The Upside Down is on the attack in the second trailer for the fifth and final season of “Stranger Things,” which launches on Netflix on Nov. 26.
Over a rousing rendition of Queen’s “Who Wants to Live Forever,” the trailer lays out the stakes for the citizens of Hawkins, Indiana: Vecna (Jamie Campbell Bower) is back and hell-bent on invading the real world — and all our favorite characters must, in the words of Mike (Finn Wolfhard), “find Vecna and end this once and for all.”
They have their work cut out for them. We see Demogorgons rip through the soldiers who’ve placed Hawkins in quarantine, and Lucas (Caleb McLaughlin) hold a still-comatose Max (Sadie Sink) in a hospital elevator as a ferocious Demo-dog races toward them. Elsewhere, Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown) and Hopper (David Harbour) appear to be on their own campaign within the Upside Down, while Mike watches Joyce (Winona Ryder) overcome with worry about her son Will (Noah Schnapp).
And for good reason: In the final moments of the trailer, Vecna — standing in a military base in flames, and filled with dead soldiers — levitates an incapacitated Will toward him. “William,” he says darkly, “you are going to help me — one last time.”
In Variety‘s Oct. 15 cover story, “Stranger Things” creators Matt and Ross Duffer explained that they designed the final season to tie together all of the disparate storylines from the past four seasons, and answer as many burning questions as possible, starting with “what the Upside Down was,” Ross Duffer said. “Every season would be like, ‘Should we talk about it?’ And we’d go, ‘No, let’s wait.’ And then finally, we’re like, ‘Well, we have to now!’”
“We do every last remaining thing we wanted to do with the Demogorgons and Mind Flayer and Vecna and the Upside Down and Hawkins and these characters,” Matt Duffer said. “This is a complete story. It’s done.”
The show also stars Gaten Matarazzo as Dustin, Joe Keery as Steve, Charlie Heaton as Jonathan, Natalia Dyer as Nancy, Maya Hawke as Robin, Priah Ferguson as Erica, Brett Gelman as Murray, Cara Buono as Karen and Amybeth McNulty as Vickie. Linda Hamilton of “Terminator” fame joins the cast as a leader of the military outfit within Hawkins.
The final season will have eight episodes, with Netflix releasing the first four (Volume 1) on Nov. 26, the next three (Volume 2) on Dec. 25 and the two-hour finale on New Year’s Eve. In an unprecedented move, the streamer is also releasing the finale in more than 350 movie theaters on the same night, playing through Jan. 1, 2026.
Season 5 was written by the Duffers, Paul Dichter, Curtis Gwinn, Caitlin Schneiderhan and Kate Trefry. Along with the Duffer brothers, Frank Darabont and Shawn Levy are directing.
The first season of “Stranger Things” premiered in 2016. It’s produced by 21 Laps Entertainment, Monkey Massacre Productions and Upside Down Pictures. The show will wrap with 42 episodes total, a current Broadway prequel play and a potential spinoff series on the horizon.
