Hawkins Under Siege in Stranger Things’ Last Season

Netflix has shared the first extended look at the highly anticipated fifth and final season of Stranger Things. The latest teaser comes ahead of the series’ new fall 2024 premiere date. As expected, the teaser offers a brief glimpse of Hawkins’ classic hero cast gearing up for the season’s ultimate showdown against the forces of the Upside Down.

The new trailer from Stranger Things Season 5 ratchets up the tension immediately. Fans see an unhinged Upside Down stretching its tendrils further into Hawkins. Then there are the creaking doors and padded-footed demo-dogs stalking Hawkins’ shadowy hallways. The teaser amps up the action with some fireworks, too: flamethrowers, at least.

One scene in particular is a callback and welcome surprise to fans who have been thirsting for more Stranger Things content for three years: The arrival of an armed Linda Hamilton who is down to throw down with the Hawkins team.

Season 4 ended with Hawkins’ favorite son, Mike, in utter shock as Vecna (the evil, mystical force behind every horror since Will disappeared) ripped open a massive gate and sent the Upside Down pouring into Hawkins like some kind of extradimensional swamp gas.

Season 5 will pick up sometime after those events, with the teaser indicating that at least some part of the story will take place in the fall of 1987. As the show’s full trailer hinted, this would put the start of Season 5 on the third anniversary of Will Byers’ disappearance in Hawkins, which first kicked off Stranger Things back in Season 1.

It’s been confirmed that Season 5 will consist of eight episodes, but don’t expect any abbreviated TV movie-length installments here. Netflix describes each episode as “feature length,” meaning eight Stranger Things.

The Season 5 official description promises a lot to unpack for fans who have been in a holding pattern since 2022. The Upside Down has made Hawkins home now that Vecna opened up those Rifts back in Season 4, with many of Hawkins’ former heroes returning with a new singular goal: to track down and kill Vecna. The problem is, no one knows where he is. And even if he can be found, it’s not known if he’s planning to attack or not.

The U.S. military government, which has been keeping an eye on Hawkins since the events of Season 4, is bringing in some serious reinforcements, too. The government has placed Hawkins on full military quarantine and is going into full-court press on rounding up Eleven, who is apparently on the lam once again.

With the anniversary of Will’s disappearance rapidly approaching, things only seem to be getting darker and creepier in Hawkins. The teaser message is clear. The final battle between Hawkins’ ragtag band of heroes and the forces of the Upside Down is here. The new teaser also makes it obvious that this fight is going to be different. The Upside Down enemy is stronger than ever. The stakes are higher than ever.

And this time around, everyone is needed. The entire team—every ally Hawkins has got—will be needed to make it through.

Who’s Back and Who’s New in Stranger Things’ Season 5?

Of course, the main Stranger Things cast is back for the final battle. Add in a few familiar faces that were popular recurring players from earlier seasons. Amybeth McNulty reprises the role of Vicki, and Gabriella Pizzolo returns as Dustin’s girlfriend, Suzie. Jamie Campbell Bower is back in the role of Vecna, Season 4’s powerful and bone-chilling antagonist.

Fans also get to meet some new characters in the next season of Stranger Things. Linda Hamilton plays the tough-as-nails Dr. Kay, while Nell Fisher is cast as Holly Wheeler, Jake Connelly as Derek Turnbow, and Alex Breaux as Lt. Akers.

In between the nods to the power of nostalgia, including Lucas and a group of others trying to escape the demo-dogs in a hallway sequence that strongly evokes the classic kitchen velociraptor scene from Jurassic Park, there are plenty of things to excite and frighten fans. Fewer details are needed to ratchet up the psychological horror here. Just hearing the twisted, spongy “found you” coming from Vecna in the Stranger Things teaser will get shivers up any fan’s spine.

The final scene in the teaser, however, packs an unexpected gut punch. Eddie Munson’s gravestone has been desecrated by some “Burn in hell” graffiti. The scene is a cruel reminder that no matter how Eddie made his ultimate sacrifice at the end of the Season 4 finale, the town of Hawkins still doesn’t fully appreciate his efforts.

Eddie’s death was arguably the most difficult loss to watch in Stranger Things since Bob Newby’s murder at the hands of a Michael in Season 2. That sting, for Eddie’s character and the fans, is very much still there. Judging from the teaser, Hawkins’ error will be made clear to all very soon. The character’s death was a betrayal by the town’s residents, both on a fictional and an emotional level.

But that loss is only one of many things fans will have to process in this new final season. For starters, splitting the season into three release parts with a month-long break between each will be a major source of frustration for fans used to just binge-watching their way through Stranger Things seasons.

Netflix plans to release the eight final Stranger Things episodes in three volumes. Volume 1 will arrive on November 26, 2025. Volume 2 will release one month later on Christmas Day, December 25, 2025. The season, and the series’ entire journey, then comes to an end on New Year’s Eve 2025 with the release of Volume 3 on December 31, 2025.