Netflix has officially announced the return of three of its most popular series with a trailer showcacoming seasons for 2025. The streaming platform confirmed that Wednesday, Stranger Things, and Squid Game will all premiere new seasons within the year, with specific release dates spanning from summer through late fall.

The announcement was revealed by DiscussingFilm and comes as Netflix continues to leverage its most successful original programming to maintain subscriber engagement. All three series have achieved significant global viewership and cultural impact since their respective debuts. The trailer provides glimpses of what viewers can expect from each returning show.

Wednesday Season 2 will arrive in two separate releases during August 2025. The first part premieres on August 6, followed by the second part on September 3. The series continues to follow the titular character as she navigates supernatural mysteries and personal relationships. The season appears to maintain the gothic elements and dark humor that characterized the first installment.

Netflix schedules three major series returns across 2025

Squid Game Season 3 has been scheduled for release on June 27, 2025, making it the earliest return among the three series. The show will continue its exploration of the deadly competition format that made the series a global phenomenon, and hopefully, it can avoid the mistakes of season 2. Characters return to face new challenges within the established game framework that defined the previous seasons.

Stranger Things Season 5 will conclude the series with its release on November 26, 2025. This final season promises to resolve the supernatural storylines and character arcs that have developed throughout the show’s run. The series has been building toward this conclusion since its debut, with the Upside Down mythology reaching its climax.

The three series represent different genres within Netflix’s programming strategy. Wednesday focuses on supernatural comedy-drama, Squid Game delivers thriller and social commentary elements, and Stranger Things combines science fiction with coming-of-age themes. Each show has established dedicated fan bases and generated significant cultural discussion during their previous seasons.

Netflix positioned these releases strategically throughout 2025 to maintain consistent content flow. The spacing allows the platform to capitalize on audience anticipation while avoiding direct competition between their own major properties. All three shows will be available exclusively on Netflix. 

Finn Wolfhard has opened about his breakout role in Stranger Things, reflecting on the one thing he would do differently at the height of the show’s runaway success. 

Wolfhard, who portrays the character of Mike Wheeler in all seasons of the sci-fi series, reminisced on becoming an overnight sensation in a recent interview with People. Wolfhard instantly shot to household name status at the age of just 13, in the midst of the seismic cultural phenomenon that was Stranger Things’ debut season back in 2016. While the actor has gone on to star in different projects since then, including the comedy-horror Hell of a Summer, it was the Netflix show that started it all, though the overnight impact of the series was hard felt by the actor. 

“I don’t think I’d ever go back and do something over,” Wolfhard reflected, “but maybe I would go back to when the show first came out and blew up, and I would directly put myself into therapy.” The actor went on to say that the speed of Stranger Things’ success made it difficult to assess the show’s impact on his mental health in the moment, meaning he didn’t have the time to get the therapy he needed. “It was so crazy and overnight,” he said of season one’s breakout moment, “there was not really any time to think about that.”

While the benefit of hindsight has allowed Wolfhard to reflect candidly on that period of his life, the actor still its that mistakes and tribulations were bound to occur, given his young age at the time of Stranger Things’ release. “I would end up probably making a mistake in a different way anyways,” he said, adding that “childhood, and life in general, is about trial and error.” It’s not the first time Wolfhard — who is gearing up for the release of Stranger Things’ fifth and final season this year — has reflected on the show’s impact on his mental health.

Speaking with GQ back in 2023, the actor said that while he was able to deal with his “whirlwind career” in its early stages, it began to catch up with him a few years later, when he started having panic attacks. “[I] did not talk about anything,” Wolfhard said of his struggles while juggling his career at such a young age, “[because] there was no time, or at least we didn’t feel [there was] at the time.” The actor said that looking back, there were things he “didn’t realize that I had to bury because of how I had to feel at work.” 

