Stranger Things Season 5 looks to be bigger and better than Season 4, which is an impressive feat, to say the least.
One element of Season 4 that set it apart from previous seasons was that each episode, of which there were eight, ran the same length as a feature film. Usually, that would signal that the story was likely extremely bloated and too long—however, the Duffer Brothers, the creators of Stranger Things, did the impossible and received nearly unanimous praise from audiences.
They had crafted an expansive and larger-than-life narrative, keeping the storytelling fresh and engaging even four years into the show's life cycle.
The Direct was invited by Netflix to attend the studios' 'Next on Netflix' event in Los Angeles, where the company revealed a slew of information about its upcoming 2025 slate—and the future arrival of Stranger Things Season 5 was teased.
The Duffer Brothers Filmed an Insane Amount of Footage for Stranger Things Season 5
"It's Like Eight Blockbuster Movies..."
At the 'Next on Netflix' event in Los Angeles, Stranger Things creators, the Duffer Brothers, offered a brief but substantial update on the show's fifth and final season.
Following the debut of a brief BTS sizzle reel for Season 5, which has not been released publically, Ross Duffer revealed that the team "captured over 650 hours of footage" for the final season, which they likened to "eight blockbuster movies:"
Ross Duffer: AKA the Duffer Brothers. That was the world’s very first behind-the-scenes look at the fifth and final season of Stranger Things. We spent a full year filming this season. By the end, we’d captured over 650 hours of footage. So, needless to say, this is our biggest and most ambitious season yet. It’s like eight blockbuster movies. It’s pretty insane.
Matt Duffer: At the same time, we think it's our most personal story. It was super intense and emotional to film—for us and for our actors. We’ve been making this show together for almost ten years. There was a lot of crying. There was SO much crying. The show means so much to all of us, and everyone put their hearts and souls into it. And we hope — and believe — that passion will translate to the screen.
But while this might be the end of the story for Mike, Hopper, Dustin, Lucas, Eleven, and the others, it’s not goodbye for 'Stranger Things'... There are more Stranger Things stories to tell and in the works. It’s a bit early at this point to talk about them, but we’re deeply involved in every one [of them]...
It’s very important to us that anything with the 'Stranger Things' name on it is of the highest quality and not repetitive — that it has a reason to exist and always blazes its own path. And also, it needs to basically just be... awesome. Or we need to think it’s awesome. And there are a lot of what we think are awesome things in the pipeline.
What Did the New Sizzle Reel for Stranger Things Season 5 Show?
Season 5 of Stranger Things promises to offer an insane journey, and it feels like the Duffer Brothers are hoping to exceed those high expectations set by Season 4's incredible run.
At the 'Next on Netflix' event, a brief sizzle reel, as witnessed by myself, was shown that teased a few new things (these are almost certainly out of order):
- Eleven is warning Mike that real life can't have a happy ending like his DnD campaigns.
- Nancy, Steve, Jonathan, and Dustin are once again in the Upside Down ready to face something mysterious.
- A chaotic car scene that seems to end in a crash. It felt like it was what is depicted in these previously released Pre-Vis shots.
- Vecna's return to the flesh. While it wasn't clear, it sure did look like he was more active in the real world than he ever was in Season 4. Eleven can be seen squaring up against him as well.
- As previously seen in set photos from Season 5, there will be a heavy military presence in Hawkins.
- A brief shot of what seemed to be Max running through Vecna's mindscape prison is shown.
- Three men in grey mo-cap suits on all fours walking through a door. It's unclear if they were meant to be Demogorgans, Demodogs, or something else entirely.
Sadly, it's unclear when Netflix will release the sizzle reel publicly, if at all. The release date for the show also remains unannounced by the studio.
However, recent discoveries from fans indicate that it is currently slated to be released on November 27. While it remains unclear if Season 5 will drop all at once or in multiple parts, a different report indicated that it will be split in two and released in October and November later this year.
None of those details have been confirmed by Netflix themselves.
Stranger Things Season 5 is expected to drop on Netflix late this year, but the first four seasons can be streamed now.
Be sure to check out The Direct's interview with Gaten Matarazzo, who plays Dustin, where he teased that his character will be dealing with "intense grief" in the final season.
