The Boroughs is the latest casualty of Netflix's habit of canceling shows after a single season, and as rumors swirl about the real reasons behind its exit, Denis O'Hare is sharing how fans can "stick it" to the streamer after its exit.

O'Hare, who played Sam's doctor friend Wally in the one-off series currently available with a Netflix subscription, mourned the loss of the show on his Instagram account. That said, he had a plan cooked up that he believed would help make Netflix executives regret writing off the star-studded series, and he spoke specifically to Emmy voters:

I totally empathize with Denis O'Hare, as well as the rest of the cast of The Boroughs. I'm sure they had an idea of what the series could explore in the hypothetical Season 2, especially after that wild ending involving Sam. Emmy voters giving it all the awards would have Netflix sitting with egg on its face, having given the axe to a successful show.

Who knows? It might even cause Netflix to reverse its decision to cancel The Boroughs, which may also be what Alfred Molina and the rest of the cast are hoping for. A few awards would surely draw more eyes to the series and make the cost of the sci-fi series easier to justify in a future season. Just based on Denis O'Hare waxing on about how much he loved the show, I'm sure it'd be water under the bridge if Netflix reversed course on its decision.

That being said, critical acclaim and awards buzz haven't made Netflix reverse course before. I think back to Mindhunter as a notable example of an acclaimed show that people wanted a third season for, but ultimately Netflix said the viewership was not worth the investment needed for a new season. Streaming is a business at the end of the day, and it seems like these shows are learning that the hard way more often than not.

It certainly feels like there's a shift in the streaming climate, compared to a decade ago, where it seemed like a golden age where even notable movie stars were hopping on a streaming series. It's still happening, but the odds of that series having a multi-season run are diminishing the further these streamers head into the future. How this will impact the future of streaming, we can only speculate; but I'm interested to see how it goes.

The Boroughs is still available to stream over on Netflix, and still worth your time even though it was canceled. I even think it works better as a one-off series, even with the open-ended cliffhanger, so give it a watch if you have yet to do so.

For a little while, The Boroughs seemed like one of the most exciting new shows on Netflix. The show, executive-produced by Stranger Things' The Duffer Brothers, received critical acclaim upon its debut in May and trended high alongside other titles on the streamer. That aside, it honestly seemed like something of a spiritual successor to the Duffers' previous show. So it was surprising when it was announced that the series had been canceled, especially considering a two-year renewal was rumored. Now, reports are circling around the real reasoning behind the company's decision.

Sources claim to The Hollywood Reporter that The Boroughs' cancellation was greatly due to high costs. Per one insider, each episode of the show reportedly cost $10 million to produce, and a second source alleged that that total figure was "materially higher." All in all, it would seem that the viewership figures didn't justify the amount of money being dished out for the sci-fi series.

Considering the financial side of all this, it's hard not to wonder how cast salaries figured into this as well. The all-star ensemble, after all, included names like Geena Davis, Alfred Molina, Bill Pullman and Alfre Woodard. In the aftermath of the cancellation, Davis spoke out and admitted to being confused by the streamer pulling the plug on the Jeffrey Addiss and Will Matthews-created show.

For context, The Boroughs takes place at an idyllic retirement community in New Mexico. The show follows a group of senior citizens living in that community, who discover otherworldly threats infiltrating their community, and they band together to try and stop the mysterious forces. While further specifics about the costs and budget haven't been given, it's worth noting that the series makes heavy use of CGI and visual effects to depict the sci-fi elements of the show.

Interestingly, the report also indicates that there might be other factors at play with this cancellation. At the end of last year, it was reported that Matt and Ross Duffer would leave Netflix for a four-year deal with Paramount, and that allegedly didn’t go over well with executives at the streamer. Some sources claim to THR that the siblings' relationship with the streamer has been fraught since they made the decision to leave, and it's alleged that all of that impacted The Boroughs' renewal odds. However, a source with Netflix has denied this assumption, claiming the situation was purely a business decision that made the best sense for the company.

Regardless of the reason for the cancellation, it's hard to deny Buroughs saw some solid success following its premiere. The series hit second place on Netflix's TV trending list for English-language shows within its first four days live. Amid its first week, it also garnered 9.5 million views as well as the No. 1 spot in that aforementioned ranking. It also notched 3.7 million views the next week when it ranked fourth and, in eighth place the following week, it earned another 2.7 million views.

As speculation on the cancellation continues, I'm sad thatThe Boroughs is done and leaves a lot of unanswered questions in its wake. Netflix owns 100% of the show and, as far as we know, the brand has no plans to sell it to any other studio. It's still worth mentioning, though, that the Duffer Brothers are still producing other shows with Netflix, including a live-action Stranger Things spinoff. I look forward to seeing what they do next, at whichever studio that happens to be.

In the meantime, check out the first and only season of The Boroughs now with a Netflix subscription. For more information on other exciting projects heading to the streamer this year, make sure to consult the 2026 Netflix release schedule.

Tragically, The Boroughs got canceled by Netflix after one season, sending it to the list of shows that have unfortunately ended in 2026. The series, which featured a stacked cast, got axed not too long after it premiered on the 2026 TV schedule, and it was quite the shock to many. Now, one of said A-list stars, Geena Davis, has reacted to the sad update.

Not long after news about The Boroughs’ fate broke, Davis spoke to THR about the show and its end. She played Renee on the series that also starred Alfred Molina, Alfre Woodard, Clarke Peters, Denis O’Hare and Bill Pullman. When asked how they found out about the show (which was executive produced by the Duffer Brothers) ending and if they were given an explanation as to why it got canceled, the A League of Their Own star said:

Clearly, the cast was surprised by this news, especially since The Boroughs is still in Netflix’s Top 10 shows (it currently sits at No. 8).

However, despite the surprise and the desire to continue, Davis reflected on how The Boroughs ended in a way that makes its cancellation a bit easier to swallow. While the show that debuted on Netflix’s 2026 schedule features a Stranger Things homage in the final scene that hints at what could have come, overall, the season does end in a way that provides closure for the characters and viewers. Explaining that idea further, the actress said:

I would be curious to see how this show was received if it were a strictly limited series. Overall, The Boroughs got middling-to-positive reviews, and it currently boasts a 97% on Rotten Tomatoes' Tomatometer and a 79% on the Popcornmeter. How those reactions would have changed had we known the show would only be one season is unknown. However, it is interesting to think about.

Following that point, Geena Davis stated that she really loved working on this project, and she’s very sad that they won’t get to come back. However, she does have an idea for how to get the gang back together:

Well, I know I’d certainly watch that show! And I do hope this team can come back together in some way. This project was a great time, and it had so much promise to go forward. It’s a bummer that it’s ending. However, I am grateful that we at least got one season in The Boroughs.

Now, if you’d like to watch The Boroguhs, which does have an ending that provides closure, you can stream it with a Netflix subscription.

Over the years, Netflix has garnered something of a reputation amongst subscribers for canceling promising series after a single season, sometimes even in the face of obvious popularity and acclaim. The platform hasn't been guilty of the tactic that much regarding the 2026 TV schedule thus far - more on that below - so I'm genuinely shocked that The Boroughs has become the latest one-and-done Netflix Original.

That's right, the 2026 Netflix release executive produced by Matt and Ross Duffer won't be returning for a second season, as Deadline reports that the company chose not to continue any early development on future story arcs for The Boroughs. On the one hand, it's surprising, but on the other, Netflix is gonna Netflix.

Why The Boroughs' Cancellation News Is Surprising

Stranger Things' success was such that one could believe anything the Duffers touched would be kept around Netflix for as long as possible. Especially for a show that won over critics in a big way, while also keeping the majority of viewers happy. And one with a cast that boasts Alfred Molina, Alfre Woodard, Denis O'Hare, Clarke Peters, Geena Davis and Bill Pullman.

What's more, Deadline confirmed that the Season 2 writers room was open, with ideas being bandied about. Which, to be sure, is fairly common for shows of larger statures, even without early renewals. As well, the outlet says there were allegedly talks about filming a second and third season back to back. (Possibly due to the main cast all being actors of certain ages, but that's not confirmed.)

Why The Cancellation News Isn't So Surprising

Unfortunately, for all the positive word-of-mouth, The Boroughs didn't zip up the list of most-watched streaming series during the all-too-important initial viewing window. During its debut weekend, the sci-fi horror brought in 5.6 million views, and ended its first week with a promising total of 9.5 million. But things faltered from there.

Its second week on the service only brought in 3.7 million views, and that data didn't get any bigger afterward. It's hard to know how many people would have needed to watch to guarantee one or two more seasons, but this certainly wasn't it.

The caveat here is that The Boroughs was crafted in such a way where the ending ties up just enough to keep viewers satisfied, while still leaving some unanswered questions to gnaw on that don't necessarily NEED to be answered. Even if we'd still take them if Season 2 were happening. In that way, it may not match up with other shows whose early cancellations still feel like crimes, even if it'll keep hurting in the short run.

The Boroughs marks the fifth show that I could find that was canceled in 2026 after only one season had aired. (Even if the airing wasn't in 2026.)

2026 Series That Netflix Canceled After A Single Season

• The Abandons
• Terminator Zero
• Star Search
• Strip Law
• The Boroughs

For now, The Boroughs is available to stream in its entirety via Netflix subscription. Maybe if the show can double its viewership in the weeks after the cancellation, Netflix will reverse its decision. And maybe it will then order a docuseries about flying pigs and ear-laden worms.

The fifth and final season of Stranger Things concluded nearly six months ago, and it’s still the talk of the town. Its record-breaking, divisive finale left fans with one major question. While the episode gave a happy ending to most characters, Millie Bobby Brown’s Eleven seemingly sacrificed herself. However, her true fate was left up in the air, and the Duffer Brothers still haven’t given a straight answer.

After sacrificing herself in the finale, Eleven’s fate should have been sealed right then and there, getting destroyed with the rest of the Upside Down. But during one last Dungeons & Dragons game, Mike implied that it was all an illusion and Eleven was actually in a place where the government can’t find her. It’s still unclear if this is what happened or if Mike just made it up; even the CinemaBlend staff is divided. Creators Matt and Ross Duffer are still keeping their lips locked as to what really happened to Eleven, and that might continue until the end of time, as Ross told The Hollywood Reporter:

Like the gang, I personally believe that Eleven escaped, did not get destroyed in the Upside Down, and is living a new life somewhere far away where she’s safe. It’s somewhat annoying that the Duffers won’t reveal if that’s true or not, but it makes sense. This ending gives fans two choices, and it’s all up to interpretation. And it sounds like they’re not willing to give up Eleven’s fate so easily.

The controversial finale may not have been the universally accepted, but it’s definitely caused a lot of discourse. Plenty of fans have taken to social media and probably their own friend groups to discuss their theories, keeping the show very much alive months after it ended. Even SNL spoofed what’s next when Finn Wolfhard hosted during Season 51. That being said, Matt Duffer is somewhat aware of what most fans seem to believe, and they’re looking on the lighter side:

Since the Duffers love to mess with the audience, I’m not surprised that this is one storyline they’re not going to be straight about. It’s definitely going to keep fans talking for months to come, perhaps even years. Maybe they don’t even know what’s real about Eleven. What is sure is that the ending of Stranger Things is going to be a topic of conversation for quite some time, and all because of the biggest question of them all: What really happened to Eleven?

Now might be a good time to rewatch all five seasons of Stranger Things with a Netflix subscription to see if any clues point to the true ending. It’s possible later in the future the Duffers will share her fate, but for now, the mystery will just have to continue.

Spoilers for The Boroughs (and Season 1 of Stranger Things) are ahead! You can stream both shows with a Netflix subscription.

Before The Boroughs even premiered on Netflix’s 2026 schedule, I thought it had big Stranger Things energy. Of course, I knew the Duffer Brothers were executive producers on it, so that helped forge the parallel alongside both projects being about groups of friends (one of old folks and one of kids) trying to solve a mystery and fight a monster. Now, there are questions about whether the two shows are related. While they aren’t in terms of the stories being literally connected, one of the creators did tell me how their show directly parallels and pays homage to Season 1 of Stranger Things.

When I interviewed The Boroughs co-creators Jeffrey Addiss and Will Matthews, we spoke a lot about the glitches, what they mean, and what that final glitch at the end of Season 1 could allude to. Or, more accurately, I tried to ask what that last glitch Sam had meant. They wouldn’t answer that question; however, Addiss did tell me that those final seconds where Alfred Molina’s character glitches in the mirror were a direct parallel to Stranger Things’ Season 1 ending:

After he told me this, I immediately knew what he was talking about, and I couldn’t believe I didn’t put two and two together.

Of course, at the end of The Boroughs, it seems like the bad guys have been defeated, the monsters and Mother are at peace, and the gang is going back to their normal lives. But then Sam glitches while looking in the bathroom mirror, and new questions arise. Is he OK? Why is he glitching now? Is there a new threat? Is the old threat fully defeated? Hopefully, these are questions that get answered in Season 2.

Meanwhile, in the final seconds of Stranger Things’ first season, Will excuses himself from his family’s dinner. He goes into the bathroom, throws up a slimy thing, and then the bathroom flashes between the right side up and the Upside Down, signifying to the audience that whatever happened to him while he was missing was very much still impacting him. However, he returns to dinner like there’s nothing to worry about.

See, it’s such an obvious parallel between the two shows, as these characters realized something was wrong while looking at themselves in a bathroom mirror. Plus, it’s a super cool way to pay homage to the fact that Stranger Things and The Boroughs do share DNA thanks to the Duffer Brothers and the projects’ similar concepts.

Considering all this, I hope that the parallels continue. That’s because in Season 2 of Stranger Things, the world and the mystery expanded as we learned more about what was haunting Will. I need the world to expand in The Boroughs, and I’m desperate to know why Sam was glitching, so hopefully they get renewed so they can pick up just like the megahit did all those years ago.

The Duffer Brothers don’t seem to have taken much time off to bask in the end of Stranger Things, continuing their working relationship with Netflix as the executive producers of Stranger Things: Tales from ‘85 (the animated spinoff that they also created) and Something Very Bad Is Going to Happen. Now, a third series is hitting the 2026 TV schedule that boasts Matt and Ross Duffer as EPs — The Boroughs —, and while it has a high Rotten Tomatoes score, there's one thing viewers should keep in mind regarding the new horror series.

The Boroughs stars Alfred Molina as the recently widowed Sam Cooper, who moves into the titular retirement home and must team up with his fellow residents to stop an otherworldly threat. The show has garnered 94% on Rotten Tomatoes, which is impressive, but most of these positive scores seem to come from critics who think the show is pretty good but not great. David Opie of Empire, for instance, rates it 3 out of 5 stars and says:

The Boroughs’ cast is certainly outstanding, with Hollywood vets like Alfre Woodard, Geena Davis, Clarke Peters, Bill Pullman and Denis O'Hare. In fact, Saloni Gajjar of AV Club says the show benefits from centering on aging adults who challenge authority, rather than angsty pre-teens. Alfred Molina, in particular, is “so gosh darn adorable,” Gajjar says. The critic gives the series a B, writing:

Cheryl Eddy of Gizmodo says the new series created by Jeffrey Addiss and Will Matthews fits right in with A Man on the Inside and The Thursday Murder Club (both of which can also be streamed with a Netflix subscription), and even if you’ve got a good idea of where the story is going, getting there is an “absolute pleasure.” Eddy continues:

Aimee Hart of Polygon notes how refreshing it is that The Boroughs treats aging as something to be celebrated amongst its characters rather than reducing them to punchlines and eyeroll-worthy stereotypes. So while comparisons to Stranger Things are inevitable, it’s actually what’s different from that series that makes this one so special. Hart writes:

Angie Han of THR thinks the cast of The Boroughs is done a disservice by the series’ dull plot. That said, however, the critic still encourages Netflix subscribers to give it a chance, writing:

That high Rotten Tomatoes score probably deserves an asterisk due to the reviews noting its clunky and predictable elements, but even with those issues, critics are charmed with Alfred Molina and his co-stars enough to recommend The Boroughs anyway.

If you want to check it out, all eight episodes of The Boroughs are available to stream now.

While Stranger Things has come to an end, the Duffer brothers are not done with their work at Netflix. In fact, they have executive-produced a show premiering on the 2026 TV schedule called The Boroughs, and it has big Stranger Things energy. Along with that, it turns out that a challenge the brothers faced in making their megahit actually really helped this new show get off the ground.

Now, the Duffer brothers are executive producers on this new show on Netflix’s 2026 schedule that was created by Jeffrey Addiss and Will Matthews. The Stranger Things creators had been fans of Addiss and Matthews's last show, Dark Crystal, and said they wanted to work on their next project together. So, they pitched the brothers The Boroughs, a story that takes place in a retirement village and follows a group of older folks as they try to solve a mystery involving a terrifying monster.

Sounds kind of like Stranger Things with old people, right? Well, the Duffers know that, as they said, the two programs share “DNA,” and Addiss and Matthews know that, too. Actually, The Boroughs creators were able to get their show off the ground thanks to the success of the Duffers’ program, as Matthews explained during an interview with SFX Magazine on CinemaBlend:

The challenge Stranger Things faced was that it was led by children, but it was decidedly not a children’s show. I mean, when they were working on Season 1, Millie Bobby Brown was 11 years old; however, an argument can be made that 11-year-olds probably need at least an adult present to watch Season 1 with a Netflix subscription. So, if kids couldn't watch a show starring kids, who would?