Wolfhard is one of multiple young castmates — including Millie Bobby Brown, Noah Schnapp and Sadie Sink — who are set to return for Stranger Things’ final season, which is expected to hit Netflix towards the end of this year. In the lead up to what will undoubtedly be another water cooler moment, we’ve been given a first look of the show’s fifth installment, as well as updates and teases courtesy of Jim Hopper actor David Harbour. Naturally, fans have been theorizing what to expect from the series finale, especially as Schnapp endures a wave of off-screen controversy. Here’s hoping Joseph Quinn somehow makes an appearance in season five, to quell the thirst of legions of Eddie Munson enthusiasts (myself included).

You have to hand it to Marvel. Despite the intense scrutiny surrounding Deadpool & Wolverine, most of the blockbuster threequel’s big surprise cameos remained intact by the time it entered theaters. Sure, Jennifer Garner’s return as Elektra had been reported in the press and the studio itself spoiled Dafne Keen’s comeback as X-23 in the trailers, but… Wesley Snipes as Blade? Channing Tatum’s Gambit? Chris Evans as Human Torch? Those guys were total surprises.

It turns out that director Shawn Levy, star/producer Ryan Reynolds, and the rest of the team took some sneaky precautions in order to keep these secrets under wraps. The official script for Deadpool & Wolverine has now hit the internet, and it reveals some intriguing details about how the cameos remained under lock and key. Bizarrely, it seems the movie owes a debt of gratitude to *checks notes* Netflix’s Stranger Things?!

Deadpool & Wolverine script reveals surprising “Stranger Things” cameos

It’s true — Deadpool & Wolverine‘s script reveals cameos from all your favorite Stranger Things characters! Well, kind of. With the release of the film’s screenplay, as part of its For Your Consideration awards push, we now know that all of Deadpool 3‘s big surprise cameos were kept hidden by switching out the Marvel characters’ names with those of residents from Hawkins, Indiana.

In the script, (which you can read for yourself here), there is no mention of Elektra, with Garner’s heroine instead referred to as “Eleven.” Meanwhile, Snipes’ Blade is rendered as “Billy.” Cleverly, Chris Evans’ role gets not one but two Stranger Things pseudonyms. When he’s initially mistaken for Captain America, he’s called “Mr. Clarke” but then when he’s revealed as Johnny Storm he’s dubbed “Jonathan.” The funniest one, though, has to be Henry Cavill’s Wolverine, who is instead christened “the Hopper-rene.”

This might seem like an unlikely crossover of universes, until you that Levy is also a producer and director on the smash-hit Netflix series. As the filmmaker said when responding to this revelation on X, “For a brief while, my worlds collided.”

Not every cameo was given a Stranger Things alias, however. Laura Kinney aka X-23 is curiously referred to as “Lemon” while Tatum’s Gambit is hilariously called “Gatsby.” This extends to his iconic introductory line, which is somehow made even funnier. “Dey name’s F. Scott Fitzgerald,” the character says in the script, “but you canna call me da Gatsby.”

These codenames don’t exactly hold up to close inspection — “Gatsby” is still described as possessing a “barely understandable Cajun accent” and Kinney’s character is even called “Lemon from Logan” at one point — but they were clearly effective enough to confuse most people who got their eyes on the script. If any hardcore X-Men fans had managed to get a hold of a copy, there would’ve been trouble, however.

Despite the immense popularity of the series and its cast, it’s peculiar that David Harbour is the only Stranger Things star to crossover into the MCU to date (we’re waiting on you, Millie!), so fans of both can appreciate Levy attempting to manifest a proper incursion of the two universes. Make it happen, Avengers: Secret Wars.

On-set photos from the season of Stranger Things have sent us all careening down a corridor of memories and shock, and we are not alone, as the rest of the internet appears to be right there with us.

Dear reader, hold on to your hat because the first season of Stranger Things was released eight years ago. That disturbing fact is compounded by the harsh reality that the cast is now far beyond the ages of the average high schooler, except for the unfortunate souls of certain underfunded school districts.

