Netflix just dropped the official trailer for Stranger Things Season 5 Volume 1, and from the very first shot, it’s clear: we’re not easing into anything. We open back where the nightmare started — the Hawkins Library, only now warped and suffocating under Upside Down vines. A Demogorgon kneels before Vecna as he declares, “At long last, we can begin,” signaling that whatever horror is coming, it’s been waiting a long time to erupt.
Queen’s “Who Wants to Live Forever” kicks in, and it almost feels like a eulogy — not just for Hawkins, but for the innocence this series started with. Dustin speeds toward Hawkins High in his Hellfire Club shirt, holding tight to Eddie Munson’s legacy. Meanwhile, the town itself looks gutted, still reeling from Season 4’s devastation and now fenced in under military control. There’s no “back to normal” anymore. Hawkins is a war zone.
Mike and Eleven sit on the WSQK building, facing the reality that the town is trapped and being watched. Their crew is finally together again — Dustin, Will, Lucas, Mike, Steve, Nancy, Robin, and Jonathan — all shoulder to shoulder as they prepare for the biggest fight of their lives. Hopper and Eleven move through the Upside Down as she unleashes her powers with a new level of purpose. Eleven tells Mike this isn’t like one of his D&D campaigns — there’s no writing the ending this time. Reality is here. And it’s brutal.
Lucas holds Max’s body in a gut-punch moment before we see him alone in a tunnel, ready to fight anyway. Will finds himself once again entangled in Vecna’s grip as the villain hovers over him and whispers that he will help him “one last time.” Will’s pain has always been the beating heart of this story — and it looks like Season 5 is finally circling back to that truth.
Ross Duffer has already warned that this season doesn’t start with everyday life, and the trailer proves it. There’s no hallway chatter, no first-day-of-school vibes. This chapter begins in chaos. The town is locked down. The threat is bigger. And the characters we grew up with are carrying the weight of everything that came before — trauma, loss, friendship, loyalty, all on the line.
The cast returns — Winona Ryder, David Harbour, Millie Bobby Brown, Finn Wolfhard, Caleb McLaughlin, Noah Schnapp, Sadie Sink, Gaten Matarazzo, Maya Hawke, and more — joined by Linda Hamilton as Dr. Kay. The Duffers are promising answers about the Upside Down, and after years of mystery, it feels like we’re finally getting the keys to the whole mythos.
Stranger Things Season 5 arrives in three drops: Volume 1 on november 26 with four episodes, three more episodes on christmas, and the series finale on new year’s eve. If Netflix wanted to make this the most emotional holiday season ever, mission accomplished.
Hawkins is on borrowed time. The party is together for one last stand. And every frame of this trailer feels like the quiet inhale before history-changing chaos.