It turns out, everyone. This proved not to be a problem at all. Stranger Things was a massive success, and that’s putting it lightly. So, when The Boroughs, an adventure led by older characters, came around, there wasn’t a worry that it would only appeal to older folks. It can appeal to people of all ages.

Speaking to that point and the importance of representing this demographic, Addiss said:

I totally see what he’s saying, and while I’d never thought about those parallels, it's totally true. So, I’m very excited to see The Boroughs to examine both its similarities and differences to Stranger Things.

Now, while Stranger Things made stars of its cast, The Boroughs is made up of established stars. The series is led by Alfred Molina, and also stars Geena Davis, Bill Pullman, Alfre Woodard, Clarke Peters and Denis O’Hare. They make up a Scooby gang that’s not dissimilar to that of the Stranger Things kids, as they set out to figure out what’s going on with the monsters in their community.

So, to see this show that got made, in part, thanks to a challenge Stranger Things faced, you can stream The Boroughs on Netflix starting May 21.

It’s only been a few months since the Duffer Brothers wrapped Stranger Things’ run on Netflix, and already we’re getting their follow-up project, Something Very Bad Is Going to Happen. The miniseries stars Camila Morrone and Adam DiMarco as an engaged couple whose wedding plans get derailed (presumably by something very bad). Critics were able to screen the horror show before it hit the 2026 TV schedule on March 26, and they’re mostly pleased with the results.

The Duffer Brothers, who serve as executive producers on the new Netflix series, know a thing or two about subverting the frustrating aspects of horror television, so hopes are high for what Angie Han of THR calls a clever and satisfyingly bloody spin on prenuptial jitters. Han continues:

Belen Edwards of Mashable says the title is quite the undersell, with not just one but many very bad somethings happening during the upcoming horror TV show’s eight episodes. Thankfully, the critic says, binge-watching the series on Netflix wasn’t one of them. Edwards writes:

Noel Murray of AV Club gives Something Very Bad a B, writing that it crackles with originality. There are highs and lows, Murray says, and the series could have “easily” been cut down to six episodes. However, some elements work exactly as intended. The critic continues:

Tai Gooden of Nerdist rates Something Very Bad 3 out of 5 stars for solid performances all around and its terrifyingly slow burn toward one hell of a bloody ending. Gooden says:

Some critics, however, aren’t able to overlook some of the series’ downfalls. Judy Berman of Time says Something Very Bad falls on the wrong side of the thin line that separates suspense from boredom. Three episodes in, this critic says she felt more dread about having five episodes to go than anything happening on-screen. Berman continues:

While the critics admit the miniseries has its faults, the majority seem to have enjoyed the Duffer Brothers’ Stranger Things follow-up. If you’re intrigued by this dark soulmate story, the entire eight-episode series is available to stream now with a Netflix subscription.

Believe it or not, nearly three full months have passed since the final credits rolled on Stranger Things, although the controversy over the finale extended well into the 2026 TV schedule. Some fans were so upset by the ending that they were all-in on the #ConformityGate theory about a secret real finale that would release in the new year. Now, after disappointing the #ConformityGate believers (and Philadelphia Flyers mascot Gritty), The Duffer Brothers' new Netflix show has debuted, and my question is how well Something Very Bad Is Going To Happen will do on the Top 10.

Something Very Bad Is Going To Happen arrived for anybody with a Netflix subscription on March 26, with Matt and Ross Duffer on board as executive producers under their Upside Down Pictures production company, while Hunters' Haley Z. Boston is at the helm as writer and showrunner.

Unlike the upcoming animated Stranger Things spinoff, the new live-action horror series isn't set in the same world as Hawkins, IN. It follows the story of a bride and groom in the week leading up to their wedding, and you don't need to go any further than the title to know that not everything is going to go according to plan.

Even though The Duffer Brothers aren't as involved in Something Very Bad Is Going To Happen as they were as the EPs, writers, creators, and showrunners of Stranger Things, I would have had no doubt that having their name attached would launch the new horror offering to the top of Netflix's TV Top 10 by the end of its first weekend of availability... except that people are still mad about that ending for Eleven and Co.

I'd been surprised last year by how quickly Stranger Things dropped out of the #1 spot after Volume 2 released, and that was before the finale debuted to divide the fandom. And you don't have to look beyond the comments on Ross Duffer's Instagram post that was promoting SVBIGTH to see that there are definitely still bitter feelings from fans.

Of course, online commenters don't represent Netflix's full subscriber base, and the show looks interesting enough that I would predict a spot in Netflix's Top 10 sooner rather than later with or without The Duffer Brothers as executive producers. At the time of writing, just hours after Something Very Bad Is Going To Happen began streaming, these are the entries in the Top 10 that the new show will have to beat:

1. Tyler Perry's Beauty In Black Season 2
2. WWE Raw
3. Virgin River Season 7
4. Age Of Attraction Season 1
5. One Piece Season 2
6. Radioactive Emergency Season 1
7. The Dinosaurs
8. Mark Norman: None Too Pleased Comedy Special
9. Bridgerton Season 4
10. Mark Rober's CrunchLabs Season 3

The new show stars Camila Morrone, Adam DiMarco, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Ted Levine, Jeff Wilbusch, Gus Birney, Karla Crome, Sawyer Fraser, Zlatko Burić, and the trailer gives a sneak peek at some of the very bad things that apparently are going to happen to the lovebirds at the center of the action. Take a look:

All eight episodes of Something Very Bad Is Going To Happen are available streaming on Netflix now. I won't be surprised if it finds a spot on the Top 10 within the week, but I'm also quite curious to see how long it takes to get to #1... if it does at all. Whatever you may think of how The Duffer Brothers ended Stranger Things, there's a reason why it became such a hit in the first place, so perhaps their involvement in Haley Z. Boston's series bodes well.

Now that the dust has settled on the Stranger Things finale, fans can now zero in on the fact that its creators have multiple new shows on the 2026 Netflix schedule. And the first of those series is a creepy series called Something Very Bad Is Going To Happen. EPs Matt and Ross Duffer serve as producers on the new horror series, which is about the scary happenings in the week leading up to a young couple’s wedding. The show has certainly piqued my interest, especially now that the showrunner has explained how she's avoiding a key pitfall.

Something Very Bad Is Going To Happen creator and showrunner Haley Z. Boston talked about crafting her horror concept for Netflix. Here’s what she had to say about the latest of upcoming horror TV shows:

Thanks to Boston's new interview with SFX Magazine on CinemaBlend, I learned that the series will open with our protagonist Rachel (Camila Morrone) walking down the aisle on her wedding day as she distressingly holds back tears. Then, the audience will be taken back to five days prior where Rachel and her fiancé Nicky (Adam DiMarco) seem as love as ever as they head to the secluded vacation home of his family for the festivities.

During the show’s first episode, “a few terrifying hints” already start to emerge for people to catch on to, and some of our questions will apparently be answered in the first episode, and then slowly delivered to us throughout its eight episodes. I love that Boston and co. aren't looking to overwhelm viewers with questions that won't be answered, which is quite common when it comes to horror TV shows. Sure it's great to have some great mysteries at play, but there are so many cases in which viewers are left without answers.

It's refreshing to hear a producer like Boston say she doesn’t like it when horror shows can ask a lot of questions without providing answers. Of course, she's also cognizant that what she and her team are doing is easier said than done:

The series also stars Jennifer Jason Leigh and Ted Levine as Rachel’s in-laws-to-be, which is exciting considering both actors have had memorable horror roles over the years. And, of course, she had the Duffer Brothers on her side, who she said were “so supportive” of her vision and “very honest” throughout the process. This is completely different from Stranger Things, but I'm excited to see which of the Duffer Brothers' creative sensibilities are present!

Anyone else ready for this terrifying rollercoaster? I know I am after Boston shared her thoughts on the new series, which was officially revealed in 2024. The creator also said she was inspired to create Something Very Bad Is Going To Happen while being a woman in her late twenties with the very relatable “intense pressure” to find the person she wants to spend the rest of her life with. I look forward to seeing how she injects those experiences into a story that thankfully won't lead viewers one without any kind of payoffs.

You can check out all eight episodes of Something Very Bad Is Going To Happen with a Netflix subscription starting on Thursday, March 26. It's just one of several notable titles set to hit the 2026 TV schedule this spring.

Can you believe it? It’s already been about a month since the Stranger Things series finale aired. While we’ll be debating about what really happened to Eleven for years to come, things may have wrapped up for our favorite residents of Hawkins. However, the show’s creators, the Duffer Brothers, have been hard at work on three upcoming shows for those with a Netflix subscription, and we have some new information about one already coming out this spring.

The Duffer Bros’ New Show Sounds Like A Chilling Horror Fest

The Stranger Things creators' next show is called Something Very Bad Is Going To Happen, and its place on the 2026 Netflix release schedule is just two months away. It’s an eight-episode limited series produced by the Duffers and created by Haley Z. Boston (who previously wrote an episode for Guillermo del Toro’s Cabinet of Curiosities and was a story editor on Hunters) that we originally heard about in 2024. Boston describes her concept as the “horror version of becoming a wife.”

The series follows a couple who are getting ready to get married in five days. Something Very Bad Is Going To Happen follows bride Rachel and groom Nicky as they head to the secluded vacation of Nicky’s wealthy family just before their wedding. The series is led by Camila Morrone (Daisy Jones & The Six) as Rachel, Adam DiMarco (Overcompensating) as Nicky, Jennifer Jason Leigh as Nicky’s mom, and Ted Levine (Monk) as Nicky’s dad.

In a new interview with Entertainment Weekly, the creator cited Carrie and Rosemary’s Baby as influences, but we’ll have to wait for the series to drop before we find out about the “something very bad” that will occur during the couple’s trip.

Oh, And There’s More Where That Came From From The Duffers...

What’s also quite exciting is that Something Very Bad Is Going To Happen isn’t the only series from the Duffer Bros expected to come out this year. There’s Stranger Things: Tales From ‘85, which is an animated spinoff series set between Seasons 2 and 3 that does follow the characters from the OG show, like Eleven, Mike, Will, Lucas, Dustin and Max, from a more Saturday morning cartoon approach.

The other show (that I’m particularly interested in) is one called The Boroughs. The Duffers have said it shares some “DNA with Stranger Things,” given it's about a group of misfits dealing with an otherworldly force, but these protagonists will be the residents of a retirement community in New Mexico. The cast of the series includes Alfred Molina, Geena Davis and Bill Pullman.

While you’d think these guys would sit back and relax after just being behind one of the biggest TV shows of the past decade, they’ve got some really exciting new series on the way. We don’t have a specific release date for Stranger Things: Tales From ‘85 or The Boroughs yet, but the full season of Something Very Bad Is Going To Happen drops on March 26!

Spoilers ahead for Stranger Things Season 5, so consider yourself warned. Stream the whole series with a Netflix subscription.

It’s been a few weeks now since Stranger Things officially came to an end after five seasons, and there’s plenty that fans are still debating: What happened to Eleven? How did Max graduate on time after spending nearly two years in a coma? Why was Linda Hamilton’s role so badly botched? Did Rockin’ Robin and Vickie stay together? The Duffer Brothers weighed in on this last question, and I’ve got my own thoughts on the matter.

Vickie (Amybeth McNulty) was introduced in Season 4 as a member of the Hawkins High School band who Robin (Maya Hawke) had a crush on. By Season 5, the two were officially (but secretly) an item, and Vickie even got in on some of the Vecna-fighting fun. So did this traumatic experience bring Robin and Vickie closer or drive a wedge between them? Ross Duffer told EW:

So, just like the fate of Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown), Ross and Matt Duffer are letting each individual fan decide if they think the couple lasted, despite admitting that they did talk about the characters’ futures. However, as Ross mentioned above, there are some hints.

Vickie didn’t attend the graduation with Robin in the epilogue, and she wasn’t seen or mentioned by name either, which some fans are taking to mean they broke up. That theory is only strengthened when Robin talks to Steve, Nancy and Jonathan about “overbearing significant others,” though it’s unclear if she’s referring to her own love life or Steve’s (Joe Keery).

Matt Duffer offered his own slightly more-decisive take, saying:

His response is still noncommittal, but he makes a valid point. While Nancy and Jonathan did end their relationship, Max and Lucas’ bond was strong enough to endure, and Joyce and Hopper got engaged. All of these decisions make sense narratively to me, and that’s why — in my opinion — the right choice would be to break up Robin and Vickie.

Both young women are so, well, young, and they’re still discovering themselves. It’s far more realistic that despite sharing something beautiful (and, at times, horrifying) as teenagers, they would continue to evolve when they go to college, move out of Hawkins and meet other people. As Matt Duffer pointed out, not a lot of high school sweethearts survive that.

I also really don’t like it when a book or TV series shows its characters in the future having not made any new friends, found new hobbies, dated anyone else, etc. I want the people I’ve invested so much time in to live big, full lives that aren’t confined to one specific chapter.

That’s just me, though, and by not giving a definitive answer to the Robin-and-Vickie question, the Duffer brothers are fine with letting everyone call that ending for themselves.

One of the most discussed and largely polarizing TV episodes of the millennium so far, Stranger Things’ series finale has wowed some fans, perplexed others, and for a select group, Eleven’s debatable and vaguely explained fate was the last straw. As opposed to the rumored “secret episode” that fueled a wave of #ConspiracyGate posts on social media, Netflix unveiled the sprawling behind-the-scenes doc One Last Adventure. It didn’t change how I think things played out, but the doc showcased a batch of unused finale ideas, including one involving Dr. Kay.

For One Last Adventure, director Martina Radwan had untethered access to the bulk of the production, and spent time both in the writers room as well as on the sets. At one point during the second half, the camera pans across a whiteboard with a series of finale events on it laid out in sequential order, as seen below. (Just to stress it here: none of the early ideas noted on the board are meant to represent what plays out in the finalized finale.)

Lower down on the left side, partially obscured by a chair, fans can see what appears to be an early idea for how to eliminate the season’s biggest (and also conversely the most useless) military threats in Linda Hamilton’s Dr. Kay and Alex Breaux’s Lt. Robert Akers. Here’s what it appears to say:

Now, because the words aren't entirely clear, I can't say with certainty what it says. But if I were a betting man, I might put money on the idea that in this version of events, after Kali gets fatally shot, she uses her powers to make Kay and Akers kill each other. Or perhaps it's closer to what happened in the episode, and El is the one who steps in and makes Kay and Akers shoot each other.

Whatever the specific details might be, I'm all-in on believing this indicates the goal at some point was to actually kill Linda Hamilton's character off, in part because her name doesn't pop up on the board again after that. Plus, this version of events would actually close out her story, which bafflingly did not happen in the episode that was released. In fact, we have zero ideas about where things left off for her, beyond the general idea that she bought into Eleven's "sacrifice."

In the version of the finale that was released, Akers specifically acted without Dr. Kay's permission or involvement, so she wasn't present and active during the scene where Akers shot Kali. While it was obviously great that he eventually gets killed, I don't know that any poetic justice was achieved in having Eleven do it. I would have loved to see Kay and Akers take each other out, regardless of whether Kali manipulated them into it or not. It doesn't make any sense for her to still be alive without repercussions.

Had there bene plot reasons involved, such as an eventual goal to have Dr. Kay show up in a future Stranger Things spinoff, then I could more easily understand leaving her story so open-ended. But the Duffer brothers have stated that none of the familiar characters from this show will be returning in future projects. That could change, of course, but I'm still not sure it'd be worth the wait.

All five seasons of Stranger Things can be streamed via Netflix subscription, which will also be required to travel back to the mid-'80s for the impending spinoff Tales From '85, which is set to hit the 2026 TV schedule later in the year.

Spoilers for the series finale of Stranger Things and Wicked: For Good are ahead! If you want to watch the hit show, it’s available with a Netflix subscription. If you are looking for the Wicked sequel, you can buy or rent it.

Up until the last day of 2025, I had never thought about Stranger Things and Wicked at the same time. However, after watching the final minutes of the beloved Netflix series, I can’t stop thinking about how its ending and Eleven’s fate specifically mirror the end of Wicked: For Good. So, let’s talk about why.

Eleven And Elphaba’s Fates Are So Similar

Now, as I’m sure you know if you’re reading this story, Eleven’s fate is left ambiguous at the end of Stranger Things Season 5. It’s believed that she died when they destroyed the Upside Down. However, in the final minutes of the show, Mike shares his alternative theory about how she survived.

In Mike’s mind, Eleven vanished, and the ruckus caused by the Upside Down’s fall gave her a way to escape the military. So, she did it with the assistance of Kali, who helped her become invisible and run away. No one can know El is alive, and no one knows where she is, but Mike said he thinks she’s somewhere “beautiful” and “far away.” The show then cuts to Eleven hiking toward a small town near some waterfalls. There, she’s able to find “peace,” and it’s this story that Mike and his friends choose to believe.

I don’t know about you, but that story is eerily similar to the end of Wicked: For Good. And I did make a joke to my brother while watching Stranger Things that maybe Mike came up with the idea for the musical.

