10 things the Duffer Brothers want you to keep in mind before ‘Stranger Things’ season 5
Does it feel like the time is ticking too slowly today? Well, same, which probably has a lot to do with the fifth and final season of Stranger Things, which lands tomorrow on Netflix with its highly anticipated first volume.
To kickstart the Upside Down week, Netflix has already released the first volume trailer to bring you a sneak peek into the world of strange happenings. But if you’re still struggling to hold your horses, the Duffer brothers have the perfect set of tasks ready to keep you engaged until the big reveal.
Before jumping straight into the chaos of the Stranger Things universe, it’s a must that you prepare. But how?
In a recent conversation with The Hollywood Reporter, the dynamic duo outlined ten such things to remember before the three-part final season begins on November 26th.
10 things the Duffers want you to know before the final ride
The only goal is to come full circle
It’s not easy to draw a finish line to a story that lasted a decade. But once Stranger Things returns for its final ride, every unanswered question will be out in the open. While the creators had a lot to address, heading towards the final season, they have just one goal in mind: that every storyline comes full circle. This has already been proved in the first five minutes of the new season, which confirms Vecna’s presence from the beginning, since the day Will disappeared.
“If you’re going to rewatch anything, I would definitely rewatch those early seasons because it really is about tying [everything] back to seasons one and two,” Ross Duffer explained to the tabloid. “Those are the seasons we referenced the most, because we really wanted this to be circular and to come full circle. There are a lot of mysteries we set up and then intentionally did not answer in those early seasons.”
Although they didn’t know whether a season two would ever happen, they still deliberately kept some mystery to return to later on. The questions surrounding the Upside Down and why Will was taken in there are a few of those. This is why the final instalment begins with a flashback to his time in the Upside Down.
The episodes you need to rewatch
The Stranger Things gang has been encouraging a four-season rewatch all this time, not without reason. But in case you skipped the advice and have no time on your hands to rewatch all the episodes from the first four seasons, the Duffers have made the work easy. They recommended four must-watch episodes to rewatch that could help them settle into the first volume.
The suggestions include the fourth and sixth episodes from Stranger Things season two, titled ‘Will the Wise’ and ‘The Spy,’ alongside the seventh and ninth episodes from the fourth season, titled ‘The Massacre at Hawkins Lab’ and ‘The Piggyback.’
According to Matt Duffer, they really began to build the mythology of the Stranger Things universe season two onwards, which is why the instalment remains so relevant today alongside the fourth one. He was also inclined towards the seventh episode from the latter season.
“That [episode] starts unveiling some of the Upside Down mythology and starts giving some answers, and, of course, all the stuff with Henry and Eleven continues to resonate throughout season five. Those are some good ones to revisit,” Ross Duffer chimed in.
Things to keep in mind before the second volume and finale
Despite waiting for Stranger Things to return for four years, when it does so with the first volume, there will remain an aggravated anticipation for what’s to come in the second volume and the grand finale. As a result, the Duffer brothers want viewers to keep a few things in mind following the volume one climax before heading for the rest.
“I don’t want anyone to overthink. It’s fun, actually, when [the fans] have all these theories as to what’s going to happen. It’s fun to read them. The vast majority of them are wrong. Occasionally, someone gets something,” Matt Duffer says. It’s not like he doesn’t want fans to go in with expectations. If anything, he surely hopes they get to live up to them. “But I really hope they go in like they would to any other season and enjoy it for what it is. I would get some Eggos, some popcorn, whatever you need to help enhance the experience,” he continues.
Set the Stranger Things mood with this playlist
Stranger Things is not without its takeaways, but one of the most helpful things to set the mood right before the final season kicks off is the playlist. The Netflix show is set in the 1980s, dubbed the “golden era” of music. And throughout the show, we have gotten quite a few tastes of its golden scoops. From Kate Bush’s iconic 1985 song ‘Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God),’ which breathed a second life with the Netflix series, to The Clash’s ‘Should I Stay or Should I Go’ from the first season, the Duffers have a slew of song suggestions as well.
In addition to these two, the list includes ‘When It’s Cold I’d Like to Die’ by Moby, ‘Heroes’, the Peter Gabriel version, and ‘Toto’ by Africa.
Is there a new villain?
Stranger Things always follows with an expectation of a new menace, having introduced one big bad after another throughout its four-season run. So far, we’ve met the Demogorgon, Mind Flayer, Demodogs, Demobats, Spider Monster, the Flayed, the Hospital Monster, the Vines, and obviously Vecna. While the gang has a lot on their plate already, fans cannot help but speculate about the arrival of a new monster in the fifth season.
