Netflix released an AI-generated photo of Eleven actress Millie Bobby Brown to promote Stranger Things Season 5 as part of a viral trend. Stranger Things fans have been eagerly awaiting the final season for almost three years, and it will finally premiere in 2025. As the Season 5 premiere nears, Netflix has still yet to kick marketing into gear with no official images or trailer released yet.
Brown is reprising her Netflix icon alongside 12 characters from Stranger Things Season 1 including Joyce Byers (Winona Ryder), Jim Hopper (David Harbour), Mike Wheeler (Finn Wolfhard), Dustin Henderson (Gaten Matarazzo), Lucas Sinclar (Caleb McLaughlin), Will Byers (Noah Schnapp), and many more.
In a since-deleted post on the Netflix South Africa Instagram page on May 4, Netflix released a '90s-inspired AI-generated photo of Eleven actress Milly Bobby Brown watching Stranger Things. The photo marks Netflix's dive into a recent viral trend for which it quickly earned massive backlash from fans.
The Instagram caption referred to "some Stranger Things nostalgia" and, excitingly, confirmed the first teaser for Season 5 will be released on Saturday, May 31, presumably as part of Netflix's annual Tudum event.
Netflix is joining in with a viral trend of fictional characters such as James Bond playing video games of themselves on a '90s TV in the retro photo style.
The streamer is gearing up to drop Stranger Things Season 5 and four other Netflix originals this year after three years of fans waiting. No release date has been confirmed but most speculate it will premiere in Fall 2025.
Why Netflix's AI Usage Could Be a Dangerous Precident
As generative AI becomes increasingly advanced and more capable of creating lifelike images, controversy around the topic has only grown. In one of the more egregious examples of a major studio utilizing controversial tech in its productions, Marvel Studios used AI to create the whole Secret Invasion intro.
Since the AI image was only released on an international Netflix account and was promptly deleted after backlash, it likely wasn't part of the Season 5 marketing strategy and was more of an impulsive post from the social team.
Regardless, the increasing use of generative AI risks taking jobs away from talented creatives as studios look to slash costs. Fans can only hope this will be a one-off and AI won't be part of Stranger Things 5's marketing going forward.
It won't be long till fans know for sure as the first teaser is seemingly on the way in just a few weeks, which ought to kick off a marketing journey that will last all year long as Stranger Things 5 edges closer to its release date. That much-anticipated release date will likely be confirmed in the teaser trailer on May 31.