That’s all because at the end of Wicked: For Good, it’s revealed that Elphaba actually survived the bucket of water being thrown on her; she did not melt, she used a trap door to hide. However, no one, except Fiyero, knows that. So, she leaves Oz forever with him, and Glinda stays behind, not knowing that her friend survived.

Now, while Elphaba is definitely alive, and Eleven’s fate is unclear at best, these endings are so undeniably similar. However, I also love that the creators of Stranger Things didn’t realize these parallels until someone told them about it.

How The Duffer Brothers Reacted To This Wicked Comparison

Considering the well-reviewed Wicked: For Good and the final season of Stranger Things both came out during the final months of 2025, it was easy for me to see the connections between their endings. However, these parallels weren’t intentional. During an episode of Happy Sad Confused, Josh Horowitz asked the Duffers about these similar endings. In response, Matt Duffer said a friend informed him of them, before saying:

So, in the end, it truly is just a coincidence, and I love it.

Now, to go back and see what I mean as I compare Stranger Things to Wicked, you can stream the series on Netflix and the first movie with an Amazon Prime subscription, then you can rent For Good. Trust me, if you do that, you probably won’t be able to unsee the parallels. However, I also think this is a wonderful case of “great minds think alike.”

SPOILERS are ahead for the Stranger Things finale, now streaming with a Netflix subscription.

There’s few TV finales that have been as highly anticipated as the end of Stranger Things. Leading up to the last episode, our theories kept piling up, but the biggest question on everyone’s minds was this one: ‘Who’s going to die?’ Now that we know all the characters’ fates, I can’t help but think about what the Duffer Brothers told CinemaBlend just ahead of the finale about how they approached executing the ending.

At the time, “The Rightside Up” hadn’t yet come out, so I didn’t know that the only characters that would die would be Vecna/Henry Creel, Kali and Eleven, who is presumed dead, but really her fate is up in the air. Here’s what Ross Duffer told us about killing characters:

Fans have essentially had from the finale of Season 4 (which came out back in July 2022) until New Year’s Eve of 2025 to make guesses and bets about who would survive the end of the show. It became an obsession of the fandom, with it being popular for fans to get worried about the fate of Steve Harrington in particular, and update odds and guesses up until the two-hour episode dropped on December 31.

As Ross Duffer shared, they decided to drown out the “noise” of outside opinions and ultimately do what felt right to them and the writer’s room. They said they were inspired a lot by their work on Season 1, before the show became a phenomenon. I can absolutely see that in the episode itself, especially regarding that emotional D&D sequence with Mike, Will, Dustin, Lucas and Max. He also told us this:

As they probably expected, since the finale aired, there’s been a lot of conversation about what was good about it and the things people didn’t like about it. I know I found it to be really emotionally satisfying to see it all play out, even if the finale epilogue doesn’t completely add up for Max and Dustin. (It even had one more big music moment I can’t stop thinking about!) Tons of fans were even afforded the opportunity to see it in theaters with fellow fans. So, all around, I'd say we got a great ending!

Plus, the Duffer Brothers told Variety this week that they are working on a Stranger Things spinoff, which will answer fans' questions about the mythology of that stone with “completely new characters, new town, new world, new mythology." So, as we say goodbye to Stranger Things, it’s interesting to hear their perspectives on writing the last episode and how they handled the outside pressure.

Spoilers below for anyone who hasn’t yet watched Stranger Things’ series finale via Netflix subscription, so be warned!

Welp, it finally happened, everybody. Not only was Vecna’s planet-smashing agenda stopped in its tracks, but Stranger Things’ final season finally gave Winona Ryder’s Joyce something to do besides coddle her son Will. That’s not our focus here, however. No, this spotlight is focused on seemingly the series finale’s biggest development and the series’ biggest death overall — Eleven sacrificing herself as the Upside Down was destroyed — as well as what the Duffers said about it, and why I think Mike’s hopeful explanation doesn’t fully make sense.

Let’s first quickly break down what actually happened: The show’s giant protagonist group successfully defeated the Mind Flayer, decapitated Vecna, and saved all of existence, but they couldn’t evade Dr. Kay and the military. With nearly everyone rounded up, Eleven suddenly appeared at the dimensional breach for an emotional finale exchange with Mike in the mindscape Void, set on sacrificing herself as it was previously hinted at. Despite all of his pleas, she fades into the ethers as the Upside Down is destroyed forever.

Amusingly, the show skips past the immediate aftermath to jump forward 18 months, and it doesn’t look like any of the teens or adults faced much heat for all the death and destruction caused during that tumultuous period. A fateful realization during the graduation ceremony leads Mike to posit a theory for how Eleven may have actually survived her martyrdom moment. But let’s first check in with the Duffer brothers for their thoughts.

The Duffer Brothers' Take On Eleven's Stranger Things Fate

While watching the finale, I was a bit confused by the way Eleven just disappeared from existence in front of everyone’s eyes instead of meeting her maker in a more visceral way. But I didn’t necessarily think right in that moment, “This is probably just a ruse,” and I fully bought into the idea that she made the ultimate decision to keep her friends safe along with the rest of humanity. So when Mike offered a separate explanation for his friends to gnaw on later in the episode, I was genuinely surprised.

Matt and Ross Duffer spoke with Netflix Tudum about all kinds of details that popped up in the finale, including those previously teased pivotal music cues that no doubt referred to Prince and David Bowie being represented. When asked about Eleven, however, they chose not to divulge any concrete resolutions, and instead opted to leave it in the minds of audience members, with Ross saying:

On the one hand, this is the most predictably wishy-washy way for the esteemed creators to offer a final answer on Eleven’s fate, since it would be a big ol’ downer if they immediately confirmed beyond a (first) shadow of a doubt that she’s dead now, and Mike’s rose-colored glasses are wholly flawed. On the flip side, it might also feel like a cop-out if the Duffers 100% guaranteed that Mike’s speculation about her survival was legit, since it would heavily water down the emotions of their final scene together in the Void.

As such, the happy medium here is for the writing/directing siblings to leave it up to viewers to decide whether or not Eleven is actually out there living her best waterfall-enjoying life. I’d love to know a percentage of fans buying in on that, and how many are convinced that she’s a goner. Because part of me would love to believe it, but I don’t think that Mike’s theory makes sense all the way through.

Why Mike's Theory Doesn't Completely Hold Up For Me

For one, I think it's wild and slightly non-feasible that Mike's grand theory was first sparked by the graduation ceremony's speakers, yet he didn't say anything about it until the end of the group's Dungeons & Dragons campaign. Seems like a strange way to voice such a massive idea, even if it isn't legit, but my bigger issue is that Mike's theory about Kali and Eleven's plan is based on several different leaps in logic, as noted below.

1. Kali and Eleven seemingly would have needed to know that the group would be immediately caught by Dr. Kay's soldiers after driving through the breach. (And why wouldn't Eleven suggest a different exit if she did know?)
2. The plan relied entirely on Kali being alive long enough to project the image of Eleven at just the right time, despite not having any guarantee for how long it would take to stop the Mind Flayer and Vecna.
3. Kali seemed to be mentally wiped by the energy used to project her own image into the lab, and she at least knew how that space looked, so it would seemingly take even more effort to project another person into an unfamiliar location.
4. Eleven seemed to be able to lock eyes with Mike surrounding their time together in the Void, which seems extremely hard to do with a mental projection.
5. Kali would have likely needed real-time access to El and Mike's convo, as well as knowing what the situation was in the Upisde Down, in order to know when to make Eleven disappear.
6. The soldiers would have needed to immediately lose track of Eleven while rounding everyone up and....wait, no, I can 100% buy into this, since all of those soldiers were absolutely terrible at their jobs.

Certainly there are further details that I could dig my critical heels into, but that lineup represents the biggest hurdles in the way of me buying into Mike's hopeful guesswork. I guess the only way to truly convince me here is for Netflix to announce that Millie Bobby Brown is heading up a new Stranger Things spinoff focusing on Eleven's trials and tribulations as a globetrotting adult. I'll be refreshing my inbox for that press release regularly, Netflix!

I'm hoping one day soon, after the entire world has witnessed the events of "The Rightside Up," that Matt and Ross Duffer will open up with a firmer stance on whether or not Eleven survived the wormhole's desctruction. But until then, we'll presumably be able to reconnect with Eleven when the animated spinoff Tales from '85 hits the 2026 TV schedule.

We're nearly at the point of mere hours counting down until the New Year's Eve finale of Stranger Things Season 5 in the 2025 TV schedule, so the time is now to work out last-minute theories for the two-hour episode that needs to tie off all the loose ends. There are admittedly a lot of loose ends after Volume 2, ranging from characters whose deaths might have been foreshadowed to whether or not Kali will betray Eleven. The explanation of the Upside Down set up an epic final conflict against Vecna.

But one small moment from Episode 7 (available streaming with a Netflix subscription now) has me thinking ahead to what could be an unforgettable music moment before the final credits roll, and it's all thanks to a preview from the Duffer Brothers ahead of Season 5 combined with Stranger Things' history of unforgettable needle drops.

What The Duffer Brothers Said

Stranger Things has been known for incorporating '80s music at pivotal (or at least fun) points in the story going back to the first season, and the inclusion of Kate Bush's "Running Up That Hill" in Season 5 turned that 1985 song back into a chart-topper nearly three decades after the release. So, when EW asked about a needle drop moment in Season 4, Matt Duffer said:

Thanks to the success of Kate Bush following Season 4, the Duffers were able to secure a song that's "never been on a TV show before." That alone was enough to fuel speculation ahead of Season 5. That said, Matt Duffer's phrasing didn't rule out that this mystery song had been used before in a movie. Later, speaking with ET, Ross Duffer expanded on the music moment that's on the way:

Not to keep harping on "Running Up That Hill," but Kate Bush's song being so central to Max's journey in Season 4 means that the Season 5 finale certainly won't be the first time that a song rather than a score is used for a "very pivotal moment." Season 4 also used Metallica's "Master of Puppets" for Eddie's last stand, with Metallica even praising Joseph Quinn's performance.

Again, the Duffers teased here that the song has never been licensed for TV, and I just have to say – if they picked a song that one of their friends or cast members pitched, then I think that person has eternal bragging rights. I'm glad that it rules out "Running Up That Hill" or "Should I Stay Or Should I Go" being played again, but it does mean I have to stop joking that Stranger Things is going to Rickroll us all with Rick Astley's "Never Gonna Give You Up," as that was memorably used in Ted Lasso.

But after Volume 2 pitched a couple of songs, I think that we have a big clue for the "pivotal" moment.

A Possible Clue From Volume 2

Music has been part of Season 5 going back to the very beginning, with the reveal that the heroes have been using the WSQK – a.k.a. the Squawk – radio station, with Robin as host. The possible clue about the finale song didn't happen until the last twenty minutes of the penultimate episode, however, when Mike revealed that a record is key to their plan to destroy the Upside Down bridge.

Do I know why Mike Wheeler, a junior in high school, knows how to build a bomb out of random supplies he could find at the radio station? I do not, but his explanation to Robin sets up what could be an iconic melodic moment of the finale:

• Mike: "Just imagine that this bike bell is the bomb's remote trigger, so when this wire touches this warrior here, kaboom."
• Robin: "Genius. One thing is, is I don't know if we can blow up the Upside Down to the dulcet tones of the Butthole Surfers."
• Mike: "I built the bomb, I should be able to pick the record."
• Robin: "As far as 'save the world' soundtracks go, this one's lacking."

As somebody who owns a record player, I'll just say that I hope Mike's plan doesn't rely on his record of choice playing without any scratches if he's lugging it to the Upside Down and using it as the timer for a bomb! In all seriousness, Robin was against Butthole Surfers, but Mike wasn't all-in on her suggestions of The Replacements as a... well, replacement either.

The episode playing a short clip of Butthole Surfers' "Human Cannonball" initially made me wonder if that was just a tease of the song that would be blared over a climactic Upside Down fight, similar to how "Master of Puppets" was used last season. But would the Duffers really have spoiled their pivotal music moment before the big reveal?

For that reason, I think we can rule out anything from Mike's pick of the Butthole Surfers or Robin's pitch for The Replacements. In fact, I'm now guessing that the episode didn't drop any clues about what it will be, but I do think that it confirmed the timing of the pivotal music moment and what to expect. As far as I'm concerned, it will be 1) be when Mike sets off his bomb in the Upside Down and 2) not any of the songs that have been previewed to date.

How Will It Rank Among Stranger Things' Most Epic Music Moments?

There have been enough big musical moments throughout the five seasons of Stranger Things even before the series finale that I think fans could probably debate almost endlessly about which stand out as the best. I'd of course be remiss to leave out Kate Bush and Metallica's contributions last season, as well as the Season 5 song that caused a huge boost for Diana Ross.

That said, I'm going to have to cheat with my top moments and include a couple from trailers, because I maintain that the song choices for the Season 2 and Season 3 previews were immaculate. Here are my picks for the best musical interludes ahead of whatever is coming in the finale:

• The Clash's "Should I Stay or Should I Go" – Season 1
• Pete Gabriel's "Heroes" - Season 1 and Season 3
• Moby's "When It's Cold I'd Like To Die" - Season 1
• Michael Jackson's "Thriller" - Season 2 Trailer
• The Police's "Every Breath You Take" - Season 2
• The Who's "Baba O'Riley" - Season 3 Trailer
• Kate Bush's "Running Up That Hill" - Season 4
• Metallica's "Master of Puppets" – Season 4
• Journey's "Separate Ways (Worlds Apart) - Season 4
• Diana Ross' "Upside Down" - Season 5
• Tiffany's "I Think We're Alone Now" - Season 5

I admittedly already knew and loved some of these songs before Stranger Things, so I'm curious to learn if the tune teased by the Duffer Brothers will be another one that I know by heart – like "Baba O'Riley" and "I Think We're Alone Now," as two examples – or one that I come to better appreciate after the show includes it.

Luckily, the wait is nearly over. The two-hour series finale of Stranger Things will release on December 31 at 8 p.m. ET on Netflix. The episode will also be released in select theaters on December 31 and January 1, so be sure to check out local showtimes if you want to experience the Upside Down on the big screen.

Spoilers below for Vol. 2 of Stranger Things’ final season, so be warned if you haven’t yet watched it via Netflix subscription.

During these days between Stranger Things Season 5 Vol. 2 and the reality-shattering series finale, fans are digging as deep as possible into everything we’ve seen thus far to figure out what the endgame might be. I’ve already picked out the major characters I think will die in the final episode, and we’re pretty certain Kali is going to dupe Eleven in one way or another. But I honestly didn’t expect to go into the final episode worried about Jonathan and Nancy’s current state of affairs.

Jonathan And Nancy's Big Un-Proposal Conversation

In "Chapter Six: Escape from Camazotz," several of the main characters witnessed their corner of the Upside Down turning into a big melting mess of goo after Nancy shot a round into what the teens assumed was a shield generator, but was instead the outer perimeter of a wormhole. It seemed like all was lost for Charlie Heaton and Natalia Dyer’s characters, inspiring the pair to put all of their relationship cards on the half-sunken table they were trapped on.

From panic came a sense of exhausted honesty, kicked off by Nancy confessing how much she dislikes The Clash, much to Jonathan's surprise. They continue to air out their previously shielded differences, and I know I'm not the only fan who was totally taken aback by him saying he gave her pink sweater to Goodwill without telling her.

In any case, the dour admissions culminated in Jonathan pulling out a John Coltrane cassette case, hidden in which is the engagement rignt that he'd been waiting for the right time to pull out. Which led to this tearful exchange:

• JONATHAN: One last confession. A big one. I figured I’ve screwed up enough with you. It’d be nice to get something right for once in the end. . . . Nancy Wheeler, will you not marry me? I tried to convince myself that this would somehow fix everything, but it was just gonna make things worse. Which is why it’s been sitting like a cannonball in my pocket the last two days. So what do you say? Do you accept my un-proposal?
• NANCY: I accept your un-proposal.
• JONATHAN: I loved you. I love you, Nancy Wheeler.
• NANCY: I love you, Jonathan Byers.

Okay, so the entire time this scene was playing out, my brain was bouncing from believing it to be a break-up scene to believing that it was Jonathan and Nancy's version of Ross and Rachel's controversial break in Friends. In fact, by the time that episode was over and the next one was kicking off, I'd convinced myself that the un-proposal wasn't truly a split at all, but rather a mutual understanding that the current version of their coupling was flawed, and they'd need to adjust it to move forward.

What's more, when I asked others who'd watched about it, I didn't get many of the exact same answers, with some believing it to be a permanent fissure, while others didn't think it was even a temporary break-up. The same kinds of varied takeaways were present on social media as well. So imagine my surprise to find that Stranger Things' creators already supplied guidance for confused souls such as myself.

The Duffer Brothers Address Jonathan And Nancy's Relationship Status

For all these years that the Duffer brothers have had to hold back on sharing concrete details about the characters in this series, they were surprisingly open about confirming with People that the star-crossed lovers are indeed kaput. Here’s how Matt Duffer put it:

No arguments here. I’ve never been entirely against this particular pairing, even if I’ve always found Jonathan to be a bit of a dull plug next to Nancy’s vibrant and welcoming nature. I was all good with that mismatch so long as it kept her happy, since I was even less interested in seeing Nancy and Steve ending up together. But if the endgame idea is for her to strike out on her own and find new adventures and new lovers to call her own, that’s the ideal in my mind.

