Stranger Things Final Season Is a Three-Part Event

Netflix has officially released a trailer for the fifth and final season of Stranger Things. Set to premiere late this year, the extended trailer offers fans the first look at what’s to come in the series finale. As it turns out, a lot is on the horizon for Hawkins, its iconic crew of heroes, and the forces of the Upside Down, once again set to make a play for the small town.

Action sequences and old favorites are seen almost immediately in the brief teaser. The Upside Down oozing ever further into Hawkins, demo-dogs running through dark hallways, flaming cylinders being wielded by unseen figures, and more action-packed set pieces come early in the clip. One such figure is Linda Hamilton, a.k.a. the Terminator, who joins the fight, suited up and ready for battle. Hamilton joins the Hawkins crew, all of whom are present and accounted for.

Season 4 ended on a literal earth-shattering cliffhanger: Vecna, the mysterious villain at the center of nearly all the evil experienced in Stranger Things 4, tearing open a massive gate, pouring the Upside Down straight into Hawkins. As per the new trailer, Season 5 picks up after these events, beginning in the fall of 1987. In one sense, this will mark the third anniversary of Will Byers’ disappearance, the core event that began the Stranger Things story in Season 1.

There are eight episodes planned for the final installment, but, as has been the case with Stranger Things for some time now, these aren’t normal episodes. Each is listed as a feature-length installment. In effect, fans will get eight Stranger Things movies when the last season debuts later this year.

Per the official plot description, Hawkins has been changed forever by the Rift’s opening and the Upside Down now running rampant through the town. Our band of heroes, old and new, all find themselves with one goal: to track down and kill Vecna. The problem is, they have no idea where to find him. The villain is also apparently up to something new, and, with the U.S. government having placed the town under military quarantine and redoubling efforts to find Eleven, she now finds herself on the run for a second time.

With the third anniversary of Will’s disappearance bearing down, the specter of the Upside Down and its increasingly sinister inhabitants looms large. Per the trailer, it’s all building up to the final battle in Hawkins. In the words of the teaser: the last stand is coming. It’s also, crucially, going to be against a foe darker, nastier, and far deadlier than what the Hawkins crew have seen before. In one sense, it’s got to be the full party. Every ally will have to be on board and ready to make one final stand in the Upside Down.

Main cast members will be returning, as will a host of key recurring faces from across the Stranger Things mythos. Amybeth McNulty will reprise her role as Vicki, while Gabriella Pizzolo, who plays Dustin’s girlfriend Suzie, will also be back. Jamie Campbell Bower will be back as Vecna, the menacing force at the center of so much of Season 4.

There will also be a couple of new faces to look out for in Stranger Things Season 5. Linda Hamilton is joining as Dr. Kay, as teased by her action-packed scene in the new teaser. Other notable new additions to the cast are Nell Fisher as Holly Wheeler, Jake Connelly as Derek Turnbow, and Alex Breaux as Lt. Akers.

There are several key scenes in the trailer worth singling out for discussion, both in terms of pure nerd excitement and everything Stranger Things. In one scene, Lucas, along with others, is being stalked by demo-dogs, which forces them to hide in a place that strongly resembles the same kitchen where diners tried to hide from velociraptors in Jurassic Park. In a move that should keep fans shivering, we also get to hear Vecna whisper a new line in the teaser: a guttural, deeply menacing-sounding “found you.”

The emotional tone of the teaser should also be noted, as it also has its poignant, frustrating, and heartbreaking moments. In one part of the trailer, the dead Eddie Munson’s gravestone is seen with “Burn in hell” written on it, after Eddie heroically sacrificed himself in the season-4 finale. It’s a biting reminder that, despite his final act of heroism, a lot of Hawkins is still going to see Eddie as a villain. Eddie’s death was a gut punch in the series’ history, on a level with perhaps only Bob Newby’s death in Season 2. A fitting act of heroism, his end will remain a bitter one for both Hawkins and fans for some time to come. Hopefully, some of these lingering misconceptions will be cleared up in the last season. Time will tell if justice will be served.

Fans will also be discussing the format of the final installment, as the season will have a unique release structure. As noted above, there will be eight episodes in total. Netflix has divided the release schedule into three “volumes,” which is going to be a total pain point for folks who simply want to binge the whole thing. The decision is going to be even more infuriating in light of the full season release strategy employed by other Netflix series, such as Umbrella Academy 3, which was also season-finale-focused and released in full just last month. Each “volume” will consist of two episodes.

Volume 1 releases on Friday, November 26, 2025. Volume 2 comes a month later, on Christmas Day, Friday, December 25, 2025. The series finale lands on New Year’s Eve, Friday, December 31, 2025.