The photos feature a variety of cast either being very serious in promo shots or very unserious in candids. A particular damning shot shows Caleb McLaughlin, Noah Schnapp, Gaten Matarazzo, and Finn Wolfhard in the school cafeteria. Poor Schnapp looks like a concerned uncle who really needs to talk to you about your aluminum siding.

Matarazzo is sporting a mullet of fine proportions, but the only problem is that the show has gone on so long that the mullet has come back in fashion. Young men all around the globe have lost all self-respect and are now all business in the front, party in the back.

You are too late, Stranger Things. You have waited for too long, and the moment has ed you by. Your once fresh-faced cast of kids can pretty much legally drink. They can soon vote. Hell, they are getting married.

One of the candids features Matarazzo in a car with Joe Keery, Natalia Dyer, and Charlie Heaton, the older group of “kids,” and all those actors around now orbiting or moving past 30 at escape velocity. Their characters, at least, have escaped high school, so that is not quite so jarring.

Internet commentators have pointed out that they look tired, which is perhaps a little cruel because don’t we all look tired right now? Are we not all feeling the weight of this moment, the impending arrival of a television series that is likely getting here just a little bit too late?

The show that once tickled our nostalgia and made us think the 1980s was not just sad brown tones and very lax health and safety laws is now preparing to just make us feel older, to add to the harsh ticking of the clock that reminds us, much like these once young actors, that we can only ever go forward, and never back?

As much as I have enjoyed Stranger Things, it’s about time that Netflix and the Duffer Brothers released the cast and allowed them to run wild in the hills above Hollywood with the rest of the young Hollywood set.

Then, the next stage of the process can truly begin as we place our bets on who will have the best “post-Stranger Things” career. My money is Caleb McLaughlin going full-on Jesse Plemons, building a slow body of work until he becomes, almost under the radar, one of the best actors working today.

I suspect some of them will stumble and fall, but we will always have the memory of watching them growing too old for their roles because, for some reason, Netflix was cool with people taking three years to record eight episodes of television.

Believe it or not, it’s already been over two years since the fourth season of Stranger Things premiered on Netflix. Now, the fantasy horror television series is coming back for one final outing, and by the looks of it, it’ll take the entire Hawkins gang of unlikely heroes and social misfits to fight off Vecna and the Upside Down one last time.

Since 2016, the Duffer Brothers have treated us to a brilliant rural fantasy story featuring child kidnappings, gooey parallel universes, and horrifying monsters. The first season came out in 2016 to critical acclaim, and the second outing followed closely on its heel in 2017. It took the crew two years to produce and release season 3 in 2019, and that gap was further lengthened with season 4, which came out in 2022.

Going by that track record, we were almost beginning to assume that season 5 would come no sooner than 2026 or even 2027, but it looks as though the producers and the cast have been hard at work creating this final chapter. Netflix announced that Stranger Things 5 will premiere sometime in 2025.

The company has also shared a teaser that reveals the title of each of the 8 remaining episodes. That’s right, folks; unlike Stranger Things 4, which featured 9 episodes and was nearly double the length of previous seasons, this next and final outing will go back to the usual 8-chapter format, and they are as follows:

1. “Chapter One: The Crawl”
2. “Chapter Two: The Vanishing of [REDACTED]”
3. “Chapter Three: The Turnbow Trap”
4. “Chapter Four: Sorcerer”
5. “Chapter Five: Shock Jock”
6. “Chapter Six: Escape from Camazotz”
7. “Chapter Seven: The Bridge”
8. “Chapter Eight: The Rightside Up”

While there are many questions to be answered in this last leg of the journey, the episode titles are making fans speculate about all sorts of revelations and developments to come. For one thing, it looks like another one of the characters is going to vanish into thin air (or probably the Upside Down) during episode 2, quite in keeping with the formula the show has already established. And for another, the title of the series finale, “The Rightside Up,” is quite peculiar, playing on the name of the otherworldly sphere where the Vecna and the Mind Flayer preside. Will we learn something new about the parallel world separating the rural, idyllic Hawkins from the hellish world beyond?