Matt Duffer pointed out the unlikelihood that the two teenagers would wind up staying together for the rest of their lives, saying:

I really hope the series finale doesn’t immediately retcon this idea by showing us a post-climax resolution where Jonathan and Nancy DO end up together, which kind of feels like the kind of thing the Duffer brothers would do. But that would butt up against my prediction that Jonathan is going to die in the episode, so scratch that.

Stranger Things will close out its final chapter with an extended finale hitting both Netflix and theaters around the country on December 31, 2025, leading into the Vecna-free 2026 TV schedule. At least that’s what I’m assuming.

The list of upcoming Stephen King adaptations has grown at a rapid rate in recent years, thankfully with the bulk of the announced projects making it through the full production cycle. One such live-action imagining that’s long-confounded Hollywood has been King and Peter Straub’s 1984 bestseller The Talisman, though hopes went sky-high in 2021 when Amblin Entertainment partnered with Netflix and Stranger Things creators Matt and Ross Duffer to craft a Talisman streaming series. Unfortunately, it looks like audiences won’t be visiting Arcadia Beach just yet.

As Stranger Things’ final season wraps up the horrors in Hawkins, the Duffer brothers have been answering myriad questions about the Upside Down (CinemaBlend’s included), but it’s been a while since they’d addressed making the jaunt to The Territories with Jack Sawyer for The Talisman. Comic Book Resources got the latest from the sibling creatives, who shared the rather tragic update that the previously announced adaptation is no longer happening as is. But it sounds like not all hope has been dashed, possibly. As Ross Duffer put it:

That comment was quickly followed by one from the other brother:

Ross Duffer then addressed the fact that this definitely isn't the first time an attempt to get a Talisman adaptation off the ground has come up short. As he put it:

Similar to The Dark Tower, which has also long perplexed writers and directors aiming to bring that epic tale to life in full, The Talisman isn't the usual cup of horror tea that either King or Straub are known for, and the lengthy first novel skews far more darkly fantastical. There's something about this side of King's imagination that's harder to bring from the page to the screen than more visceral realism.

Why There's Still Hope For The Talisman TV Show (Or Movie)

Something that Stephen King fanatics might know, but the general public wouldn't, is that Amblin Entertainment's connection with The Talisman goes back to 1982, when Steven Spielberg essentially talked Universal Pictures into acquiring permanent rights to the novel, as opposed to more traditional licensing windows. So for the past 40+ years, every time a Talisman feature script was written, or when a TNT miniseries adaptation went into development in 2006, Spielberg has always been behind the scenes trying to make the passion project happen.

As such, if the Duffer brothers say they aren't involved anymore, and that it isn't happening at Netflix anymore, neither of those updates indicates a permanent reversal of fortune. It just means Amblin's previous deal with Netflix and the Duffers expired, allowing for another iteration to kick up dust elsewhere. Which is where things get even more potentially interesting.

When announced back in 2021, this latest Talisman adaptation also notably had Paramount Television Studios on board. It's currently unclear whether or not Paramount is still on board in any capacity, especially since the game-changing merger with Skydance happened in the meantime. But if that studio still is in the mix, then it's entirely possible that the Duffer brothers could get right back on board as executive producers.

After all, it was just in August when news broke that Matt and Ross Duffer's Netflix deal was ending in place of a new partnership with Paramount, with the studio shift being prompted by the brothers' goal of directing theatrical features. Obviously this now-defunct attempt was for a series and not a film, but that wouldn't preclude their involvement. In fact, it might just shift the approach back to the feature side if they're in control again.

For now, it's hard to know where things will end up, especially as the final victory lap for Stranger Things has yet to conclude. Hopefully more will come to light once Vecna and his demo-minions are vanquished for good.

BIG SPOILERS are ahead for Stranger Things 5, specifically for the Episode 7 “The Bridge”, now streaming with a Netflix subscription. Catch the new episodes before you read further.

It was over nine years ago when Stranger Things first introduced the Upside Down to audiences, and since then, the demogorgon-filled place has become a cultural touchstone. But, fans have always wondered: “What exactly is the Upside Down?” In the penultimate episode, “The Bridge,” which makes viewing the series a holiday affair, we finally have our answer to the question. When CinemaBlend had the chance to speak to series creators the Duffer brothers, I had a question of my own about giving fans that moment: How did they decide Gaten Matarazzo’s Dustin would be the character to deliver the big news?

Here’s how Matt Duffer explained the major turning point in the history of Stranger Things:

Of course! It just makes sense. But the creators certainly had a lot of ways they could have decided to unveil it all. It could have been Will Byers, whose kidnapping into the Upside Down kicked off the show in a big way. It also could have been Eleven, or Nancy, or really anyone. That being said, I love the reasoning they gave me as to why Dustin was the obvious choice.

In “The Bridge,” Dustin shares that the Upside Down is a wormhole leading from our dimension to another world, which he coins “The Abyss.” It’s all held together by dark matter (that big glowing orb that Nancy shoots) that’s very unstable, and if exploded, it will collapse the Upside Down entirely. In regards to Dustin also getting to name “The Abyss,” Matt Duffer also said this about giving Henderson the honor:

One of the reasons Stranger Things has been one of the best shows to binge watch on Netflix for nearly a decade has been due to the intrigue and terror associated with the Upside Down, and while having it be the wormhole to another world may not be completely surprising, but I know I found it satisfying. With one episode left of the series, I know I still have some questions about the Upside Down and what these findings will mean for all the characters we’ve grown to love.

It must have been difficult to keep this secret all this time, but it sounds like picking Dustin was a no-brainer for the brothers. As Ross Duffer added:

Dustin is absolutely the MVP of Stranger Things in so many ways, but as they mentioned, Steve's "slinky" plan is also very impressive. There’s a lot of standout characters this season. How about Mrs. Wheeler finally getting a crack at a Demogorgon after being mostly in the background? Or Holly Wheeler helping Max finally wake up from a coma after being captured by Mr. Whatsit/Vecna? Now, all that’s left is to find out how things shake out with the finale dropping among the last of 2025 Netflix releases on New Year’s Eve.

Know that as I write the next sentence, I’m feeling very stressed and annoyed with myself that I’m worrying about this again. OK, alright, here we go: I’m nervous that Steve Harrington is going to die in Season 5 of Stranger Things. Yeah, once again, I’m concerned for the fate of Joe Keery’s character as we go into the final episodes of this show. However, this time, these feelings came up because of a very silly thing the Duffer Brothers did ahead of the episodes dropping on Netflix’s 2025 schedule.

Now, this silly thing involves Funko Pops and an appearance on The Tonight Show. As Matt and Ross Duffer spoke to Jimmy Fallon about what’s to come, the host asked them to use the figurines give hints about how the rest of Stranger Things will go. They put Barb on the floor, stacked Henry, Will and the big bad Vecna on top of each other, and Eleven got put in a glass of water. It was ridiculous. However, things took a turn when they put Steve on the edge of the desk, AND THEN HE FELL (as you can see in the images below):

Notably, the crowd had a worried reaction when the Duffers put Steve on the literal edge (which you can see in the video below). While the creators claimed that “he’s fine,” I can’t help but think about this as a bad omen. Obviously, they could be messing with us, especially since Joe Keery’s character dying has been a big worry for a long time now. However, I do think there’s reason to be concerned.

First of all, for a very long time now, there have been theories about Steve dying. Joe Keery’s character is a fan-fave, and Steve’s best moments are iconic; losing him would be seriously tragic. However, to me, it seems possible that he could sacrifice himself to save the kids and Hawkins and go out a hero.

Adding to this, in the trailer for Season 5, Volume 2, Steve and Dustin have a moment where they tell each other, “You die, I die.” And while it appears that literally everyone is in danger and all their lives are on the line, it would seem that these two boys might be in a particularly precarious situation. Plus, with them fighting this season, and Dustin putting himself in danger on a couple of occasions, I'm worried that things could go too far and one or both of them could wind up dead. So, yeah, I’m anxious.

Now, these silly little Funko Pops were the final nail in my coffin. Why, of all the characters, would they put Steve Harrington on the edge? What does he do that constitutes that line of thinking? I mean, I know he’s willing to put himself in danger to save everyone, but what specifically will happen in the episodes that are about to air on the 2025 TV schedule that made the Duffers do this?

Maybe they’re just trolling, that’s certainly possible. However, no one is safe on Stranger Things, I know that. Therefore, this funny little move tipped me over the edge into worrying about Steve Harrington again.

Thankfully, we don’t have to wait long to find out what happens to him and the rest of the Hawkins gang. That’s because Vol. 2 of Season 5 will be available to stream with a Netflix subscription on Christmas, and the series finale will drop on New Year’s Eve.

Major spoilers for Stranger Things Season 5 lie ahead, so read on if you’re willing to learn the secrets that lie within the Upside Down.

Stranger Things is nearing the end of its run and, at this point, many are still reeling from the first four episodes of Season 5. Of course, the biggest topic of discussion is arguably that massive Will Byers twist, which involved the teen unlocking his psychic abilities, courtesy of the evil Vecna. There was also another major surprise in that fourth episode, though, as the series also revealed the return of a long-absent character. Now, the show’s producers are discussing that creative choice and simultaneously shutting down a long-running rumor.

The end of "Sorcerer" also sees Eleven and Jim Hopper infiltrating a military facility in the Upside Down, where they believe Vecna is being held. Hopper ultimately implores El to stay put, as he plans to enter the containment unit (and sacrifice himself in an effort to destroy the villain once and for all). However, El is not only surprised to see Hop return but to also find that the powerful psychic being held in the chamber is none other than her surrogate sister, Kali Prasad/Eight – a moment I wasn’t expecting amid the 2025 TV schedule.

By now, a number of fans probably know Kali plays a key role in Season 2’s “The Lost Sister,” which received mixed reviews from fans and critics. In the years since that episode premiered, it’s been alleged that the episode was meant to serve as a backdoor pilot for a potential spinoff involving Kali and her crew, which I honestly believed to be a somewhat plausible notion But, when producers Matt & Ross Duffer and Shawn Levy caught up with SFX Magazine on CinemaBlend, Levy poured water on the offshoot theory:

Although neither Levy nor the Duffer Brothers ever confirmed the spinoff assumption, I always thought the Kali-centered Season 2 episode had backdoor pilot written all over it. Levy’s recent comments, though, suggest that the Duffers simply wanted to take a stab at doing a true bottle episode that took the action away from Hawkins, Indiana and to the streets of Chicago. As for why now was the time to bring Kali back, Matt Duffer explained how he and his brother landed on that decision:

The last time fans saw “Eight” (who’s played by Linnea Berthelsen) she was escaping the police with her cohorts. What exactly transpired in the time since that happened and ahead of her being experimented upon by scientists is unclear. Matt Duffer did, however, drop a sweet tease in regard to how Kali figures into Season 5 moving forward:

At this point, I’m also wondering if Stranger Things Season 5 – which has garnered massive viewership numbers – will bring back any other unaccounted-for characters. For instance, one of my colleagues astutely pointed out that Paul Reiser’s Dr. Owens is still missing after the events of Season 4. Regardless of what does or doesn’t happen with certain characters, I’m honestly glad Kali is back in the fold and look forward to seeing how her story is wrapped up.

Stranger Things Season 5, Volume 2 drops on December 25 at 8 p.m. ET, and the series finale will hit streaming and select theaters on December 31. Those who want to check out the episodes will want to grab a Netflix subscription.

Spoilers ahead for Volume 1 of Stranger Things Season 5, available streaming with a Netflix subscription now if you haven't checked it out just yet.

The first four episodes of Stranger Things' fifth and final season may have turned a lot of Thanksgivings completely Upside Down with its release on November 26 in the 2025 TV schedule, and that was the first of three holidays to take fans back to Hawkins this year. The wait is currently on for Volume 2, comprised of the next three episodes, and some comments from the Duffer Brothers about the family relationships of Season 5 have me thinking about Hopper and Eleven. They had a solid bond in Volume 1, but I'd love for one thing to change moving forward.

But first things first!

What The Duffer Brothers Said About Hopper And Eleven

The Duffer Brothers spoke with outlets during a Stranger Things press event ahead of the Season 5 premiere, with Matt Duffer weighing in on the use of Dungeons & Dragons as a means "for the kids to be able to reference in order to help them understand what was going on," as well as specifically "to help Eleven [undertand] what was going on." That's certainly the case with Vecna, who El and Hopper spent much of Season 5, Volume 1 chasing. (Or at least trying to.)

On the subject of how parental connections between the various characters – Hopper and Eleven, Joyce and Will, even Karen and Holly – resonate with audiences, Ross Duffer named Hopper and Eleven's relationship as a little family unit as important for Season 5. He began:

It's no secret that classic '80s films have inspired elements of Stranger Things, with the Duffer Brothers previously listing movies like Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982), The Thing (1982), Romancing the Stone (1984), and the Indiana Jones classics (1981, 1984, 1989), to name just some. The family relationships seem pretty unique to the Netflix show, however, and Ross Duffer went on to explain the importance of Hopper and El in Season 5:

Before the release of Volume 1, I would have assumed that Joyce and Will would have the most important parental relationship of Season 5 just based on what the trailers revealed about the ordeal that Will would be going through. Having seen the first four episodes, however, Hopper and El spent almost all of their screentime together, which isn't the case for any other parent/child relationships so far. Ross went on:

Given that the Duffers dropped their comments ahead of the Season 5 premiere, it wasn't too surprising to see ways that the Hopper/Eleven relationship had evolved during the time skip from spring of '85 - fall of '87. They didn't have anybody else to bounce off of other than enemy soldiers for most of their scenes. I think it's safe to say that the brothers weren't just trying to obscure spoilers when they indicated the importance of Hopper and Eleven, a.k.a. the only parent/child relationship of the series that involves adoption rather than blood relation.

But with so much emphasis on their importance and how Hop has been rubbing off on Eleven in some pretty endearing (and other more stubborn) ways, I'm ready for something to change in the coming episodes.

What I Want To Change For Volume 2 And The Finale

We got some great focus on Hopper and Eleven in Volume 1, and I'd be lying if I said I didn't feel the emotional gut-punch of him saying "I love you, Jane" before going off on what he fully expected to be a suicide mission to save her. I reached for some tissues at that point! But I'm ready to see both characters interacting with some of the others in Volume 2.

Stranger Things has a trend of splitting Eleven away from most of the ensemble for a lot of a given season, presumably because her powers would make it too easy for them to win if they had her on hand. That was especially the case in Seasons 2 and 4, and could well have been the case in the first four episodes of Season 5, Volume 1.

But this is the very last season, and I want to see more of El with her friends, and Hopper should spend some screen time with at least Joyce. Besides, with Will now developing the ability to siphon Vecna's powers, there's already a twist on Stranger Things needing to hold her back until the day needs to be saved.

Fortunately for me, some trailer footage has confirmed that the duo won't spend the next four episodes in the Upside Down. There's one shot of a quiet scene between Eleven and Mike in a trailer that's definitely in the Rightside Up, and I'm assuming that's not going to be in the last twenty minutes of the last episode. Plus, the discovery of Kali at the end of Episode4 surely means some interactions between the sisters. Most other trailer footage of Hop and El was already revealed in Volume 1; it seems that there are just a lot of secrets for their stories moving forward.

I hope that Stranger Things can maintain that importance of their relationship while still letting them interact with the other characters. Time is running out on this show, after all. For now, we can all count down the days until Volume 2 premieres at 8 p.m. ET on Christmas Day, followed by the two-hour series finale on New Year's Eve.

Major spoilers ahead for Stranger Things Season 5's first four episodes.

If you have made it through the first four episodes of Stranger Things' final season, which just landed on the 2025 TV schedule, you are probably still trying to steady yourself after that major Will Byers twist. And, honestly, same. If you have not watched Episode 4, “Sorcerer,” this is your last chance to bail. I think we’re alone now, and it is just us Upside Down die-hards now. On that note, the Duffer Brothers finally explained what the twist actually means. I get it now, and you probably will too.

During a recent interview with Variety, the creators broke down what is really going on with Will’s sudden discovery of powers, the one that made him look like he went full Eleven and snapped those Demogorgons like they were action figures. The internet immediately started asking the same question. Did Will gain powers that mirror Eleven’s? Ross Duffer stepped in with the clarification fans needed, telling the outlet:

If you need a quick reminder of where things stand, the Hawkins crew hits a serious low point at the end of Season 5’s initial four-episode run. Vecna makes a dramatic entrance, zeroes in on Will, calls him weak, and then lets loose a pack of Demogorgons on the group. Just when it looks like the nightmare is about to hit its peak, Will taps into abilities he never realized he had, freezing the creatures and taking them out using the same bone snapping technique we have seen from Vecna himself.

After the dust settles, Will swipes away a nosebleed, echoing a signature Eleven move, which raised the question of what his powers actually are. Matt Duffer broke down the logic behind it, explaining:

In other words, Will is not a second Eleven, but is instead a conduit to the hive mind, using Vecna’s strength against him. His powers depend on proximity to the hive, and they only exist because Vecna once hooked him into it. Had Will never been taken in Season 1, this never would have happened.

