Netflix just gave viewers an early look at the highly anticipated final chapter of Stranger Things — releasing the first five minutes of Season 5 online following its Los Angeles premiere.
The opening episode, titled “The Crawl,” revisits the show’s eerie beginnings with the 1983 disappearance of Will Byers (Noah Schnapp). The clip finds Will trapped in the Upside Down, softly singing The Clash’s “Should I Stay or Should I Go” to calm himself before a Demogorgon attack sends him fleeing through the forest. After being chased up a tree and knocked unconscious, Will is dragged to Vecna’s (Jamie Campbell Bower) lair. There, Vecna eerily declares, “At long last, we can begin. You and I, we are going to do such beautiful things together.”
Set in the fall of 1987, Season 5 picks up as Hawkins reels from the chaos left by the Rifts. The town is under military quarantine, the government is hunting for Eleven, and the group reunites with one mission: find and kill Vecna. But with his whereabouts unknown, a new darkness looms — one more powerful and deadly than anything they’ve faced before.
Returning cast includes:
Millie Bobby Brown (Eleven), Finn Wolfhard (Mike), Caleb McLaughlin (Lucas), Gaten Matarazzo (Dustin), Sadie Sink (Max), Natalia Dyer (Nancy), Charlie Heaton (Jonathan), Joe Keery (Steve), Maya Hawke (Robin), Winona Ryder (Joyce), David Harbour (Hopper), Priah Ferguson (Erica), Cara Buono (Karen Wheeler), and Brett Gelman (Murray Bauman).
New additions this season include Terminator icon Linda Hamilton as Dr. Kay, an intimidating government official. Hamilton recently revealed she was on the verge of retirement before accepting the role, saying the Duffer Brothers’ kindness and passion for the project drew her back in.
“This really is the end of the story of Eleven, Mike, Lucas, Dustin, Steve, and Hawkins,” said co-creator Ross Duffer. “The book is closed, and the ending wouldn’t be very impactful if we left it cracked open for some sort of sequel.”
Release schedule:
- Volume 1 — November 27, 2025
- Volume 2 — December 25, 2025
- Series Finale — December 31, 2025
Watch the first five minutes of Stranger Things 5 above — and get ready for one final ride back to Hawkins.