The Duffer Brothers missed the chance to call the final episode “Stranger Things.”

2025 could be two months away or fourteen months away, so it doesn’t exactly make the wait any more palatable to know that we might still be a ways away from reuniting with the Hawkins gang.

The energy in the fandom is enough to generate another tear in the fabric of reality and create a parallel dimension.

“This is history,” wrote one . That’s it. That’s the message.

As Maya Hawke previously revealed, each episode is “very long” and basically a self-contained movie, so we’re in for quite a ride.

We’re not emotionally prepared for this, Strangers, (is that a thing? if not, it should totally be a thing), but we’d also be lying if we said we haven’t been anxiously awaiting this final season for several years now. So, let us all collectively sit back and hope that everyone makes it out of this final battle alive, if a bit bruised.

Given its ever-growing popularity and monumental following, it’s natural to understand why Netflix’s Stranger Things has caused its fanbase to shed a considerable amount of tears in the past. Flash forward to now, and it looks as though we’re going to need a dozen tissue boxes again.

The super-sized series has effortlessly become one of the most beloved projects in television history, borrowing nostalgic inspiration from the ‘80s and introducing the modern-day generation to a beautiful realm of otherworldly monsters and unbreakable friendships. During its Netflix venture, the Duffer Brothers’ brainchild has certainly pushed us to grab a few tissues at a handful of tear-jerking scenes — but it’s safe to say that the waterworks are only about to begin.

Enter David Harbour, a fan-favorite fixture on the show known for portraying Jim Hopper. Hopper, of course, is introduced to Netflix subscribers in the first season as the rough-and-tough Sheriff of Hawkins, Indiana. And while his near-death experience in the finale of season 3 was enough to collectively stop our hearts, the 49-year-old recently teased just how emotional the series finale is going to make us all.

In a fresh-faced Happy Sad Confused podcast episode, Harbour unapologetically laid everything out on the table in regards to the finale’s overwhelming moments, so much so that the actor happily insisted that the Duffer Brothers “land the plane” on the finale and that this is the “best episode they’ve ever done.”

“The end of this episode when we were reading it — just us reading it — about halfway through, people started crying,” Harbour added, only to up the ante of the emotional department by revealing how the cast and crew were “uncontrollably crying” for the final 20 minutes of the finale.

Harbour followed up by sharing that long-time fans of the show will “absolutely love” the final season, although perhaps we should bunker down in our apartments for a few days in the aftermath of crying our eyes out and witnessing the end of a television era.

At the time of this writing, we have yet to be rewarded with a solid release date for the final season, but speculators currently believe that the timeframe for the release of the fifth season will happen at some point in 2025. And, yes, the waiting game is definitely putting all of us in agony, especially when you consider the fact that the last episode of Stranger Things to release on Netflix was all the way back in 2022. Good (and stranger) things come to those who wait, right?

So, what exactly are the cast and crew crying about? What unforgettable moments are we to expect in the fifth and final season of Stranger Things? Are there any character deaths that will leave us devastated? Well, it’s all entirely speculation at this point, with ionate stans crowding the drawing board and creating potential ideas and theories as to what might unfold in the final chapter of the record-breaking series. 

So while we await to see what happens to Eleven, Will, Hopper, and the rest of the unforgettable Hawkins gang, let’s enjoy the peace we currently have before Vecna tears our hopes and dreams (and Hawkins) completely apart.

The Stranger Things kids are closer to graduating than ever before. After five seasons, business in Hawkins will close down for good.

Netflix’s Dungeons & Dragons-inspired coming-of-age series has been a massive hit for all age groups. With its ’80s nostalgia and high-stakes storytelling, there is something for everyone. Ending a show in a satisfying way would be a challenge in any series, but Stranger Things has got its work cut out for it. Any time there is a highly anticipated conclusion to a massively popular series, fans are often let down. There is no bigger example of this than the infamous Game of Thrones finale, which the Stranger Things team is committed to avoiding. ScreenRant recently interviewed editor Dean Zimmerman, who shared his perspective on the finale.