The Duffers also confirmed that Will’s emotional arc is central to why he unlocks these abilities now. His biggest shift is internal. His connection to Robin, his growing acceptance of himself, and Mike’s encouragement all feed into this breakthrough. Ross Duffer noted that the early drafts of Episode 4 were missing that emotional clarity, which is why the team added the home movie flashback montage. It visualizes Will’s change in a way the story needed.

And Vecna’s mistake? Matt Duffer says the villain simply underestimates Will, as many characters have since the beginning. That will not hold for long, especially as we head into Volume 2's release, with episodes 5, 6 and 7 dropping for everyone with a Netflix subscription on Christmas, December 25.

Warning: MAJOR SPOILERS ARE AHEAD for the first volume of Stranger Things Season 5, available streaming now with a Netflix subscription.

The long wait of Stranger Things fans to see how Hawkins could recover from the catastrophic Season 4 finale has ended, and there were plenty of new disasters for the fifth season. The fourth episode of Volume 1, released ahead of Thanksgiving in the 2025 TV schedule, included a large-scale assault of Demogorgons on the MAC-Z , with soldiers dying en masse while Will, Mike, Joyce, and a band of kids were just trying to survive. By the end, I was reminded of what the Duffer Brothers said about the show’s “most violent death,” and I think I know who it was.

Ahead of the Season 5 premiere, the Duffers spoke with The Times about the increased amount of violence as the series continued over the past decade. They said:

• Ross Duffer: "The goal was always to scale up each series with the age of the characters and our audience. But then we keep getting new audiences. Hopefully parents don’t get too mad at us."
• Matt Duffer: "I would say season five is not as violent as season four, but it has the most violent death of any season."

When I first read those quotes from Ross and Matt Duffer, I had a hard time imagining how a death could get any more violent than what we saw happen to Vecna’s victims in Season 4. Even the sounds of those bone-breaking deaths were scary! But after the fourth installment of Season 5’s first volume, called "Sorcerer," there was one demise that I think was gruesome enough to qualify, and it happened to this unlucky man around the 1:13:45 mark of the episode:

The soldier had the dubious honor of being killed by Vecna himself rather than shredded by a Demogorgon, which was what happened to most of the soldiers at the MAC-Z. The claws of one of the villain’s hands went right into and then out of the soldier’s head, going straight through his eye sockets and leaving him a very bloody mess from the shoulders up.

While the guys who Vecna lit on fire with their own flamethrowers and soldiers who were blown up by their own grenades after Vecna pulled the pins might have suffered more than the man who was speared through the face (and probably died immediately), I would say that Vecna’s hands-on kill of the soldier who was trying to crawl away is the one that was gruesome enough to possibly qualify as “most violent death of any season.”

Sure, there are still four episodes left of Season 5, with the finale boasting a run time of a little over two hours, so there is time for some deaths that will be more violent than the unfortunate fellow at the MAC-Z. Still, I’m going to name him the #1 candidate after Volume 1, and I’m at least happy that none of the major characters were killed off to become candidates themselves. (Karen would have been a contender if she hadn’t survived her encounter with a Demogorgon.)

There’s still Volume 2 and the series finale that everybody needs to survive, however, and there are surely going to be many more casualties before the final credits roll. The release schedule for the remaining episodes is a bit odd, as fans will have to wait a month after Volume 1 for Volume 2 on Christmas Day, and then under a week for the finale on New Year’s Eve, with just hours to spare before the start of the 2026 TV schedule. For now, you can always watch and rewatch every episode of Stranger Things so far on Netflix.

Stranger Things is heading back to the small screen very soon and is one of the most exciting titles on the 2025 TV schedule. It’s been over three years since the previous season, as the fifth and final season has had a lot of setbacks due to scheduling and the 2023 Writers Strike. There is excitement about the release date drawing closer but also some fan concern, as some are worried about how much central cast has aged in the last few years. Thankfully, series creators the Duffer Brothers aren’t too concerned.

The twin filmmakers recently spoke to Variety and opened up about some of the flak they've been getting over the cast aging throughout the show's various hiatuses. Historically, gaps between Stranger Things seasons have led to the cast looking much older between installments (when, at this point, only a few years have passed within the show's actual timeline). This is the biggest gap yet, but the Duffer Brothers are set that things aren’t as glaring as a person might argue. Matt Duffer said:

Of course, it's fair to say that in certain respects, the aging differences are evident. Ross Duffer also acknowledged that:

There was notably a COVID shutdown that affected production and led to parts of Season 4 being shot a year apart. A year is a lot of time with a young cast, as voices can change and teenagers rapidly grow up. Sadie Sink was in her late teens at the time, which benefited the team greatly as there wasn’t as big of a difference as there would have been if the cast was still middle school age. Fans not being able to catch this change bodes well for the upcoming season, especially as aging slows down once you are out of the puberty phase, which most of the cast is. Matt Duffer explained this, saying:

Puberty definitely is the biggest factor on child actors seemingly growing into teenagers overnight. The Duffer Brothers even noted that they shot with a new child actor in the upcoming season whose voice started dropping while they were shooting and they had to adjust with technology. Now, that the primary cast members are past this stage of adolescence, there likely won’t be as stark of a difference like there was between Seasons 2 and 3.

Basically, it seems like fans won’t have anything to worry about with the cast aging. Yes, they admittedly are all in their early 20s now, as it’s not uncommon for 20 year old actors to play teenagers in Hollywood. But, as they've grown, the show has also taken on darker themes as was the case with Season 4. That direction seems to also be present within Stranger Things Season 5. Details are still under wraps, but I’m excited for what’s to come!

Check out Volume 1 of Stranger Things Season 5, which drops on November 26th for Netflix subscription holders. The season is set to be released in three parts, with subsequent drops on December 25th and December 31st. For more information on other exciting titles coming to the streamer later this year, make sure to consult the 2025 Netflix release schedule.

After waiting well over three years, Stranger Things Season 5 is only a week away from premiering on the 2025 TV schedule. Still, considering what a monumental effort it’s been to make each season of the science fiction/horror series, it’s rather fitting that we’ve had to wait the same amount of time as often passes between two blockbusters from the same film series. Stranger Things episodes are also quite lengthy, although while setting the record straight on the runtimes for the Netflix subscription-exclusive show’s final episodes, creators Matt and Ross Duffer had a disagreement about where the “movie-length” rumors started.

Stranger Things Season 5’s release is being broken into three parts, with the first four episodes coming out on November 26, the next three following on December 25, and the series finale releasing on December 31. The Duffer Brothers were asked during an interview with Collider how long the last four episodes would be, which resulted in the following exchange:

• Matt:  I mean, episode four is on the longer side, an hour 20. I think the only episode that breaks an hour and a half is the final episode, which is two hours.
• Ross: A little over two hours.
• Matt: I don't know exactly how they got out that every episode was gonna be a movie, but --
• Ross: I think we said it.
• Matt: No. Let's dig up that evidence, I don't think I said it.
• Ross: I think we may have said, we did not say it was movie length, we said like a movie.
• Matt: The season is like a mega movie.

We learned how long the first four episodes of Stranger Things Season 5 would be last month, and while Chapter Four does indeed clock in at 83 minutes, the other three will respectively be 68 minutes, 54 minutes and 66 minutes. While the runtimes for Chapters 5-7 remain a mystery, they won’t surpass the series finale’s two-hour length, which is 30 minutes less than the Season 4 finale. Like I said, Stranger Things is quite the time commitment, but only the finale is going to actually be movie-length.

Evidently there was a miscommunication between The Duffer Brothers and certain Stranger Things fans when Ross said earlier this year Season 5 is like “eight blockbuster movies.” To be fair, they did clarify what they meant by that statement not long after, in that the episodes will feel like they’re movie-quality. So for anyone who didn’t receive that memo, Matt Duffer is hopeful you won’t be disappointed by these shorter-than-presumed runtimes, saying:

Matt Duffer then added that it would have been too overwhelming to make every episode of Stranger Things Season 5 two hours or more. Or as he specifically put it:

Well we don’t want that! Judging by the Stranger Things Season 5 previews, these eight episode certainly look like they’ll make the final showdown with Vecna and the forces of the Upside Down a cinematic-quality event. To tweak an old saying, runtime is just a number, so fans needn’t worry about this final chapter not getting the attention it deserved.

The end is near for Stranger Things, as Season 5 will mark the conclusion of the hit Netflix show. At present, there’s a considerable amount of speculation floating around in regard to what lies ahead for the likes of Eleven, Mike, Hopper, Joyce and co. However, something that’s not up for debate is the fact that this is indeed the final chapter for the Hawkins, Indiana characters, specifically. That confirmation comes from series creators Matt and Ross Duffer, and they have good reasons for closing the book on their protagonists.

Known collectively as the Duffer Brothers, Stranger Things’ pair of creators are quite shrewd when it comes to their storytelling. The pair recently spoke with SFX Magazine on CinemaBlend to discuss some of the finer details of their show’s final season, which will soon hit the 2025 TV schedule. The brothers eventually addressed the notion of producing another installment in this franchise starring these same characters, and Ross shut down that notion:

For me, it’s great when creatives tell a specific story and know when it’s time to conclude it. The Duffers seem to be of the mindset that they’ve told the tale they want to tell and want to make sure it ends on a definitive note. Honestly, that’s something I truly appreciate, especially in an entertainment landscape that’s populated by long-running franchises and TV shows that can sometimes overstay their welcomes. While Matt Duffer apparently joked with the cast about doing more, he’s not seriously considering a direct sequel series:

Fans of the Hawkins characters will get to revisit them, though, thanks to the animated Tales from ‘85 spinoff, which takes place between the events of the second and third seasons. Also, a live-action spinoff is also reportedly in the works, with cast member Finn Wolfhard having sussed out that it’ll be an anthology series of sorts that doesn’t focus on Eleven and co. So, while this IP will expand, fans shouldn’t get their hopes up that they’ll see any of the core characters again following their final battle with the evil Vecna.

The much hyped Stranger Things series finale also marks the end of a chapter for the Duffer Brothers in a number of respects. The conclusion of their hit show also coincides with their decision to leave Netflix for a new deal at Paramount, where they’ll develop TV shows as well as movies that’ll be released theatrically. When it comes to any further ST offshoots, the brothers will serve as EPs, which seemingly indicates they’ll have less involvement. That may seem like a bummer but, at the very least, I’m pleased that they’ve reached the point at which they’re ready to bid a fond farewell to the primary characters they’ve been tracking.

Netflix subscription holders should prepare themselves, as Stranger Things Season 5, Volume 1 arrives on November 26. Volume 2 will then be released on December 25 with the series finale arriving on December 31.

Stranger Things Season 5 is nearly here, and it’ll close out an action-packed, scary and emotional ride fans have been on for nearly a decade. Of course, steering the ship have been brothers Matt and Ross Duffer, who not only co-created the show but also serve as writers, directors and EPs. The Duffers put a lot of time and care into their craft, and they’ve proven themselves to be shrewd storytellers. Even with that, though, I was surprised to hear how Christopher Nolan and his Batman films influenced the Duffers’ work on their show.

Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight Trilogy has been cited as a cultural touchstone by filmmakers and general audiences alike. Still, I never would’ve guessed the Duffers were among those who followed in Nolan’s footsteps from a creative standpoint. SFX Magazine on CinemaBlend dropped a previously unreleased Duffer Brothers interview from the archives, and they discussed some of their influences. As part of that piece, Matt revealed his and Ross’ Nolan-style way of approaching each ST season:

The Oppenheimer helmer is indeed someone who’s motivated by creative inspiration more so than box office bonuses. Each of his DC films – Batman Begins, The Dark Knight and The Dark Knight Rises – have received varying levels of praise. However, all three are firmly unique from each other in specific ways. Likewise, each season of Stranger Things also has its own unique vibe, though all four of them are perfectly in sync narratively and aesthetically. I’d say the Duffers were correct to follow Nolan’s lead.

If there’s any other way in which Ross and Matt Duffer have emulated Christopher Nolan, it’s in the way they seek to make their productions so cinematic. Nolan obviously makes big-screen epics, with his latest being his upcoming adaptation of The Odyssey. Still, the Duffers manage to create thrills on ST that could easily play on a big screen and, if reports are to be believed, that’s going to happen soon. Sources claim Netflix is negotiating a deal that would allow the show’s series finale to be shown in AMC Theaters locations.

That purported agreement would just be the first step in a new cinema-related era for the Duffers. It was reported this year that the twins would be leaving Netflix after the expiration of their deal in early 2026, and they’ll be heading over to Paramount. As part of that new four-year agreement, the Duffers will not only produce TV productions but also feature films that will be made exclusively for theatrical release. The two siblings’ biggest regret regarding Stranger Things is the fact that it consumed so much of their time and left them unable to tell other stories. Now, they’re not only in a position to tell fresh tales but to also make their own mark on the history of cinema.

Ahead of that, though, the Duffers still have to cross the finish line with Stranger Things. The cast and crew, including co-star Finn Wolfhard, expressed concerns about the finale, given the backlash to Game of Thrones’ final episode. However, if anyone can stick the landing, it would be Matt and Ross Duffer. Let’s hope they deliver a conclusion to this show that’s as satisfying as the third acts of the best Christopher Nolan movies.

The first volume of Stranger Things Season 5 will be available to Netflix subscription holders on November 26, and the second arrives on December 25. As for the series finale, that’ll drop on December 31 and essentially close out the 2025 TV schedule.

Thanksgiving parades, NFL games, and New Year’s Eve countdowns could potentially see a sizable dip in viewership thanks to Netflix splitting Stranger Things Season 5 up across three, holiday-centric release dates. I’d long thought that trifurcated approach was near necessary, due to the size and scope of the final episodes, with Maya Hawke saying early on they were filming eight movies essentially. More recent rumors indicated every installment was at least 90 minutes long, and I can’t exactly say I was 1000% enthusiastic about that eventuality.

Thankfully, at least for yours truly, co-creator Ross Duffer took to Instagram to not only address those runtime reports, but also to straight up debunk them. It wasn’t an entire top-to-bottom debunking, mind you, as he only pulled back the curtain on Volume 1's four episodes. Still, it was enough to spark some relief for me and other time-restrained fans with Netflix subscriptions.

Here's the breakdown for the first rollout:

• Chapter One: The Crawl - 68 minutes
• Chapter Two: The Vanishing Of... - 54 minutes
• Chapter Three: The Turnbow Trap - 66 minutes
• Chapter Four: Sorcerer - 83 minutes
• TOTAL VOLUME ONE RUNTIME: 4 hours, 31 minutes (271 minutes)

Even though those runtimes are still pretty lofty, and would be downright ludicrous when applied to a lot of other streaming shows, I could only breath in sighs of relief after that Duffer brothers-approved reveal. I've been a huge fan of Stranger Things technically since before the first season was released, thanks to screeners, so I'm generally more excited than others whose excitement for the final season is waning or is altogether depleted due to the three-year stretch since Season 4.

The Duffers don’t like yearly TV seasons, and though their comments on that matter sparked more than a few opinionated reactions online, at least that helps justify why they've been so comfortable keeping fans waiting. Granted, the writers strike was a big factor this time around, but even if it hadn't happened, complaints about the actors being far older than their characters would still exist.

Some might argue that the actors wouldn't have aged so much if the seasons wouldn't take so long to come together, which wouldn't happen if the episodes didn't so often push beyond traditional runtimes. Although in that scenario, the Duffer brothers could very well just opt to produce twice the number of episodes.

No reason to delve into hypothetical scenarios, however, since we now know exactly how long the first half of Stranger Things' final season will be, and I know I'm not the only one out here who'll spend Turkey Day giving thanks for overblown rumors that get proven to be untrue.

Check out Ross Duffer's IG post below, which earned quite a few relieved and thankful comments. Sure, there were others, but I'd prefer to just believe everyone's on my side here.

The Duffers have shared previously that the fourth and eighth episodes are the longest ones of the season, which necessarily means that Chapters 5, 6, and 7 will all be shorter than 83 minutes. So unless the final final edits go wildly against expectation, none of the final season's installments will be longer than 90 minutes. Which is exactly how it should be.

Stranger Things' first four Season 5 chapters will hit Netflix's 2025 lineup starting on Thursday, November 27.

A new era is dawning for Matt and Ross Duffer, the sibling producers behind the hit series that is Stranger Things. It was announced this past August that the Duffer Brothers would leave Netflix after agreeing to an overall deal with Paramount Pictures. The pair of EPs seem excited about the move and have since discussed that decision as well as some of their thoughts on the entertainment landscape. With that, Matt recently revealed why he’s not big on new seasons of shows being released annually, and I respectfully disagree.

Why Don’t The Duffers Like TV Shows Dropping New Seasons Every Year?

The Duffers recently appeared at Variety’s Entertainment and Technology Summit, where they opened up about taking their talents to Paramount Pictures. An aspect of the move that’s most notable is that it’ll see the twin producers develop original movies that will have theatrical releases. Still, the agreement will also include TV projects, but fans probably shouldn’t expect lengthy seasons or for episodes to arrive every year. Matt shed some light on his and his brothers’ perspective on that:

So, in other words, the Duffers have a preference for what have become known as event series, which is what Stranger Things is. There may be multiple seasons, but each one features a short run of episodes with a very specific storyline. It’s also typical that such episodes don’t come out on an annual basis. Such a method of storytelling also runs in stark contrast to the traditional network TV model, which has historically involved 22 to 24-episode seasons every year.

