Netflix has finally revealed when the fifth and final season of “Stranger Things” will arrive on the streaming platform, with the wildly popular Duffer Brothers series overtaking the holidays this year. The streamer announced that the final batch of episodes will be split into three release dates — the day before Thanksgiving, Christmas and the finale airing on New Year’s Eve.
Watch the reveal below.
It’s unclear how, exactly, the episodes will be divided but the final episode – or episodes – will come out Dec. 31. (The final episode, it’s already been revealed, is titled “The Rightside Up.”) It seems like a winning formula, combining the tried-and-true stream-all-at-once Netflix formula with their newer emphasis on live events like the Beyoncé-bowl event and John Mulaney’s recent nighttime talk show “Everybody’s Live.” It also follows the premiere of “Squid Game” Season 2 the day after Christmas 2024 to tremendous viewership numbers.
Netflix is making “Stranger Things” the streaming event of the holiday season. And we imagine there will be a robust consumer products campaign to go along with the latest cycle. Everybody’s getting a plush Demogorgon under the tree this year.
At the end of the last season, the Upside Down had come to Hawkins, Indiana, with positively post-apocalyptic results. It’ll be interesting to see how our gang of plucky misfits will get out of this one.
“Stranger Things 5” will once again star Winona Ryder, David Harbour, Finn Wolfhard, Millie Bobby Brown, Gaten Matarazzo, Caleb McLaughlin, Noah Schnapp, Sadie Sink, Natalia Dyer, Charlie Heaton and Joe Keery, along with Maya Hawke and Brett Gelman. New to the series this year is Linda Hamilton, playing an undisclosed role, with a returning Jamie Campbell Bower as the villainous entity Vecna.
Episode titles for the new eight-episode season include “The Turnbow Trap,” “Shock Jock” (set photos reveal a local radio station has a prominent role in the story), “Sorcerer” and “”Escape from Camazotz” (Camazotz, in Mayan mythology, is a giant death bat). It’s also been confirmed that Frank Darabont, the director of “The Shawshank Redemption” and “The Mist,” will direct a pair of episodes, with the Duffer Brothers directing three episodes, including the series finale.
And while “Stranger Things” might be closing up shop, it is far from the end of the franchise. The brilliant stage show “Stranger Things: The First Shadow,” which premiered in London, recently hit Broadway and racked up five Tony nominations, with a special win for its technical wizardry. There’s also a Saturday morning cartoon-style animated series coming, plus a rumored anime series about an Upside Down portal in Tokyo and a live-action spinoff series in development.
Ready to spend your holidays with “Stranger Things?”
The post ‘Stranger Things 5’ Sets Holiday Release Schedule, Episodes Premiering Across Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s Eve appeared first on TheWrap.