By: Jia Jarin
Nothing lasts forever, and that includes Stranger Things. After the hit and thrilling Season 4 finale that turned our lives upside down and even crashed Netflix’s servers on the day of its release, creators Matt and Ross Duffer recently revealed with Collider that the writing stage for Stranger Things season 5 will immediately start in August 2022.
“It usually feels like the train is going down the tracks and Ross and I and our writers are just throwing down track as we’re going, once we’re halfway through the season. And for the first time ever, we were able to look at it globally, not just Season Four, but Season Five as well,” Matt said.
The kids find a gate to the Upside Down. Photo by Netflix.
Although there has yet to be an official release date announcement, the Duffer brothers have confirmed beforehand that Season 5 will be the squad’s final Hawkins adventure.
uoos noʎ ǝǝs pic.twitter.com/pJ71dRgmo1
— Stranger Things (@Stranger_Things) February 17, 2022
However, the wait may be shorter than the three year gap between Stranger Things 3 and 4 as the creators were already able to outline the events for season 5 due to the pandemic and even pitch a finale that made Netflix executives burst into tears.
Ross stated in The Wrap interview: “We pitched it to Netflix and they really responded well to it. I mean, it was hard. It’s the end of the story. I saw executives crying who I’ve never seen cry before and it was wild. And it’s not just to do with the story, just the fact that it’s like, Oh my God, this thing that has defined so many of our lives, these Netflix people who has been with us from the beginning, seven years now, and it’s hard to imagine the journey coming to an end.”
The Duffer brothers also explained that the final season will be a ‘pedal to the metal’ from the very start— filled with epic build ups, more thrilling hauntings, and mind-blowing supernatural mysteries.
Aside from the teases on the concluding story of Eleven and the Upside Down crew, Matt and Ross revealed with Variety that the Stranger Things franchise will not be closing its doors yet as there will be a spinoff series in the future.
Millie Bobby Brown and Matthew Modine in Stranger Things 4. Photo by Netflix.
The Duffer brothers wrote in their email interview last May: “We do have an idea for a spinoff that we’re super excited about … but we haven’t told anyone the idea yet, much less written it. We think everyone — including Netflix — will be surprised when they hear the concept, because it’s very, very different.”
With 34 episodes and 4 seasons, Stranger Things is a sci-fi horror-nostalgia series that has become the most watched English language show on Netflix. Recently, Stranger Things season 4 set a record as its last two episodes crossed 1 billion hours of viewership over the first 28 days of its release.
While the wait for the final chapter and future stories are on, fans can stream all of its seasons on Netflix (or take this time to mourn and fully recover from the last episode of Season 4).
What are your thoughts on Stranger Things? What do you think Season 5 will be about? Share your opinions and theories with us in the comments section below!