Ross and Matt Duffer also confirmed the shows they’ll make over at Paramount will have “eight-to-10 episode seasons.” With that, I’d also wager that like ST, those shows will have significant gaps between seasons. Considering the Duffers have found success in working that way and given their relationship with TV, it makes sense that they’d want to stick with that method of production. Still, I’m not so keen on the notion that releasing new episodes yearly isn’t ideal.

Why Do I Disagree With The Comments Matt Duffer Shared?

Honestly, I can’t say for sure what Matt Duffer specifically considers to be a “diminishing return” for annual TV seasons. However, based on how he laid it out, I took it as him implying that viewers might lose interest in a particular show if new episodes are constantly churned out. I think it does the polar opposite, as I think a consistent release of episodes helps keep an audience hooked, especially when it comes to streaming shows. I actually think two or three-year gaps in between seasons can hurt a series, as some viewers may lose interest during that time, especially given how much content is now available in this marketplace.

With all that said, there are still plenty of people who are hyped for Stranger Things Season 5, and that show has remained consistently popular since it debuted for Netflix subscription holders in 2016. However, very few shows are able to penetrate pop culture in the way that the Duffers’ show has. I also understand that given the scale of ST, it’s a show that takes a while to craft. However, it’s still wild to say that over nine years after its premiere, the sci-fi, horror series will end with only five seasons and a total of only 42 episodes.

I may just be old fashioned, though, as there are those who don’t mind long waits for new seasons of their favorite shows. Still, I just feel as though yearly releases would be great for streaming shows. I’m also a fan of the traditional network model, which sees TV shows drop new seasons in the fall, run through the following spring and then start all over again.

My thoughts on the Duffers’ views aside, I remain excited to see what they produce next whether it be at Paramount or Netflix. At the streamer, the siblings still have Stranger Things productions in the works as well as the supernatural show The Boroughs along with horror series Something Very Bad Is Going To Happen. Of course, their most highly anticipated title remains ST Season 5, and Part 1 premieres on November 26. Part 2 follows on December 25, with the finale debuting on December 31.

The highly anticipated fifth season of Stranger Things will close out the beloved science-fiction/horror show’s run, marking the conclusion of an era. Now, however, that acclaimed show isn’t all that’s coming to an end as far as the streamer is concerned. Matt and Ross Duffer – the creators of ST – are officially leaving Netflix and headed for Paramount. While the deal signifies an exciting new step for the Duffers from a creative standpoint, it leaves me concerned about potential Stranger spinoffs for one reason.

The Duffer Brothers Agree To A Deal With Paramount

Up until this point, it had only been reported that the Duffer Brothers were planning to exit Netflix, though now it’s been confirmed. THR reports that the famous siblings inked a four-year deal with Paramount (which recently merged with Skydance) that’ll encompass TV, film and streaming productions. However, it’s said that the Duffers are most excited about the prospect of being able to “write, produce, and direct large-scale theatrical films.” Matt and Ross released a statement in which they expressed their excitement about the deal:

The Duffers also shouted out Netflix, thanking the leadership team for their support and calling their tenure – which will end when their current deal expires in April 2026 – “incredible.” Paramount will allow the brothers the opportunity to develop new IPs, which will be produced through their Upside Down Pictures production banner. While I’m excited by the prospect of the Duffers being able to move on to new endeavors, I am concerned about what this means for the proposed Stranger Things spinoffs.

Why I'm Concerned About Stranger Things Spinoffs

As it stands, aside from Stranger Things Season 5, the Duffers have two other confirmed shows still happening at Netflix. Those productions are the wild-sounding sci-fi series The Boroughs and horror series Something Very Bad Is Going to Happen. Also, an animated ST spinoff has been ordered, and it’s been alleged that more offshoots are on the way. However, as noted by THR, Matt and Ross Duffer will only serve as executive producers on any future installments in the franchise, meaning they’ll likely have less creative input.

One of the major reasons why the Duffers’ massive IP has been so successful is because of the amount of time and effort they personally put into making it work. Not only are they the creators of Stranger Things but, across all five seasons, they’ve written and directed episodes as well. As executive producers on future shows, it’s very likely that the Duffers won’t be involved in the day-to-day work that would go into any of the shows. The fact that the pair have their sights set on making big movies makes me even less optimistic about the chances of them being heavily involved in Stranger shows.

In terms of the content of the Stranger Things spinoffs themselves, one of them is the animated show subtitled Tales from ‘85, which sees the characters fighting off new monsters in the town of Hawkins, Indiana. That show is set to debut sometime in 2026. As for the live-action spinoff, details on that are scarce at the moment. However, cast member Finn Wolfhard has already sussed out the Duffers idea, and he’s even correctly compared it to Twin Peaks.

We’ll just have to wait and see what lies ahead for the Stranger Things franchise without any heavy involvement from the Duffer Brothers. More immediately, make sure you have a Netflix subscription, so you’ll be able to stream Season 5, Part 1 when it drops on November 26 amid the 2025 TV schedule.

The Duffer Brothers are undeniably successful in the streaming sphere thanks to Stranger Things, which will wrap with the fifth and final season at the very end of the 2025 TV schedule. That said, Matt and Ross Duffer are reportedly ready to spend some time in the Rightside Up after a decade dealing with the Upside Down, and their new Netflix project sounds a lot more grounded than what they've written for Hawkins, Indiana in the '80s.

That said, I'm still interested in more details about the animated Stranger Things spinoff series that was announced years ago. But first things first!

The Duffer Brothers' Next Project

Matt and Russ Duffer will be working on a book adaptation this time around, with Deadline reporting that they're developing a novel called The Savage, Noble Death of Babs Dionne for viewers with a Netflix subscription. Author Ron Currie and his writing partner, Joshua Mohr, are expected to write the crime thriller as well as serve as executive producers. The Duffers are also slated to executive produce, along with Hilary Leavitt via the brothers' Upside Down Pictures production company.

If you've never heard of the book but thought "Babs Dionne" sounds like a great mobster name, you're not far off. The title character is a Franco-American crime matriarch based out of a small town in Maine. While she's a loving grandmother, she also has control over the drug trade... until a drug kingpin discovers that he's not dominating the business in the upper northeast, and sends somebody who probably means bad news for Babs.

Other characters include the lieutenants who work for Babs; her longtime friends; her eldest daughter Lori, who struggles with addiction after her time in the Marines; The Man, who is sent by the kingpin; and Sis, her youngest daughter who has gone missing.

I personally haven't read the book, but I feel confident guessing that Sis isn't going to go missing because she was chased into an Upside Down dimension by a monster a la Will Byers in Stranger Things! This technically isn't the Duffer Brothers' first project outside of the Stranger Things franchise in recent years, as they produced The Boroughs and Something Very Bad Is Going To Happen, both for Netflix with expected premieres in 2026. The Savage, Noble Death of Babs Dionne is only in the development stage at this point, so there are no guarantees that it will become a series.

Now, as a lover of crime dramas, The Savage, Noble Death of Babs Dionne actually sounds right up my alley, but I still associate The Duffer Brothers with Stranger Things, and this development reminded me of another show in the franchise that I'd love some more information on.

What's Up With The Animated Series?

News of a Stranger Things animated TV show first broke back in 2023, at which point fans were already nearly a year into the wait for Season 5. At the time, the project was said to be an adult animated series set within the world of Stranger Things, with The Duffer Brothers and longtime collaborator Shawn Levy on board as executive producers. Matt and Ross Duffer expressed in a joint statement that they'd "always dreamed of an animated Stranger Things in the vein of the Saturday morning cartoons that we grew up loving, and to see this dream realized has been absolutely thrilling."

Two years later, and Netflix has at least revealed that the title will be Stranger Things: Tales From '85. Showrunner Eric Robles reportedly dropped some details and a sneak peek at the Annecy Film Festival in early June. Per Deadline, Robles said that his inspiration for Tales From '85 "all went back to The Real Ghostbusters," which he described as "silly but had a handful of dark, creepy episodes." The logline from Netflix reads:

That confirms that the show will be set in the colder months between the end of Season 2 in late 1984 and the beginning of Season 3 in summer 1985. Hopefully the mention of "the original characters" means familiar – albeit animated – faces, but the promise of new monsters and a terrifying mystery leads me to suspect that the stories won't actually be canon to the live-action show. That doesn't mean it can't be fun, though!

A big question I have at this point is whether this show is aimed at adults, as was expected back in 2023 when the animated offshoot was first announced, or aimed at children. There's plenty of time to speculate before Stranger Things Season 5 arrives, as the first of three volumes releases on November 26. The second will be on December 25, and the third on December 31.

Splitting the season into three volumes that release on or near major holidays in the U.S. was a divisive choice, but I'm just excited that the streamer is releasing the episodes at 8 p.m. ET rather than 12 a.m. PT as usual, which always means 3 a.m. in my time zone. In the meantime, fans can always rewatch the first four seasons streaming on Netflix and cross their fingers for a glimpse of the animated series.

When it comes to running megahit shows like Stranger Things or Games of Thrones, the saying that comes to my mind is “heavy is the head that wears the crown.” Both series have an immense and passionate fanbases, and it takes a lot of time and effort to make them. Therefore, it feels like those who run the shows might feel like they live in a gilded cage.

To that point, Matthew Modine said the Duffer Brothers are ready to be done with their show on Netflix’s 2025 schedule, in part, for that reason. And it reminds me a lot of how the co-creator of GOT felt about ending the fantasy series and not being involved in futre projects.

Matthew Modine Said The Duffer Brothers Are Ready To Be Done With Stranger Things

As you likely know, Season 5 of Stranger Things will come out on the 2025 TV schedule, and it will mark the end of an era. Anticipation is high, and we know we’re in for some epic, feature-length episodes that the creative team has been working on for well over a year. When asked about what’s to come, Dr. Brenner actor Matthew Modine told ScreenRant that “it’s going to be amazing.” However, he also said he thinks the Duffers are ready to move on:

For the last year and change, Matt and Ross Duffer have been providing updates about filming Season 5, and now the endgame is in sight. Everyone in the cast and crew has worked very hard on this show, and it has to be all-consuming. So, Modine’s comments, while a bit shocking, do make sense.

While I know co-creators are giving their all to Stranger Things and care a lot about it, I also get why they’d want to move on. They’ve dedicated so much time and work to this show, and I imagine they are ready to work on other projects. Do you know who that sounds a lot like? The man who ran Game of Thrones.

Modine’s Comments Are In Line With How Game Of Thrones' Co-Creator Felt About Ending Their Show

Back in 2022, right when House of the Dragon was coming out, Game of Thrones co-creator D.B. Weiss spoke about his future with the franchise. While there is a wealth of GOT shows in the works, he has no intention of being part of them, telling EW:

So don’t expect him to be involved with the latest spinoff, but do expect more work from him soon.

Based on Modine’s comments, it seems that the Duffers feel the same way. While they obviously care deeply about Stranger Things, and I'm sure Season 5 will be epic, I get why they’re ready to move on.

They’ve been working on this show for basically a decade, and that’s been their priority. Plus, with the expectations and pressure that come with shows like Stranger Things and Game of Thrones, it really must feel like living in a gilded cage.

So, overall, I’m glad they get to move on soon. However, before that happens, we have one more trip to the Upside Down planned. So, make sure you have your Netflix subscription ready because Stranger Things 5 is coming.

The long wait for Stranger Things Season 5 continues, and the promise that the final season will arrive in the 2025 TV schedule for fans with a Netflix subscription doesn't mean that the better part of a year isn't still left of the long break. That doesn't mean we should all mope in enough doom and gloom to fill the Upside Down, though, and I'm particularly rejuvenated after what the Duffer Brothers said to clarify their comment about "eight blockbuster films on the way."

Matt and Ross Duffer were honored at SCAD TVfest in Atlanta with the Variety Showrunner Award for their work as creators, writers, directors, executive producers, and – of course – showrunners of the Netflix show that became a worldwide phenomenon. The ceremony also happened to occur just a week after Ross hyped up a crowd a a Netflix event (via EW), saying "It's like eight blockbuster movies" and "It's pretty, pretty insane."

Considering the length of some of the episodes of Season 4 and particularly the Stranger Things Season 4 Volume 2 ending, I doubt many fans were surprised by the idea that the final season's episodes could be blockbuster-length! In the discussion following their SCAD TVfest award – which was presented to them with a lovely speech from cast member Caleb McLaughlin, a.k.a. Lucas – the brothers gave some background to those comments, stating that it just "sounded like a good sound bite" and acknowledging that they "do write quite long episodes." Matt Duffer went on:

While blockbuster films are certainly fun and there are even those among us who would happily watch eight movies in a row, that's not really what the Duffer Brothers want to accomplish with the final season. Even though working on the special effects is what they expect to take the longest in 2025, viewers "deeply" caring about the characters in a long-running, serialized TV show matters more.

Of course, most shows don't need ten years to release five seasons, and the Duffers agreed that it blows their minds to see the kids who grew up on set as adults now. After all, the Eleven actress is married now with a list of upcoming Millie Bobby Brown projects, and even I couldn't believe from the SCAD TVfest audience how adult Caleb McLaughlin looked when he was giving his speech before presenting the Showrunner Award. (Admittedly, he is 23 and several years older than his Stranger Things character.) Matt Duffer went on:

The Duffer Brothers haven't been spoiling many details about Season 5, so I'm going to hold on to the morsel of them mentioning flashbacks to Season 1! It's certainly better than nothing, and I'm already more excited about the final season after the clarification that it's not really going to feel like eight blockbuster films. This is a TV show, after all, and fans haven't been watching for four seasons just because of movie-length episodes. In fact, the first two seasons are arguably the most beloved, and they were the least cinematic of the four.

And in more good news, the brothers confirmed that they started back in January on the "digital effects sequences," and it's going well enough that they're "actually ahead of schedule, which is rare for us." So, whether than means the final season will be ready in time for the nine-year anniversary of Season 1 in July, by November as a nod to when the first season took place, or December 31st at 12:01 a.m., the goal of 2025 seems reachable.

For now, fans can always revisit the first four seasons streaming on Netflix. With how long the fourth season episodes really were, they can be rewatched at leisure without needing to binge and avoid any spoilers this time around!

Ever since Stranger Things took the world by storm in 2016, Matt and Ross Duffer have been some of the most in-demand creative minds in Hollywood. Now, as ST's final season inches towards release on the 2025 TV schedule, fans are surely waiting to see what the Duffer Brothers are cooking up next. That project, in question, is a new Netflix series called The Boroughs that's on the horizon. Most details on the show are under wraps right now, but the Duffer's recent comments on the show now have me even more pumped than I already was.

Matt and Ross Duffer chatted about Season 5 of Stranger Things, during the recent Next on Netflix presentation. Additionally, they discussed their two buzzy upcoming projects, The Boroughs and Something Very Bad is Going to Happen. While both shows have exciting plots and casts that will be sure to satisfy fans of ST, Boroughs seems to have the most in common with the hit show. Matt Duffer said (via Deadline):

The Netflix-produced show is set to star Geena Davis, Alfred Molina, and Bill Pullman. It centers around a New Mexico-based retirement community that is disturbed by an otherworldly force that threatens to take away time from the residents. Seriously, the logline makes this sound like a spiritual successor to Stranger Things, just one geared towards somewhat older Netflix subscription holders.

This is certainly something to get excited about, and I'm loving what I'm hearing thus far. On paper, the concept alone is enticing, but it's wonderful to hear that it'll be infused with the vibe of the Duffers' beloved sci-fi, horror show. That's especially great because world-building and unlikely hero stories are what these sibling producers do best.

What's also exciting is that the Duffer Brothers seem to be continuing their tradition of casting 80s and 90s icons. They famously tapped Winona Ryder and Cary Elwes in Stranger Things to enhance the retro nostalgia, and having names like Davis and Pullman this time around feels like an extension of this trend. I'm particularly curious as to whether the show will be set in modern day or be a period piece.. I also can't wait to see if New Mexico is handled as well as the brothers portrayed the fictional Hawkins, Indiana as a setting.

Thankfully, filming is already underway, with the show expected to premiere in 2026. Fans may be sad that ST is coming to an end, but The Boroughs seems like it will have the same spirit. While the prospect of similarities between the two shows are exciting, I’m also personally intrigued by how the new series will differentiate itself from its predecessor. There's also the matter of what new ideas it'll explore with its older, more mature cast. Still, I'm confident the Duffers will strike a keen balance between the fresh and familiar.

Let's hope further updates on The Buroughs arrive sooner rather than later. In the meantime, you can look forward to seeing Stranger Things' final bow sometime this year. And, for more information on other exciting projects heading to the streamer, make sure to consult our feature on everything new and coming soon to Netflix.

The end of an era is coming soon, and now we’re one massive step closer to it, as Season 5 of Stranger Things just wrapped its production. In celebration of this big update that also solidified the fact that our final trip to the Upside Down will be part of the 2025 TV schedule, Netflix posted the sweetest BTS photos while Ross Duffer uploaded a sentimental statement about finishing filming. Now, as we mix all that and the nostalgia together, I’m left sitting here in my feels.

This trip down memory lane that also has me stoked about what’s to come began with a co-post from the official Stranger Things account and the series’ co-creator Ross Duffer. It featured a handful of behind-the-scenes photos (which you can see below) of the kids with Winona Ryder, the Duffer Brothers, the Steve, Nancy and Jonathan actors, and so much more.