“[The Duffer Brothers’] whole mission is to stick the landing on this final season where, controversially, a lot of people say Game of Thrones did not; they don’t want that, and they won’t settle for anything but perfection.”

Zimmerman went on to promise that the last season of the series is bigger than ever and that fans have a lot to look forward to. But while the Stranger Things editor may exude confidence, this is a wildly difficult benchmark to clear. It may be easy to vilify the ending of Game of Thrones, but with expectations sky-high, it is still no easy task to satisfy a ionate fanbase.

Stranger Things has a tough road ahead

There is no question that Game of Thrones is one of the most disappointing finales in recent memory. Entire plotlines were dropped, build-ups were anticlimactic, and the winner of the Iron Throne was laughable. The most egregious crime was, of course, separating the Starks again. It is also fair to say, however, that impressing everyone is not possible. As hard as it is to it, Stranger Things has not been a perfect creation thus far.

Everyone discusses the miss that season 2 was, but season 4 had its faults as well. Most of the cast were separated for the entire season, taking away the largest draw of the series. Eddie’s death (Joseph Quinn) was predictable and some would argue, unnecessary. Every season, Stranger Things has introduced in an innocent character only to shamelessly kill them off, likely so they can get away with not hurting any of the main cast. There is also the love triangle of it all that, while popular in many an ’80s movie, is a tired trope for a reason. After multiple seasons of not being together, Steve (Joe Keery) is suddenly in the mix for Nancy’s (Natalia Dyer) heart even though he deserves much better. All of these factors contributed to a shaky season, despite its compelling factors such as Max’s (Sadie Sink) story.

Stranger Things needs to do a lot to pull together a season finale that will deliver on everyone’s hopes. The one thing it has going for it is that it is not so lore-heavy as Game of Thrones. Stranger Things exists in the bubble of a small Indiana town where the world is saved on a day-to-day basis by a ragtag group of teens. There hasn’t been nearly as much build-up and anticipation as with Game of Thrones‘ conclusion. It also doesn’t have the added pressure of the author of the series still not finishing the books. (Come on, George.) Stranger Things is on a smaller scale, and really the only thing that would devastate fans is if something happens to poor, sweet Max. You’ve been warned, Stranger Things. Viewers can catch the final season of the series when it airs on Netflix in 2025.

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For many, actor Millie Bobby Brown and her Stranger Things character, Eleven, are intrinsically entwined. In 2016, Netflix introduced the world to the breakout actor in one of the most successful shows on television.

Her performance as the supernaturally gifted child in the ’80s era Midwest cemented her in the pop culture zeitgeist. Stanger Things became a smash success and catapulted the young actor into worldwide fame. Fans watched Eleven grow from an uncertain lab experiment to a powerhouse in her own right. In turn, Brown’s celebrity and career flourished as well. In addition to her landmark role, the actor has had many other Netflix projects, including Damsel and the Enola Holmes franchise. If that weren’t enough, she embarked on another milestone early on: Matrimony.

In May 2024, Brown married none other than Jake Bongiovi. The groom is, of course, the son of rock legend Jon Bon Jovi, who was in attendance at the wedding. Brown and Bongiovi’s celebration was private and secretive, but now the couple has officially released pictures of the day. According to Teen Vogue, the bride wore a customer Galia Lahav dress with lace detailing. The Stranger Things star posted photos on Instagram that she captions: “forever and always, your wife.”

The wedding was a surprise to some, considering the ages of the wedding party. Bonjiovi was only 22 at the time of the marriage while Brown had yet to turn 21. Despite their young age, the of the family could not be happier. Father-in-law Jon Bon Jovi acknowledged the happy event to BBC The One.

“They’re absolutely fantastic. It was a very small family wedding, and the bride looked gorgeous, and Jake is happy as can be. It’s true.”

Fans can now see the gorgeous nuptials, thanks to the glowing bride on social media.

