Duffer Brothers reveal the real runtimes for ‘Stranger Things 5’
Are you also done with the fake runtimes floating all over social media? Same. For weeks, fans have been spiralling over claims that every episode of Stranger Things 5 would be nearly two hours long.
Some even joked they would need a meal break halfway through. But now, Ross Duffer himself has shut it all down with cold, hard numbers straight from the source.
On Monday, Ross posted the official runtimes for the first four episodes on Instagram, putting an end to the internet’s collective overreaction. According to his post, the season five premiere, ‘The Crawl’, will run for one hour and eight minutes. Episode two (title still under wraps) lands at 54 minutes, ‘The Turnbow’ Trap at one hour and six minutes, and episode four, ‘Sorcerer’, will clock in at one hour and 23 minutes. So yes, they are long, but nowhere near the cinematic marathons people were bracing for.
To put it into perspective, the entire first volume adds up to roughly four and a half hours of Hawkins battling against Vecna. Not exactly bite-sized, but you won’t need to clear an entire weekend just to finish it either. The Duffers’ update also officially debunks a viral Puck News report that claimed every episode this season would run “from 90 minutes to two hours long.” In Ross Duffer’s own words: “If info doesn’t come from me or Netflix, don’t trust it.”
What’s more interesting is the new release structure. Instead of dropping the full season at once, Netflix is treating Stranger Things 5 like an event trilogy. The first four episodes arrive on November 26th, perfectly timed for Thanksgiving bingeing. The next three episodes drop on Christmas Day, and the finale, titled ‘The Rightside Up’, lands on New Year’s Eve.
And with that, it will wrap up one of the best series Netflix has ever produced. Also, since it is a festive rollout, it almost guarantees we’ll all be crying into our hot chocolate.
What does the short runtime hint at?
If you were wondering whether this means shorter or snappier storytelling, well, you might be wrong. The Duffers revealed that certain episodes, particularly Sorcerer and the finale, will still be “movie-length”, continuing the similar, ambitious cinematic approach from season four. Remember that finale that ran two hours and 22 minutes? Yeah, they are not abandoning that entirely. But they are being more intentional this time, as only the biggest story beats get the extra runtime treatment.
The Duffers have also hinted that season five will be “tighter and faster”, focusing on tying up emotional arcs and long-running mysteries rather than expanding the world further. In other words, the gang isn’t heading to Russia or California again, as everything’s coming home to Hawkins, where it all began. Ross even called Sorcerer “massive, as big as any finale we’ve ever done,” which is saying something considering this is Stranger Things.
So, what does all this mean for fans? Basically, less panic and more popcorn. You can finally stop believing those “every episode is two hours” headlines and start preparing for a final season. Now the only countdown left is to Thanksgiving, when the Hawkins crew returns for one last fight against the Upside Down. And this time, you might actually finish an episode before your pizza gets cold.