Admittedly the one that really got me was the final image of Maya Hawke, Joe Keery, Finn Wolfhard and Charlie Heaton. They’re all smiling so big, and seeing the Robin, Steve and Mike actors with their arms around each other makes me all emo.

Plus, just generally seeing the kids all grown up with their older co-stars puts all this in perspective. The young actors are taller than most of their colleagues now, and they’re all also adults, which is wild to think about. And it’s crazy to comprehend this fact both in terms of their lives and my own, because like them, I was a kid when Season 1 came out.

So, we’ve all truly been on a wild ride over the years with Stranger Things, and Ross Duffer’s statement about wrapping touched on that too, as he wrote in part in his Instagram post:

After a year of production and over two years of waiting, it’s surreal to think that Season 5 of Stranger Things is completely filmed and way closer to being released.

Now, the wait for its premiere on Netflix’s 2025 schedule is really on, and that makes me feel excited, nostalgic, sad and a myriad of other emotions. This is all because between getting the Season 5 episode titles and seeing Duffer’s post along with these BTS photos, it really feels like we’re in the endgame now.

To contextualize that statement, we’ve been waiting for Season 5 since the summer of 2022 – that was the year I started working at CinemaBlend. Season 1 came out in 2016 – my senior year of high school. My life has changed dramatically since the show's premiere, and I can't help but feel so much nostalgia and bittersweet sentiment for this journey we've all been on.

I imagine a bunch of Stranger Things fans are looking back on how their lives have changed while this show has been on too, and if they’re like me, they’re in their feels. So much has evolved both in Hawkins and in real life, and it genuinely feels like the end of a major chapter now that this Netflix megahit is coming to a close next year.

So, while I make sure I’m stocked up on tissues for what’s bound to be an action-packed and emotional season of one of Netflix’s most binge-able shows, you can go back and watch Stranger Things' first four seasons with a Netflix subscription. Then, as we get closer and closer to this highly anticipated conclusion, make sure to stay tuned to CinemaBlend, because we’ll be keeping you updated on all things Upside Down.

For all the extended waiting that fans have to do between seasons, one of the best Netflix shows available to stream at any given time will always be its Hawkins-set horror drama, and fans are desperate for Stranger Things Season 5 to finally arrive. (Even if it’s not on the 2024 TV schedule.) One of the biggest worries among the viewership centers on Sadie Sink’s Max, who was left in a coma by the end of Season 4. Now, the Duffer brothers have further stoked that fear with their latest comments.

Sink herself was interviewed by Variety about her current status as a beloved young Hollywood star, as well as how she’s handled the hurdles that come with fame. Since all eyes will be on her when Stranger Things returns, questions obviously came up regarding fan-favorite Max’s health status, which she teased in a way that made it clear the character will be active, though not in what capacity. Matt and Ross Duffer offered slightly more context, but in a way that make things seem slightly more worrisome for Max and/or possibly Caleb McLaughlin’s Lucas. In their words:

• Matt Duffer: She’s going to play a part in the season
• Ross Duffer: But we don’t want to reveal how that’s possible.
• Matt Duffer: Right, because she’s in a coma. . . . I think she’s grown just more confident as an actor and in her choices. We did film a scene the other day with her that was just absolutely heartbreaking. I don’t know how she hits those notes.

It's quite interesting for Matt Duffer to bring up Max being in a coma in the same conversation as complimenting Sadie Sink for her acting choices. Granted, I guess she could pull off some A+ coma-acting choices that really bring the house down, but it does seem like those scenes will just involve her lying there without much acting involved.

As such, one would have to imagine that whatever the "heartbreaking" scene is that the co-creator mentions, it presumably takes place away from Max's hospital bed. And considering she's already lost her semi-redeemed douchebag brother Billy, I'm not wholly sure what kinds of heartbreaking moments she could experience that wouldn't involve either her or Lucas dealing with something tragic.

So could Matt Duffer have been referring to Lucas being killed off? Or perhaps it's a scene where she has to sacrifice herself for the greater good, and he's referring to her farewells to others. I could probably continue down this trauma-filled path with a bunch of other theories about what could go wrong, but nobody needs that kind of stress this far ahead of Season 5's arrival.

For her part, Sadie Sink only brought up one specific action when referring to her character getting physical in Season 5, and it's an action that speaks directly to Max's favorite tune. Here's how she put it:

Although she did go on to say that the prior week of filming was particularly active, and that it made her forget just how busy things could get. Having such a large cast means quite a bit of downtime for certain actors, depending on what characters are in scenes together. So it sounds like at least one episode will be quite heavy on Max in action. Just hopefully without any heartbreaking stuff involved.

Here's hoping the worst thing that happens is her Walkman breaks. Sure, that would suck, but better to have to buy a new cassette player than to attend a friend's funeral. At least we don’t have to worry about Will’s hair anymore, thanks to his new ‘do. And I guess we don’t have to fret over Stranger Things not having a dedicated line of candles, because it does now.

We’re still waiting on a premiere date for Season 5 of Stranger Things, but check out what the Duffer brothers are working on next in the meantime.

Stranger Things’ Season 4 conclusion left several main characters and the town of Hawkins in pure turmoil — to say nothing of the rest of the world at large — and it’s already been a long wait to see how the upcoming Season 5 will close things out for audiences with Netflix subscriptions. All forms of speculation abound, from logical assumptions to baffling guesses, but now co-creators Matt and Ross Duffer have spoken out about one of the most polarizing fan theories: nothing is real, and it’s all part of a Dungeons & Dragons campaign. 

As it goes with seemingly every serious drama with a hint of mystery to it, Stranger Things has sparked theories that presume everything we’ve seen in the first four seasons is all just the mental machinations of one or more characters. Which is slightly different from the “the main character was dead the whole time” trope, but not too far off.

Speaking with Metro at the premiere of the critically acclaimed Stranger Things: The First Shadow stage show, the horror-friendly brothers were asked about the bonkers D&D hypothesis, and reportedly giggled quite a bit. Matt Duffer even stoked the fire a bit more with some initial sarcasm, saying:

Thankfully, Ross Duffer followed his sibling up with some quick clarification, lest anyone take the joking confirmation at face value, and essentially soothed the paranoia of anyone dreading the possibility of a dream-based conclusion. In his words:

While The First Shadow stage play is digging back into some of the fan-favorite characters’ pasts to reveal important historical context for Henry/Vecna, Hopper, Joyce and more, Stranger Things’ Season 5 finale will presumably be used as a springboard to launch at least one spinoff. And I can’t imagine that fans would want to see any of these people again if the flagship series ended on a reveal of the O.G. foursome of Dustin, Will, Mike and Lucas sitting around and patting themselves on the back for crafting such imaginative story arcs. Presumably with all of the actors de-aged digitally. 

Speaking of the play, I have to wonder how that whole flashback storyline would make sense to anyone who genuinely buys into the Dungeons & Dragons ending theory. The game wouldn’t have existed in the real world at that point in the timeline. But I’m sure someone has a way to explain it, even if it’s wrong.

The Duffers have revealed which characters’ stories are definitively ending with the fifth batch of episodes, but left the door open for others to enter the conversation. So in that respect, I fully expect the Season 5 finale will leave a few narrative threads left dangling for a follow-up series to pick up.

Stay tuned to learn when those dangling threads will be premiering on Netflix, with Stranger Things Season 5 expected to arrive in late 2025.

Fans of Stranger Things still have a while to go before we can see Season 5 — the Duffer Brothers’ conclusion to our Hawkins, Indiana, heroes’ battles with the creatures of the Upside Down. However, if you happen to be around London’s West End, you might have the opportunity to catch the theatrical production, Stranger Things: The First Shadow. Previews were held in November for the prequel, before it officially opened on December 14, and critics are weighing in on how the record-breaking Netflix series transitions to the stage.

The play is set in 1959 — the year Henry Creel (aka Number One, aka Vecna) and his family move to Hawkins — and it includes a number of characters we’re already familiar with, including Joyce (Isabella Pappas), Hopper (Oscar Lloyd) and Bob (Chris Buckley), in addition to, of course, Henry (Louis McCartney) and Dr. Brenner (Patrick Vaill). Shannon Connellan of Mashable praises the acting and compares the production to Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, as the productions share multiple crew members. Connellan writes: 

Arifa Akbar of The Guardian rates it a perfect 5 out of 5 stars, writing that the production delivers one coup de theatre after another. It’s not necessarily just for fans, either, Akbar says. Stranger Things viewers will be able to trace storylines back, but The First Shadow is still “irresistible” for newcomers. The critic continues: 

Alex Wood of What’s On Stage also gives it 5 stars out of 5 for how it “dials the visual spectacle up to 11.” Audiences are battered by wind, coated in haze, subjected to bloody scenes of gory panic and transported into mysterious realms just in the first 4 minutes, the critic writes, noting: 

Neil Armstrong of BBC gives it 4 out of 5 stars, saying the visual effects are laudable, but it’s the characters and the actors’ portrayal of them that make Stranger Things: The First Shadow work. Armstrong continues: 

The stage adaptation doesn’t work for everyone though. Johnny Oleksinski of the New York Post calls The First Shadow “a total disaster.” While the critic admits that Louis McCartney is “fantastic” in his professional stage debut as Henry Creel, he deserves better than this production. Oleksinski rates the play 1 star out of 4, writing: 

It sounds like most critics find Stranger Things: The First Shadow to be a satisfying addition to the sci-fi franchise’s canon. Now if only we could get some information in regards to it making its way to the United States! While we wait for that and Stranger Things Season 5, however, fans can always relive the adventures of the first four seasons with a Netflix subscription, and check out what else is new and coming soon to Netflix. 

In the words of Vecna: “It’s time.” Or at least it’s almost time for the upcoming Stranger Things Season 5 to start filming. With the historic SAG-AFTRA and WGA strikes finally over, series creators the Duffer Brothers and the rest of the creative team behind the hit Netflix show have been working hard to prepare for the start of production. Ross Duffer and the official ST Writers Twitter account have been sharing images of all the prep work going on in Atlanta. Now, another tease has been shared, and I have thoughts.

The teases from the Twitter account have been great, including a video of the massive wardrobe collection that's been utilized for the show over the years. They've been keeping fans satiated ahead of the new season. According to Variety, the series will start filming in early January. That fact was confirmed by Ross Duffer himself when he shared an image of the cast list for the first episode, “The Crawl,” on Instagram with the caption. He simply included the caption “See you after the holidays.” This alone is enough to send fans into a frenzy, but it was the crossed-out name in the image that seemingly has everyone going wild across social media. Take a look: 

This isn’t the first time one of the Duffer Brothers have teased fans about the upcoming season. A few months ago, they shared a video of them using Funko Pops to figure out shots, which left many wondering what they might be planning. It now seems like they’re up to their mysterious ways again, and I have some theories as to whose name is hidden behind the scribble. 

Theory 1: Max Mayfield Is Still Hanging On

The most obvious answer to who could be hidden under the crossed-out line is Max Mayfield. Fans will recall that the final episode of Volume 2 finds Max facing off against Vecna. Unfortunately, it's a losing battle until Eleven swoops in. Stranger Things Season 4 then ends with Max lying in a hospital bed in a coma after being brought back to life by Eleven in the Void. While her physical state was left in question, I can’t image the Duffer Brothers would kill her between seasons, which means she’s most likely slated to make some kind of appearance in Season 5. 

This also isn’t the first time fans have seen a cast list like this attached to a script. During the show's Emmy campaign last year, a Season 4 script was released to the public with a similar breakdown. In that one, Max’s name is sandwiched between Steve Harrington’s and Robin Buckley’s just like where the scratched-out name is in the shared image. Given that Max is the only notable character whose name isn’t on the sheet, it’s pretty safe to assume that it's hers the creative trying to conceal. 

There’s not a doubt in my mind that Max is going to make an appearance, what remains to be seen is if she’s going to be conscious or not. Fingers crossed that her name possibly being there means we will get to see her and hear all of her snarky comebacks rat some point in the final season. 

Theory 2: Eddie Munson’s Returning 

While Max’s appearance makes the most sense, the Eddie Munson fan in me can’t help but hope that it's his name the Duffers have obscured. Despite seeing him get mauled by demo bats in the Upside Down, there’s a large portion of fans who don’t believe Eddie’s really dead. And yes, I’m one of them. 

Munson's return would be a massive win for fans who have been speculating about his it ever since Volume 2 dropped last year. If it were him, it would make sense that the Duffers would want to keep his appearance a secret, but still tease it. 

Now, some of you might be shaking your heads and shouting, “he’s dead, give it up,” but it wouldn’t be the first time a dead character resurfaced. Just look at Hopper! He somehow survived the explosion in Starcourt Mall. Anything is possible. 

There’s also the added fact that in addition to the cast list image, Ross Duffer also shared a photo of one of the production location signs labeled “Hellfire Way.” Like the other production signs, it included a Spotify QR code that fans immediately scanned. Of course, it took them to “Master of Puppets” from the official Stranger Things Season 4 soundtrack. That can’t be a coincidence! 

Theory 3: A New Cast Member Is Joining Hawkins

Fans seem to be in agreeance that the scribbled-out name belongs to a character we already know and love, but what if it’s someone new? While the Duffer Brothers have said countless times that they don’t plan to add too many new characters into the final season, there are a few slated to visit Hawkins. 

This summer, at Netflix's TUDUM event, it was revealed that Terminator actress Linda Hamilton would be joining the hit series. No info was shared about her character, so it could be that she’s the one they’re trying to hide. 

Theory 4: Someone Can No Longer Make It 

Another possibility, though unlikely, is that the name could belong to a character that was previously slated to appear in Season 5, but no longer can. Given that the scripts were originally written all the way back in November 2022, there is a chance the Duffers had a great cameo lined up that has fallen through. After all, tons of actors are having to make hard decisions now that the SAG-AFTRA strike is over and production is ramping up on multiple projects. 

Honestly, though, if that were the case, I think they would have just printed a new cast list instead of teasing us with a scribbled-out name. Then again, these are the same people who created the sinister monster that is Vecna (who we know a lot about) so maybe they just like playing mind games with us!

The bottom line is that fans of Stranger Things are going to be doing a lot of speculating over the next few months as filming begins. However, if the Duffer Brothers and the writers continue to tease fans with images of the first scene and scribbled-out names, they’re in for a fun couple of months! Until then, fans can revisit one of the best Netflix shows to binge-watch by streaming the first four seasons of the series with an active Netflix subscription. 

Since its debut on Netflix in 2016, Stranger Things has become a cornerstone series on the platform. With the fourth season receiving overwhelming praise and becoming a massive streaming hit in the 2022 TV lineup, anticipation for the upcoming fifth and final season seems to be at an all-time high. But unfortunately, fans are in for a bit of a longer wait than initially planned. The series’ creators confirmed that the show’s concluding season will be impacted by the current Writers Guild of America (WGA) strike. So let's talk about what we know. 

Matt and Ross Duffer, the creators of the hit show, took to Twitter to express support for writers on strike and acknowledged the difficulty of continuing production without them. Hollywood has been facing the possibility of a strike since the start of the year, with the WGA's contract set to expire on May 1. In February, the union voted on a proposal for standard compensation for writers, which received 98% member support in March. Despite negotiations starting on March 20, no agreement was reached by the May 1 deadline. For the Duffer Brothers' take on the matter, see the tweet below:

This is certainly a major blow for fans of the franchise, who previously had to wait quite some time for Season 4 to debut on the streaming service. Chances are this also means the the franchise's first greenlit spinoff will be delayed as well. Nevertheless, the Duffers seem firmly set on supporting Hollywood's writers during this time.

Stranger Things isn't the only scripted television series that the recent writers strike  has affected. Night Court, Abbott Elementary, Cobra Kai and Yellowjackets have already announced production pauses. Many late-night talk shows (except for one) plan to go dark as well.

The last strike occurred over a decade ago. From 2007 to 2008, the WGA picketed for 100 days, causing significant shockwaves throughout the industry. Many rushed productions resulted in poorly received movies such as Quantum of Solace, X-Men Origins: Wolverine, and Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. Meanwhile, TV shows like The Office and Smallville ceased production, late-night television either went unscripted or dark and a shift toward reality programming occurred. The protest reportedly cost Hollywood over $2 billion. 

Depending on the length of this current strike, productions of numerous series and movies may be interrupted, altered, or possibly altogether canceled. And when an agreement is finally made, what we know about season 5 of Stranger Things might not be applicable anymore. Who knows how long the WGA strike could go and how it might change plans for our favorite D&D playing-gang’s swan song.

Reduced royalty payments during the streaming age and limiting the use of AI in film productions are essential causes that the Guild seeks to address. Many are anxiously waiting to see if a fair resolution is reached promptly so production on beloved shows like Stranger Things can resume. 

Until then, fans who want to return to Hawkins must settle for rewatching previous seasons using their Netflix subscriptions. You can also take a look at our 2023 TV schedule for details on impending premiers that are unaffected by the strike.

The end is near for Stranger Things, as the pop culture phenomenon is set to conclude with its fifth season, which enters production this year. Though fans need not worry, because series creators Matt and Ross Duffer confirmed they're working with Netflix to produce spinoffs of the beloved coming-of-age series. Now, we have confirmation that an offshoot has officially been ordered by the streamer. And if that weren’t exciting enough, it’ll mark a first for the franchise. 