When Stranger Things 5 finally premieres in 2025, it will be almost a full decade since the Netflix smash first blew up the streaming world in 2016. So much has changed in between the show’s first and last seasons, not least of all the young cast themselves. The rise of their acting careers versus the increasingly divisive online discourse surrounding some of them makes the Hawkins gang the perfect case study for the whole of celebrity culture in a microcosm.

For instance, Noah Schnapp was once known as that sweet kid with the bowl cut, thanks to his instantly impactful role as Will Byers in ST1, but these days he’s a much more controversial figure than anyone could have predicted eight years ago. So much so that fans wonder if Netflix is even taking steps to minimize Schnapp’s involvement with the series, or at least its promotion, in the run-up to its much-anticipated climactic season.

As part of the streamer’s Geeked Week celebrations, Netflix released a behind-the-scenes sneak peek at Stranger Things 5 in which two lucky fans, Amy and Elicia, were given the chance to have some on-set fun with three of the show’s stars. Namely, Finn Wolfhard (Mike Wheeler), Caleb McLaughlin (Lucas Sinclair), and Gaten Matarazzo (Dustin Henderson). And yet Schnapp was conspicuous for his absence, given that he is the fourth member of the boys’ friendship group on screen.

Social media was unsurprisingly all over Schnapp doing his best impression of his own character and pulling a vanishing act into the Upside Down. Clearly, there were a lot of people out there who found the development entertaining, as they couldn’t help but celebrate it on X.

For those who may be wondering — yes, Schnapp definitely is still part of the series, despite past calls for him to be fired by Netflix.

Those who aren’t necessarily plugged into the Stranger Things off-screen drama would be forgiven for having no idea why the internet seems to have turned against Noah Schnapp. Well, for starters, the 19-year-old actor is known for saying things online that he probably shouldn’t — like spoiling the fact that Doja Cat told him she had a big crush on his co-star Joseph Quinn (although that turned out well in the end).

More specifically — and, for many people, much more heinously — Schnapp has never been shy about weighing in on the Israel-Palestine conflict and sharing his unfiltered personal opinions. In 2023, he posted a video of himself handing out and displaying homemade stickers reading “Zionism is sexy” in public places. The actor has since apologized for his actions, but some are maintaining that they still intend to boycott the final season because of him.

“I feel like my thoughts and beliefs have been so far misconstrued from anything even close to what I believe,” Schnapp said in his apology video. “I only want peace and safety and security for all innocent people affected by this conflict.” The issue with his statement, for his dissenters, was the timing of it. Schnapp happened to post the video a week after Stranger Things 5 began filming, leaving many to assume it was simply a PR move rather than a genuine apology.

We won’t know if Noah Schnapp’s role in Stranger Things‘ final season has been reduced in any way until we see it, but here’s one possible scenario: what if he wasn’t available to make this behind-the-scenes video because he was too busy shooting a major scene and Will actually does have a key part to play?

Eleven’s gone by a fair few names across Stranger Things‘ four seasons so far — Jane Ives, Jane Hopper etc — but now Millie Bobby Brown herself is getting in on the name-changing game, sending fans into a tailspin in the process.

The Damsel actress decided to send her devoted Instagram followers into meltdown recently by sharing a batch of behind-the-scenes snaps from filming on the fifth and final season of the streaming super-smash. With season 5 is still out of our clutches for another year, every morsel of material we get is analyzed with a fine tooth-comb by online detectives whose skills put Enola Holmes to shame. So naturally folks noticed some intriguing spoilers in these pics — for instance, that they confirm the gang will return to Hawkins Lab.

Even so, there’s a much bigger reveal hidden in these photos that puts some slight Stranger Things spoilers into perspective. In the third image, Brown’s name can be seen written across a strip of masking tape — but there’s something about it that’s a little different.

What’s up with Millie Bobby Brown’s new name?

Brown’s post confirms that her new name seems to officially be “Millie Bobby Brown Bonjiovi.” If you’ve no idea what that’s about then you have clearly not been keeping up with your celebrity it couples. In May 2024, Brown tied the knot with Jake Bonjiovi, the model and actor probably most famous for being the son of Jon Bon Jovi.

