Recent rating changes to Stranger Things on Netflix could hint at an R-rated Season 5.
The hit Netflix sci-fi series is finally set to come to a close sometime in 2025, as it will air its final batch of episodes and bring to an end the extra-dimensional story of Hawkins, Indiana (at least for now).
Since the beginning, Stranger Things has been no (for lack of a better term) stranger to mature themes, featuring the sort of '80s-tinged horror present in big-screen hits like IT and The Thing; however, for the most part, it has maintained a TV-14 rating.
Stranger Things 5 Rating Possibly Teased
Netflix has changed Stranger Things' rating on the platform from TV-14 to TV-MA (the equivalent of an R-rating), perhaps pointing to where the series is going to go for Season 5.
The R-rated change, which was first reported by the Stranger Things fan account @StrangerThingsUpdate, comes with no explanation or further details, but some have taken it as the first step in Netflix preparing for Stranger Things Season 5's 2025 release.
In the past, Netflix has gone back and forth in switching the series between TV-14 and TV-MA several times over the years.
This latest change is not even the first time in 2024 that the series has had a similar swap. According to What's On Netflix, the series underwent the opposite change back in February, switching from TV-MA at the time to TV-14.
Netflix describes TV-14 content as "Parents strongly cautioned. May not be suitable for ages under 14" whereas TV-MA is more similar to an R-rating in film, coming with a "For Mature Audiences" warning.
Season 4 of Stranger Things was first released as TV-14 for its first batch of episodes, while its second half came with a TV-MA rating.
This could mean fans may be in for a full-on R-rated affair in Stranger Things' final batch of episodes.
Why Would Stranger Things Season 5 Be R-Rated?
Stranger Things has skirted the R-rated line in the past, but that seems to possibly be changing in Season 5.
While the show has been able to present a (at times) truly frightening sci-fi-tinged horror tale across its four seasons thus far, Season 5 will almost surely be the scariest yet.
Fans got a taste of this at the tail-end of Stranger Things Season 4, where disturbing images like the emergence of villain Vecna and the brutal deaths of characters like Grace Van Dien's Chrissy and Joseph Quinn's Eddie.
However, with Season 5 being the culmination of this other-worldly horror epic, fans can likely expect even more of these more gruesome and skin-crawling moments from the last batch of episodes.
In fact, the series' creators have teased as such. Back in March 2023, the Stranger Things Writers' Room X (formerly Twitter) account revealed that Season 5 will be as if "Season 1 and 4 had a baby" and then "that baby was injected with steroids:"
"Season 5 is like if Season 1 and 4 had a baby. And then that baby was injected with steroids."
So, if there were episodes in Season 4 that were broaching R-rated territory, and Season 5 will be like that but amped up even more, then surely, it too will get a similarly mature TV rating.
Now, it is just a matter of when fans will be able to sit down and watch these final few chapters in the Stranger Things story. The word is that Season 5 should arrive sometime next year, but a specific date remains to be seen.
Stranger Things Season 5 is set to debut sometime in 2025 on Netflix.