Netflix officially announced that an untitled adult animated series set within the world of Stranger Things -- which is the brand's first cartoon -- is officially in the works. It's being developed by Eric Robles, who serves as executive producer on behalf of Flying Bark Productions. The Duffer Brothers will also act as EPs under their recently established Upside Down Pictures banner. Additionally, Shawn Levy, who also co-produces the parent show, does the same here as well alongside Dan Cohen by way of their 21 Laps imprint. The Duffers marked the occasion with a joint statement in which they shared high praise for Robles:

This is a major development for the high-profile IP. While there have been rumors in recent months, the streaming service had not confirmed whether any kind of animated series was truly in production. To be honest, it probably only a matter of time before the franchise stepped into this medium. Its approach to storytelling really does lend itself to animation and, even more excitingly, it sounds like this series will be somewhat reminiscent of classic Saturday morning cartoons. As someone who grew up on such TV fare, I’m incredibly pumped for this.

Of course, I also have a number of questions in regard to the premise. I mean, is it a sequel or a prequel to the OG series? Is it set in the town of Hawkins, Indiana? And does it feature any of the characters that fans have come to know and love? We probably won’t get any of those details for some time. But I’m certain that as they wait for updates, fans will take the time to speculate and dream up their own ideas.

The Duffer Brothers have (unsurprisingly) kept their overall spinoff plans close to the vest since confirming that more Stranger Things projects are on the way. Many have tried to deduce what they have planned and, apparently, only one person was successful. Series star Finn Wolfhard sussed out what the enigmatic siblings are concocting, and you can bet that he’s not saying a word now that his suspicions have been proven true.

Obviously, though, let’s not forget that we still have Stranger Things Season 5 of the flagship series (which will provide the cast with some massive raises). Eleven and Hawkins’ war with Vecna is about to kick into high gear, and it’s sure to be an emotional ordeal. Not just because it could mean there’ll be major casualties but because fans will be saying goodbye to a show that’s had a major impact on the entertainment landscape. With latter point in mind, it’s comforting to know that its legacy will continue through the animated series.

Be sure you have a Netflix subscription so you can check out the upcoming series when it eventually debuts and, in the meantime, check out all four seasons of Stranger Things. And for information on offerings that are airing or will premiere soon, check out the 2023 TV schedule.

As the character ensemble at the heart of Stranger Things has grown over the first four seasons, their respective worlds have gotten bigger (and I’m not just talking about their increasing understanding of the Upside Down). Our young heroes of Hawkins, Indiana, have made new friends and gotten closer with peers outside of Season 1’s foursome of Will, Mike, Lucas and Dustin. Matt and Ross Duffer have expertly woven in new characters, adding fan favorites like Sadie Sink’s Max and Joseph Quinn’s Eddie, to name just a few. As work begins on Season 5, however, the creators aim to change their approach somewhat, and in a really smart way.

The Duffer Brothers have found myriad ways to keep things interesting for Netflix subscribers since Stranger Things premiered in 2016: new relationships, new monsters, new music (just kidding — though Kate Bush can attest the new appreciation for some classic ‘80s tunes). Despite the success they’ve had introducing new fan-favorite characters each season, Matt Duffer told IndieWire that the fifth and final season likely won't go that route. He said: 

It really does make sense to not introduce too many new faces at a point when trying to wrap a story. Not to mention they’ve already built up quite a large cast of characters at this point, and the Duffer Brothers know that the more stories they have to tell, the less time they can spend with each. Ross Duffer said as much, as he explained the thought process and risk assessment that has gone into creating the new characters. In his words:

Their job is made even more difficult by the relatively low body count accumulated during the series’ first four seasons. Sure, Stranger Things has featured plenty of death — one loss in particular will affect Gaten Matarazzo’s Dustin in Season 5 — but the creators spoke to their intentionality when deciding their characters’ fates after Millie Bobby Brown criticized them for being too afraid to kill people off.

Hopefully fans will appreciate the Duffer Brothers’ renewed focus on the original characters, and I fully expect more passionate campaigns to pop up on social media to save their favorite characters, just like viewers went crazy ahead of Season 4’s final episodes worrying about our beloved Steve Harrington (Joe Keery).

We’ll still have to wait quite a while before we learn more about Stranger Things Season 5, but you can always give Seasons 1-4 a rewatch on Netflix, or check out these other shows to watch if you like Stranger Things. 

Following the drop of Vol. 1 of Stranger Things Season 4, fans were excited, yet scared for what could possibly be included in the final two episodes of the second-to-last season of the Netflix series. Perhaps one of the best parts of the show is Steve Harrington, jerk-turned-group mom, and fan-favorite character. However, after Steve found himself trapped in the Upside Down and attacked by Demobats, fans have the right to be concerned about him, and the Duffer Brothers are “excited” for what’s to come.

Matt and Ross Duffer, who serve as creators and executive producers of Stranger Things, discussed Steve’s prognosis with TV Line. Obviously, the character, portrayed by Joe Keery, has become popular and loved around the world, and after his stint in the Upside Down, fans are worried about what could possibly be in store for him. The Duffer Brothers are no help, however, as Matt explained his love for fans’ concerns:

I have to admit that there is just something about a character in danger that I enjoy, since I love being worried and concerned, as well as seeing other certain characters come to the rescue. However, Steve has gone through enough already, and I’d rather just have a fun spinoff with him and Dustin.

Unfortunately, that doesn’t look like it will be happening. While the Duffers didn’t expand on what Steve will be getting into, Ross did say that fans should definitely be concerned for the chaotic Stranger Things episodes. And with the two episodes setting up the upcoming fifth and final season, I am as concerned as ever. In Ross' words:

Stranger Things is known to go big or go home when it comes to season finales and seasons as a whole, which is what Season 4 has been like from the start. The show is also known for heartbreaking deaths and putting characters through more than they deserve. With Steve having a redemption arc and being a beloved character, it’s hard to tell just what will happen with him in Vol. 2. Hopefully Steve will survive into Season 5.

Meanwhile, the first part of Stranger Things Season 4 introduced its newest big bad, Vecna, and even included a guest role role from horror icon Robert Englund. The series also included one of the most talked-about scenes, with Sadie Sink taking center stage. It will be interesting to see how the last two episodes of the season top the first seven (if they do) and how they will set up Season 5.

Fingers crossed that the Duffer Brothers are just teasing and Steve is fine. Or, at the very least, he has no lasting side effects from the Upside Down. Because that place is terrible, and I would rather not have it terrorizing the characters anymore. Don’t miss Vol. 2 of Stranger Things Season 4 dropping on Friday, July 1 on Netflix!

Spoilers ahead for Vol. 1 of Stranger Things Season 4.

Vol. 1 of Stranger Things Season 4 took Eleven on a blast to the past with the other characters spread across the world, and the flashbacks filled in some blanks about what made her the way that she is, but also raised some questions about the Eleven who was introduced back in Season 1. She barely talked in Season 1, and actions definitely spoke louder than words. Poor El didn’t know the meaning of “friend,” but she’s fully conversational in her Season 4 flashbacks. So is this a plot hole, or just something that Stranger Things hasn’t revealed yet? The Duffer brothers have the answer.

The creators – who wrote the full fourth season ahead of filming, in a departure from the Stranger Things norm – weighed in on the Eleven question that plenty of fans are talking about in the wake of Vol. 1 releasing. Speaking with TVLine, Ross Duffer said: 

All things considered, it’s no surprise that the trauma of One massacring almost all of the children and staff at Hawkins Lab – a.k.a. the only people who Eleven had ever known beyond the distant memory of her mother – traumatized her. Spending time with her “brothers” and “sisters” meant that she had more people to talk to than Brenner. Sure, some of them were bullies who may or may not have wanted to kill her, but she was more socialized than she was when she escaped the lab in Season 1 and showed up at Benny’s Burgers. (R.I.P. Benny.)

Interestingly, Eleven falling into a coma and then waking up to be isolated by Brenner didn’t happen in the record-breaking first volume of Season 4, so that’s either going to happen in Vol. 2 or was meant to be inferred by fans. If it does happen in Vol. 2, it’ll likely mirror what happened to One after he murdered his sister as Henry Creel. He fell into a coma, woke as the first of Dr. Brenner’s child patients with powers, and was presumably isolated until Brenner could bring in more kids. Matt Duffer elaborated on what his brother shared, saying in the same interview:

Even though Eleven did have relationships with kids around her own age for a while, it may be for the best that she didn’t remember those days or what happened to them until she was older. Plus, it’s not unprecedented for her to collapse after pushing herself too far with her powers, and it makes sense that doing it when she was 9-years-old knocked her into a coma. Ross Duffer added that she had “no interaction aside from occasionally her quote-unquote Papa” between the massacre and when she debuted in Season 1, and “that was the thinking behind” her speech change. It wasn’t a plot hole, but also wasn’t fully explained on screen in Vol. 1.

Will it be explained on screen in Vol. 2, or will fans have to come to that conclusion themselves? I wouldn’t be surprised if a comatose Eleven waking up to nobody other than Brenner happens on screen, for the sake of the parallel to One before his transformation into Vecna (which was done with practical effects for the fourth season), but only the last two episodes of Season 4 will reveal how much is left of her flashbacks to her Hawkins Lab days. (Netflix subscribers can watch and rewatch Vol. 1 for clues, though!)

Vol. 2 of Stranger Things Season 4 arrives on Netflix on Friday, July 1 at 12:01 a.m. PT. The show has already been renewed for a fifth and final season, but only time will tell if all of the key characters will still be around for the last chapter of the saga. For some viewing options during the wait for the show to return next month, check out our 2022 TV premiere schedule.

Noah Schnapp's character in Stranger Things – the introverted, D&D-loving Will Byers – has gone through a hell of a lot over the course of the great Netflix original series' four-season run, but one thing has remained consistent: his hairstyle. He has survived weeks in the Upside Down, being possessed by the Mind Flayer, and much more, but no amount of chaos or trauma has apparently inspired a pivot away from the classic bowl cut.

As you might imagine, it's not something that Schnapp has particularly loved returning to each time he has started filming a new slate of episodes, but it was something that creators Matt and Ross Duffer evidently insisted on him keeping.

The bowl cut (which Noah Schnapp has expressed ire toward before) came up in a recent Insider interview, and the actor explained that he repeatedly went to Duffer brothers hinting at his desire for Will Byers to get something else going on top of his head. Each time, however, he has been rebuffed, and he doesn't expect things to change any time soon. Said Schnapp,

But is it really a "true kind of '80s classic haircut"? According to Noah Schnapp, that's the excuse that's given by Matt and Ross Duffer to keep Will Byers with his familiar 'do, but over time that's something that the actor has come to question – with some influence coming from his parents, who were apparently teenagers during the 20th century's penultimate decade:

He may have a point. Bowl cuts were definitely popular at a time during the 20th century, but it was more of a 1960's thing that was particularly influenced by the style sported by the beloved members of The Beatles. It's never come up on Stranger Things, but maybe Winona Ryders' Joyce Byers is quietly a controlling Beatlemaniac who insists that her son never stop paying tribute to their greatness with his hair.

Approximately six years after we were first introduced to Will Byers, Stranger Things fans can continue to witness the power of the bowl cut with the new run of episodes that just arrived this past Friday. All you need is a Netflix subscription to start watching immediately... though you may want to make sure you have some holes in your schedule, as the episodes are very long.

To discover all of the other shows on the horizon for the streaming service, check out our 2022 Netflix TV schedule.

All Stranger Things fans (and I know you must be one of us) likely share two things in common right now. Not only are we excited to finally be so close to the premiere of Stranger Things Season 4, but we’ve also been filled with eagerness for the new season for nearly three full years now. It would be a total shame, therefore, if all of our (not so patient) waiting was for naught, because we found ourselves accidentally spoiled on the sure-to-be-massive reveals of the new season. This, friends, is why Netflix and Stranger Things’ creators, Matt and Ross Duffer, are reportedly very unhappy with the fact that a board game has now spilled some of the show’s secrets.

What Board Game Has Spoiled Stranger Things Season 4?

The fourth season debut of Stranger Things will be upon us in just a few days (Friday, May 27, to be exact), and while we do now know more about some of the Stranger Things mysteries involving the new villain played by horror icon Robert Englund, obviously a lot is being kept secret for our own good. Unfortunately, there are leaked images online from a new, official tie-in, Monopoly game dedicated to the season, which The Hollywood Reporter notes spoils major plot points in Stranger Things Season 4. The images are of the cards used for the game, and the photos hit the internet in April.

There is a Reddit thread dedicated to the leaked Monopoly images (There aren't any spoilers in the thread that aren’t covered up. I checked, because I care about you guys and want you to be happy!), and where a moderator claims that they are “not a true leak” because the game is both officially licensed and was bought by someone at Target. The moderator also believes that this Monopoly tie-in was simply put out on the floor early and mistakenly by an employee, but THR hasn’t been able to confirm any of those purchase details.

How Did Netflix And The Duffer Brothers React To The Stranger Things Game Spoilers?

According to THR’s sources, Netflix (as one might assume) was not happy about this major mistake, but the leak has reportedly made the Duffers have a “total meltdown” about Stranger Things Season 4’s plot points being revealed. The anonymous sources claim that neither of the Duffer brothers had been consulted about the game, with one saying that this is despite them usually having a lot of involvement with any companion marketing products for the fantasy / sci-fi hit. 

That source also said that this Monopoly mistake could likely be tied to the sheer scope of the franchising for Stranger Things (hello again, New Coke…, and welcome, Upside Down Whoppers), meaning that the game getting approval without the Duffers knowing was probably an accident. The source continued, saying:

Well, I think most of us can understand the Duffers being very angry about this. They have always sought to maintain as much secrecy about each season as possible, so that fans can be delighted at any turn of events as they watch the episodes unfold. Plus, as noted earlier, Season 4 is a big one, because of the nearly three-year wait and how much will be juggled storyline-wise this time around.

Stranger Things Season 4 will be released in two parts and have nine episodes, and the Duffers confirmed that the total runtime is “nearly twice the length of any previous season.” On top of that, this will be the first time that a bulk of a Stranger Things season will have to balance the core characters being split up and in very different locations, with there seemingly being four different storylines that have everyone we know and love interacting with the beasties from the Upside Down. And! Season 4 is officially the penultimate one, with Stranger Things Season 5 already being set as the final installment.

I’d probably be pissed if me and my team had worked hard to put together a season we were proud of after a tremendously long wait, only for its big secrets to be spoiled several weeks before the show was finally able to air. Wouldn't you?

Luckily, it is still possible to avoid those Stranger Things Season 4 spoilers, but come May 27 we’re all just going to have to stay off the internet until we can put the show right into our eyeballs and see what madness the Upside Down has wrought this time.

Steven Spielberg is bringing a Stephen King novel to the small screen after decades of trying, and the team who is making it happen knows what it takes to craft a creepy hit. Spielberg is working with Matt and Ross Duffer, who created and executive produce Netflix's smash hit Stranger Things, along with another Stranger Things writer/producer for an adaptation of King's The Talisman.

The Duffer Brothers are on board to executive produce a series adaptation of Stephen King's The Talisman with Steven Spielberg's Amblin Television, according to THR. Stranger Things writer and executive producer Curtis Gwinn will write and serve as showrunner for the series. King himself will be an executive producer as well. Although it is still in development with deals not yet finalized, the series will come to Netflix.

If The Talisman isn't a Stephen King book that pops to mind like IT, The Shining, Carrie, or others, that may be because it hasn't been adapted for the large or small screen at this point, and this particular adaptation has been a long time coming for Steven Spielberg. He acquired the rights in perpetuity for The Talisman back in 1982, before the book was even published. Efforts to produce a Talisman movie over the decades since didn't result in a film; it turns out that TV will be the medium.

And based on the smash success of Stranger Things, Netflix could be the ideal platform and The Talisman could already have the ideal production team with the Stranger Things creatives. In fact, the three seasons of Stranger Things so far have included plenty of homages both Spielberg films and Stephen King works, if not The Talisman specifically.

That said, the plot of the book may lend itself to what the Stranger Things team pulled off in Season 1 in one notable way: the central character of the book is a 12-year-old boy, and the breakout stars of Stranger Things' first season were the kids playing 12-year-olds.

Plus, the plot sees young Jack Sawyer going on a quest to save his dying mother with a relic known as the Talisman, which can save the world as well as his mom. Notably, his quest takes him between two different realities. That's not to say that The Talisman will deliver The Upside Down 2.0, as the alternate reality of the book is a twin known as The Territories.

News of a Talisman series comes shortly after another TV adaptation of a Stephen King book finished its run on a streaming service, although The Stand released on CBS All Access (which has since been rebranded as Paramount+). Releasing on Netflix would presumably mean that The Talisman could be binge-watched, but given that the show is still in development, Netflix fans shouldn't start planning viewing parties just yet.

Personally, I'm hoping against hope that Netflix changes its release model for some of its series (including Stranger Things Season 4), but that's probably not especially likely. While there are no details currently available about when the Talisman adaptation courtesy of Steven Spielberg and members of the Stranger Things team might enter production, at least Stranger Things Season 4 is expected at some point in 2021 despite a series of delays in 2020.