While Brown has yet to be credited under this new name as an actress — nor does she go by it on her social media profiles — this set pic seems to confirm that Millie has privately changed her name post-marriage. Fans may have to get used to this, then, although one comment on her post offered a J-Lo-style nickname for Brown that deserves to catch on. “Millie B3…” they pitched, “just because it’s less than a mouthful!”

Millie Bobbie Brown Bonjiovi/Millie B3/MB3/Whatever You Want To Call Her is definitely having a heck of a year. In addition to her wedding, the release of latest Netflix movie Damsel, and filming Stranger Things 5, Brown also just announced that she’ll be producing a film adaptation of her best-selling debut novel, Nineteen Steps. For Netflix, obviously. Jake Bonjiovi may have her heart, but we’re pretty sure Netflix owns Millie’s soul.

The entertainment world is currently in shambles after a massive data breach resulted in the unexpected release of several highly-anticipated Netflix projects.

As it stands, the majority of the leaks have been animated projects — including season 2 of Arcane and Terminator Zero — although several popular drama series have also been affected by the recent breach, according to the Los Angeles Times. These include episodes of Heartstopper season 3 and Stranger Things season 5 (which also happens to be the show’s final outing).

With the sci-fi series set to embark on its final showdown in the fictional town of Hawkins, die-hard fans are itching at the possibility of learning what’s to come in the season — especially with ever-growing speculation about several potential character deaths.

In the aftermath of the breach, a message from the anonymous leaker insisted that the first three episodes of the fifth and final season are in the leaker’s possession and will be leaked at some point in the future. As of right now, however, the leaks are highly unsubstantiated and have yet to be confirmed, but that certainly hasn’t stopped the Stranger Things fandom from gritting their teeth in both anticipation and anxiety. 

Leaks of this magnitude are certainly unnecessary and a complete disservice to the folks who work around the clock to create these projects. That said, it’s not surprising fans are eager to gaze their eyes upon Hawkins once again, having waited over two years for a fresh-faced season.

So at this time of writing, no, season 5 of Stranger Things has not been leaked. The majority of netizens on X and 4chan do not believe that season 5 will be included in the Netflix breach, despite an anonymous hacker claiming to be in possession of the three episodes.

At long last, Netflix has finally sprinkled some Stranger Things breadcrumbs and unveiled an eye-catching behind-the-scenes teaser for the fifth and final season. And while die-hards are undoubtedly excited for the final season to arrive, we’re also equally terrified for the fate of two beloved characters.

Unlike series such as Game of Thrones and Breaking Bad, which both had a fondness for killing off major characters, the Duffer Brothers’ brainchild had yet to follow that same formula. That is until the untimely deaths of Alexei, Billy, and Eddie, of course. There have been other smaller deaths in the acclaimed Netflix project, that much is already known, but a large portion of folks are now convinced that the fresh-faced teaser is hinting at more deaths than we actually realize.

Throughout the behind-the-scenes clip, several characters are shown in interesting situations — one BTS cut of Steve Harrington (Joe Keery) with a massive bruise on his face contains the caption “final chapter in this story” pasted across the screen, leading viewers to believe Steve’s fate might be in jeopardy. 

Another character placed under the microscope of concern is Jim Hopper (David Harbour), who looks to be either stuck in an unfamiliar place again or perhaps suffering from PTSD after being trapped in a Russian prison. The biggest concern is Hopper’s health, with the character now sporting a long beard, and appearing cold and fragile with a gun beside him.

That’s not to say Steve or Hopper’s deaths are confirmed or that either is in any serious danger, but seeing our beloved, badass heroes completely bruised and battered is certainly worrisome for those who have been fans of both characters for years. For now, we’ll simply have to wait and speculate until the fifth season of Stranger Things arrives on Netflix.

Season 5 is expected to premiere some time in 2025.