But Matt Duffer certainly doesn’t think such a thing would happen. “We talked about it, but a lot of this season is about returning to the prior seasons, and we didn’t want to overstuff it with new creatures. So, as we worked on the season, we thought, ‘Let’s just have fun with what we’ve previously established.’”
“It’s more like taking what we’ve done and then amping it up, like what [James] Cameron did from Alien to Aliens. That’s how we see this season,” Ross Duffer adds.
Why is the finale going to theatres?
It’s a rare scenario to witness a TV show’s finale landing in theatres, but Stranger Things is known for doing the unthinkable. The season finale is scheduled to drop on New Year’s Eve at 5 pm PT, set to premiere on the big screen across the country. As it turns out, it was all the Duffers’ idea.
Initially, it was not the plan. In fact, originally, the final season was only split into two volumes. “Then at a certain point, actually after we were done filming, Netflix approached us with the idea of putting the finale on its own day, which we thought was cool because we thought it would allow us to pitch our movie theatre idea,” Matt Duffer says.
They didn’t pitch such an idea before because it didn’t make sense. But this time, they did. “What’s fun about seeing something in the theatre, we think, is that everyone is experiencing it for the first time together. What we liked about this particular release pattern is that it allows that opportunity for a group of fans to sit and watch this unfold together.”
What also excites them is the prospect of sneaking into a theatre and watching the fans’ reaction live. “We’ve never had this experience before, so we’re excited.”
The most complicated scene has yet to come
The Stranger Things season five trailers which have come our way so far have plenty of noteworthy scenes to send us on the edge of our seats. The glimpses have been so remarkable, even the Duffers couldn’t help but feel proud of their accomplishment. However, while talking with THR, they mentioned the most complicated scene that’s yet to come.
While the tabloid didn’t reveal the scene, Ross Duffer outlined the logistics of how they managed to get the scene done for the screen. “[It’s] the most complicated because it’s nighttime – we have a bunch of children, tons of extras and stunt people. We’re flinging stunt people left and right in wires. We can only work a certain number of hours with the kids. Outside of having animals, it was everything you’re told not to do, and at this time, when we were filming it in the summer, it just kept raining in Atlanta,” he says of the scene.
After getting over the sequence, everyone was equally relieved. Although the scene may not be bigger than the finale, it’s indeed majorly layered in terms of logistics and the number of people involved.
Where do the fan theories stand? Any chance of hitting the bullseye?
The Duffer brothers love a good fan theory, but ahead of the last ride, they did admit, “The vast majority of them are wrong.” Although fans need to wait to find which theory hits the bullseye, they set the record straight on the one flooding about Eddie Munson’s comeback. According to one of the brothers, “There was a lot of groundswell about Eddie coming back as a vampire, that one I saw over and over again. Love Joe and love the character of Eddie, but he is very much six feet under, so RIP.”
Matt Duffer couldn’t resist a joke, saying, “Can you imagine Eddie sprouting wings and turning into a bat and battling the demobat? That is bad. I’m also just imagining Joe Quinn’s face on top of a [bat]. I think that would have really jumped the shark, but Joe Quinn made it so much worse by not killing that rumour.”
The Duffers are eager to see the reactions
The Duffer brothers know just how tiresome and painful the wait is because they, too, have been waiting on the fans’ reaction to the final ride for years now. According to them, the favourite part of releasing a project is “they’re surprised constantly by the reactions.” While all they can do right now is give up their guesses, they also shared the most shocking parts of the fourth season along with their predictions for what’s next.
“We think we know what are going to be the big moments, what fans will react to, and sometimes we’re right, and sometimes we’re wrong. But then there are often surprises, going back to season one with Barb. Dr Alexei was a huge surprise,” Matt Duffer explains.
He’s also really excited to see the reactions flooding in after the first volume. “The end of episode four has its own climax, and I’m excited to see how they react to that. And of course, I’m excited to see how they react to the finale, which we will be able to be in there with them live – and hopefully, they’re not all booing.”
Does the fifth season serve as the foundation of Stranger Things: Tales from ’85?
Stranger Things will undoubtedly conclude on December 31st. But fans have a lot to look forward to, thanks to the spin-off series, Stranger Things: Tales from ’85, landing on Netflix in 2026. As to whether viewers should keep an eye out for in the fifth season to help them settle into the animated series, the Duffers confirmed that they are “really completely separate.”
“It takes place between seasons two and three. We like that age of the kids, and that we could pick an age and have them frozen at that age. These animated versions of the characters are doing what we wish was possible with our kids, which is that they are frozen in time. That’s really fun, but really is its own thing. We were trying to evoke the feeling of a Saturday morning cartoon,” Matt Duffer adds.
