The previous season of “Stranger Things” was released in 2022 — three years later, the final season is here. This long wait means many fans may be a bit fuzzy on the details of the show. With the first four episodes of season five dropping soon, here is everything you need to know.
The show begins in 1983 with the disappearance of 12-year-old Will Byers (Noah Schnapp) in Hawkins, Indiana We meet his outcast friends — Mike Wheeler (Finn Wolfhard), Dustin Henderson (Gaten Matarazzo) and Lucas Sinclair (Caleb McLaughlin) — as well as his mother Joyce Byers (Winona Ryder), his older brother Jonathan Byers (Charlie Heaton), Mike’s older sister Nancy Wheeler (Natalia Dyer), Nancy’s boyfriend Steve Harrington (Joe Keerey) and the Hawkins police chief Jim Hopper (David Harbour).
While searching the woods, the kids find a mysterious girl with a shaved head and supernatural powers: Eleven (Millie Bobbie Brown). She escaped Hawkins Lab, where Dr. Martin Brenner (Matthew Modine) raised her to develop her psychic abilities. With the help of Eleven’s powers, the crew discovers Will is in an alternate dimension: the Upside Down. After disappearances, government coverups and communicating with Joyce’s Christmas lights, Will is found — but Eleven disappears fighting the faceless creature called the Demogorgon.
Season 2 occurs around Halloween of 1984, introducing us to new characters: fiery redhead Max Mayfield (Sadie Sink), her hostile stepbrother Billy Hargrove (Dacre Montgomery) and Joyce’s nerdy boyfriend Bob Newby (Sean Astin). Will has disturbing visions of a shadowy creature in the Upside Down and Eleven is revealed to be alive, secretly living with Hopper. Nancy feels guilt about her friend Barb (Shannon Purser), who died in the Upside Down last season. She and Jonathan work to take down the Hawkins Lab, causing Nancy to break up with Steve and start dating Jonathan.
Will is possessed by the shadow monster, called the “Mind Flayer,” and becomes a part of the hivemind that connects everything from the Upside Down. Eleven spends the season searching for home, meeting her mother and other kids raised in the lab before returning to her friends. The Mind Flayer is burned out of Will, allowing Eleven to close the gate to the Upside Down, though Bob is killed. The season ends at the school dance with both Mike and Eleven, and Lucas and Max, officially becoming couples.
Season 3 jumps to the summer of 1985. Dustin returns from camp claiming he has a girlfriend, Suzie (Gabriella Pizzolo). Steve is working at Starcourt Mall with newcomer Robin Buckley (Maya Hawke) and Hopper is upset about Mike and Eleven’s relationship.
Dustin turns to Steve — whom he forged an unlikely friendship with last season — when he picks up a Russian broadcast on his radio. With Robin and Lucas’ little sister, Erica Sinclair (Priya Ferguson), they break into the Russian compound hidden beneath Starcourt Mall and discover they are re-opening the gate.
Mike and Eleven have relationship troubles and Eleven forms a friendship with Max. Things turn dark when Will senses the Mind Flayer has returned and possessed Billy. They determine that the Mind Flayer is using Billy to build an army made of people melting together into a monstrous creature. Joyce and Hopper are on the verge of romance as they, too, uncover the Russian presence in Hawkins with the help of Murray Bauman (Brett Gelman), a private investigator who speaks Russian.
Everyone converges in the finale to defeat the Mind Flayer, though not without cost: Eleven loses her powers, Billy sacrifices himself and Hopper is seemingly killed as Joyce destroys the Russians’ gate-opening machine. The season closes with the Byers — and Eleven — moving away from Hawkins.
Season 4 finds Eleven and the Byers in California, the others in Hawkins and Hopper, who is alive, imprisoned in Russian. It is spring break of 1986 and Mike, Dustin and Lucas have joined the Hellfire Club where they play Dungeons and Dragons with its leader, Eddie Munson (Joseph Quinn). When a cheerleader is killed in Eddie’s trailer, they realize the Upside Down is back.
Mike visits Eleven in California and the two face insecurity in their relationship, while Will’s feelings for Mike are slowly revealed. After Eleven injures a girl who bullies her, she is scared she is a monster. Dr. Sam Owens (Paul Reiser) from Hawkins Lab takes her to help restore her powers. Meanwhile, Joyce receives a letter reading “Hop is alive.” She and Murray travel to Russia, freeing Hopper and discovering the Russians are experimenting on monsters from the Upside Down.
As Eleven relives her past, the Hawkins crew uncover the story of Victor Creel (Robert Englund), a supposed murderer, and a new monster from the Upside Down: Vecna (Jamie Campbell Bower). Max, traumatized by Billy’s death, becomes one of Vecna’s victims and narrowly survives his curse with the help of music. We learn that Vecna is really Henry Creel, Victor Creel’s son who was the first of Dr. Brenner’s test subjects in the lab with Eleven. The
The California crew find Eleven after she regains her powers and help her psychically fight Vecna when he enters Max’s mind as those in Hawkins try to destroy his body. Vecna successfully opens a fourth gate that merges with the others, ripping through Hawkins. Eddie dies a hero, devastating Dustin. Max is killed by Vecna, only for Eleven to restart her heart, leaving her in a coma. Everyone returns to Hawkins to find it partially destroyed with the military moving in and the Upside Down bleeding into their world.
Season 5 begins 18 months later, in fall 1987. Dustin is struggling with Eddie’s death as Hawkins believes Hellfire is a cult that caused everything. Eleven is training while hiding from the government that blames her. The season will open with immediate action as the crew prepares for the final fight.
Volume 1 premieres November 26 at 7:00 p.m. CST, followed by Volume 2 on Christmas Day and the finale on New Year’s Eve.