Hawkins’ Heroes Face Impossible Odds in Stranger Things Finale

Netflix released an extended teaser trailer for the upcoming fifth and final season of Stranger Things this week. Showcased at San Diego Comic-Con, the brief teaser will get fans through the next several months as the full trailer and release date approach later this year.

The 50-second trailer lives up to the expectations: a quick and powerful look at what is guaranteed to be the most massive finale Stranger Things has to offer. See it here.

Spoilers below, including major revelations from the Stranger Things Season 4 finale.

Jumping into the action right away, the teaser offers unsettling looks at the Upside Down further bleeding into Hawkins, packs of demo-dogs in dimly lit hallways, intense action sequences with flamethrowers, and more.

One of the highlights of the trailer is a badass Linda Hamilton with guns and a heavily armored outfit confidently strolling through the Hawkins lab to join the core group of Hawkins residents on the front lines of the battle against the forces of the Upside Down.

Season 4 of Stranger Things ended with Vecna, the vile creature pulling the strings on all of the season’s evils, tearing open a massive gate that allowed the Upside Down to pour into Hawkins in its entirety. As the new teaser confirms, Season 5 will be set in the fall of 1987 and open at a point after the full gate has been breached.

The Stranger Things Season 5 premiere will also take place on the third anniversary of Will Byers’ disappearance, the event that served as the inciting incident for the entire first season.

Fans should expect the entire fifth season of Stranger Things to consist of eight episodes. However, these are no ordinary “season” episodes. Each will be feature-length, meaning the entire finale will amount to eight Stranger Things movies in total.

According to the official synopsis, Hawkins is changed forever after the Rifts are opened. The one remaining goal of Hawkins’ old and new heroes is to find Vecna and kill him before he has a chance to do more harm. But where is Vecna? And what does he plan to do with Hawkins now that he’s free to do as he pleases? Meanwhile, the U.S. government has ordered a military quarantine of Hawkins and is stepping up efforts to capture Eleven and force her into hiding.

With the third anniversary of Will Byers’ disappearance quickly approaching, the time has come for the final battle, and as teased in the new trailer, the last battle is going to be a tough one. The forces against Hawkins’ heroes are darker and more powerful than ever before, and the only hope of standing a chance is to have the full party together for the last time.

Returning Faces and Iconic Details

Of course, the main returning cast is back for the final season of Stranger Things. They are joined by several key returning recurring characters as well. Amybeth McNulty will return as Vicki, and Gabriella Pizzolo returns to the series as Dustin’s girlfriend, Suzie. Jamie Campbell Bower is back as the terrifying Vecna.

Some other notable new recurring characters and their actors for Stranger Things Season 5 include Linda Hamilton as Dr. Kay, Nell Fisher as Holly Wheeler, Jake Connelly as Derek Turnbow, and Alex Breaux as Lt. Akers.

Fans will also be quick to spot several intriguing Easter eggs and callbacks in the teaser. For example, a scene where Lucas and other characters are crouched down and hiding from the demo-dogs appears to be a direct reference to the classic velociraptor kitchen scene from Jurassic Park.

Eerie psychological horror fans will also love the glimpse of Vecna ominously and repeatedly saying “found you” in one scene.

The trailer also features a moving reminder of the events of the Stranger Things Season 4 finale and Eddie Munson’s tragic fate. In one shot of Eddie Munson’s gravestone, viewers will see it covered with graffiti spray paint reading “Burn in hell” —a scathing reminder that despite Eddie heroically sacrificing his life to help save Hawkins in the Season 4 finale, much of the town still believes Eddie was a villain. Eddie’s death was likely the most emotionally devastating moment of the series since Bob Newby was killed in the Season 2 finale. It will be a loss that continues to impact Hawkins for years and one that the audience will likely remember as well. This cruel act of vandalism is only likely to increase Eddie’s sense of injustice and the shame and guilt he was dealt with in death.

Season 5 Release Details and Schedule

Netflix is releasing all eight episodes of Stranger Things Season 5 in three parts rather than one continuous season. The move is likely to be met with heavy fan disapproval, as viewers who have spent the past few months hoping for the announcement of a 2024 release date are going to be very disappointed at the release split.

Volume 1 of Stranger Things Season 5 will premiere on November 26, 2025. Volume 2 will premiere exactly one month later on Christmas Day 2025, on December 25, 2025. The finale, appropriately timed to hit audiences with an emotional gut-punch, will drop on New Year’s Eve 2025, December 31, 2025.