Fans are growing impatient with Stranger Things Season 5 since it is taking so long to be released, but Mike Wheeler actor Finn Wolfhard recently revealed what the cast and crew are doing and why fans will appreciate the wait when the final season premieres.
Stranger Things is returning for one last season and is expected to be released in 2025. The cameras are officially rolling as of writing, and some set photos revealed that Nancy may have landed a new job in Stranger Things Season 5.
Unfortunately, fans have had to wait a long time for Season 5 to be released. for reference, Season 4 came out in July 2022 and Season 5 isn't expected to premiere until sometime in 2025.
Some of the show's actors have already begun talking about the upcoming season, though. For example, Will actor Noah Schnapp was recently asked about his character's crush on Mike in Stranger Things, and if Will's sexuality will be confirmed in Season 5.
Finn Wolfhard on Why Stranger Things Season 5 Is Taking So Long
In an interview with Elite Daily, Stranger Things star Finn Wolfhard (who plays Mike Wheeler in the show) was asked about the long gap between Seasons 4 and 5, and specifically why it has taken so long for the fifth and final season to be released.
To put it simply, Season 5 could be the biggest season of television of all time. In terms of budget and scale, it will likely be on the same level as Game of Thrones Season 8 and The Rings of Power.
In Wolfhard's own words, he described the process of filming Season 5 as "basically making eight films:"
"I’ll meet fans of the show and they’re like, 'Oh, why can’t the show come out soon?' I’m like, 'I know. I want it to come out soon, but the way we’re filming it is so crazy. We’re basically making eight movies.'"
Wolfhard's comments about each episode of Season 5 being like a movie aren't the first time that comparison has been made.
In June, Maya Hawke (Robin Buckley) was a guest on Podcrushed where she spoke nearly the same words, saying, "We’re making, basically, eight movies. The episodes are very long."
Wolfhard then brought up Hawke's comments, agreeing that Season 5 is like "shooting one big yearlong movie."
However, Wolfhard then revealed that the total runtime of Stranger Things Season 5 will be "probably 10 or 11 hours:"
"It’s exactly what Maya said. It feels like we’ve been shooting one big yearlong movie, or eight feature-length movies. I’d guess it’s probably 10 or 11 hours long."
So, if Wolfhard's assumption of the total runtime of Season 5 is correct, fans can expect each episode to be somewhere around one hour and 20 minutes long.
When taking that into consideration, it is understandable that Season 5 is taking so long to come out. In the interview mentioned above with Maya Hawke, she also revealed that it would likely take around a year to film the final season.
That, the Hollywood writers' and actors' strikes that occurred in 2023, and extensive post-production all add up to cause the season to take longer to be released.
When Will Stranger Things Season 5 Be Released?
Unfortunately for fans, they are still going to have to wait a while before Stranger Things Season 5 hits Netflix.
The final installment is still in the midst of filming and will be until 2024 comes to a close. However, it is worth mentioning that filming could even last into the beginning of 2025 if needed.
A project like Stranger Things is expensive and takes a long time to film, but it also requires a lot of work in post-production, which means that there will be an even longer gap than normal between the end of filming and when the season will debut on Netflix.
However, it is possible (and probably even likely) that Netflix will execute one of its more popular strategies when it comes to big projects - breaking the season up into parts.
Stranger Things Season 4 already tested out breaking up the release dates of episodes. Episodes 1-7 were released on May 27, 2022, and then Episodes 8 and 9 were released on July 1.
Cobra Kai, another big Netflix series, is also currently using the same release strategy for its final season, but instead of releasing in two parts, it has been broken up into three.
This strategy not only allows Netflix to keep fans' attention retained for longer periods of time (and in turn ensures that subscribers who are only interested in that one project stick around for multiple months) but also gives the post-production teams time to work on batches of episodes at a time.
For example, if Stranger Things Season 5 were to release Episodes 1-4 in October or November 2024 (which seems like the most likely window), post-production could still be going on for Episodes 5-8.
Since each episode of Season 5 will be so long, post-production will take some time. However, Gaten Matarazzo told The Direct in September that Season 5 will likely be released sometime in 2025, so fans can at least expect to see some of the new season next year, but it will likely be toward the end of the year.
Stranger Things is available to stream on Netflix, and Season 5 is expected to be released sometime in 2025.
