Stranger Things 5 is almost here, and we cannot wait.
The previous season, Stranger Things 4 – the dropping of which back in 2022 feels like light-years ago – left things for our Hawkins party on a serious, ominous note. Sadie Sink's Max is in a coma after her body and mind are taken over and snapped by evil Vecna (Jamie Campbell Bower), her (temporary) death opening up a final portal between the Earth and the Upside Down that creates a huge rupture between the two worlds.
And now, we return to Hawkins to see how everyone's doing. Will Max wake up? Will Vecna return and take over the world?
The synopsis for Stranger Things 5 reads as follows: “The fall of 1987. Hawkins, Indiana, is scarred by the opening of the Rifts, and our heroes are united by a single goal: to find and kill Vecna. But he has vanished — his whereabouts and plans unknown. Complicating their mission, the government has placed the town under military quarantine and intensified its hunt for Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown), forcing her back into hiding.
“As the anniversary of Will’s (Noah Schnapp) disappearance approaches, so does a heavy, familiar dread. The final battle is looming — and with it, a darkness more powerful and more deadly than anything they’ve faced before. To end this nightmare, they’ll need everyone — the full party — standing together, one last time.”
Here's everything we know about the Stranger Things 5 episodes, including how many there are, when they will drop and how long they will be.
How many episodes are in Stranger Things 5?
In total, there will be 9 episodes, with 4 dropping on 27 November, 3 dropping on Christmas Day and one finale episode dropping on New Years Day at 1am. We know what we're doing on the 1st January 2026.
Stranger Things 5 episode schedule
Volume 1 will drop on Thursday 27 November at 1am GMT, which will contain the following episodes:
- Episode 1: Chapter One: The Crawl
- Episode 2: The Vanishing of [REDACTED] — In the interest of avoiding spoilers, we have redacted who goes missing for now.
- Episode 3: Chapter Three: The Turnbow Trap
- Episode 4: Chapter Four: Sorcerer
Volume 2 will then drop on Christmas Day at 1am GMT (what an amazing Christmas present!) and will contain these three episodes:
- Episode 5: Chapter Five: Shock Jock
- Episode 6: Chapter Six: Escape from Camazotz
- Episode 7: Chapter Seven: The Bridge
And then, finally, the actual Stranger Things finale will drop on 31 December at 1am GMT. It's name is:
Episode 8: Chapter Eight: The Rightside Up
How long are the Stranger Things 5 episodes?
Stranger Things episodes are known for being epically long – the most recent season Stranger Things 4 felt like a collection of movies TBH.
In particular, episode 9 of season 4 was a whopping 2 and a half hours long. None of the Volume 1 episodes are set to be that long, but we'll have to see when it comes to the rest of the episodes due to drop over the Christmas and New Year period.
- Episode 1: Chapter One: The Crawl – 1 hour and 8 minutes
- Episode 2: The Vanishing of [REDACTED] — 54 minutes
- Episode 3: Chapter Three: The Turnbow Trap – 1 hour and 6 minutes
- Episode 4: Chapter Four: Sorcerer – 1 hour and 23 minutes
Stranger Things creators the Duffer Brothers have confirmed that episodes 4 and 8 of Stranger Things 5 are the longest. They also said at the London premiere earlier this month that they hadn't yet finished editing the finale! So maybe they don't yet know how long that will be.
We don't have long to wait to find out!
