Stranger Things fans haven’t even had the chance to dig into the fourth season of the nostalgic, supernatural thriller – which is arriving on Netflix in May – when now we have to process the fact that the whole shebang is coming to an end. With an announcement posted to Twitter, co-creators Matt and Ross Duffer, The Duffer Brothers, revealed that the pending fourth season will lead into a previously unannounced fifth season. But that fifth season also will be the show’s final season. Read the announcement for yourself.
uoos noʎ ǝǝs pic.twitter.com/pJ71dRgmo1February 17, 2022
Calling the fourth season of Stranger Things “the most challenging season yet,” The Duffer Brothers laid the foundation for some very good news. There is so much ground to cover in the upcoming season that it will be broken up into Volume One and Volume Two. We also learned, through this announcement, that these blocks of programming are due to arrive on Netflix on May 27 (for Vol. 1) and then July 1 (for Vol. 2). Stranger Things has always felt like an episodic version of a 1980s summer blockbuster, so the timing of this season drop feels right.
That seems like a LOT of Stranger Things, so it’s also somewhat of a relief to hear that the Duffers are heading toward a conclusion of their choosing, and not just extending the storyline because Netflix doesn’t want them to stop. There is more good news to be found in this letter to fans, however. While it appears that the main story from the five seasons of Stranger Things will draw to a close, the characters from this world may not be gone for good, as the note states:
There are still many more exciting stories to tell within the world of Stranger Things: new mysteries, new adventures, new unexpected heroes. But first, we hope that you stay with us as we finish this tale of a powerful girl named Eleven and her brave friends, of a broken police chief and a ferocious mom, of a small town called Hawkins and an alternate dimension known only as the Upside Down.
That does suggest that the brothers are prepared to take the action away from Hawkins, as they have done in the past, and explore the ramifications of the Upside Down on different areas of the planet. For instance, when last we saw Chief Hopper (David Harbour), he was in Russia, after supposedly dying in an explosion to close a pivotal portal. Stranger Things can now go anywhere, even though the action should always be somewhat rooted to Hawkins.
Now we are excited to see what happens in Stranger Things season four, and how it might tease out the story’s finale in the fifth season. Especially after David Harbour compared season four to Lord of the Rings. Whatever that means! The show really has been one of the best Netflix series available and has yet to disappoint with its plot twists. Breaking Season Four into two halves is even more intriguing because it implies that the brothers didn’t rush their story, and let it unfold at its own pace. Here’s hoping that means a rewarding return to the Upside Down. See you there on May 27.
