Stranger Things season 5: Release date speculation, cast predictions and latest news

Stranger Things season 4 has now come to its shocking, emotional end in two feature length, blockbuster episodes. It's fair to say there are plenty of threads still left hanging for a fifth season of the show to pick up, with characters left in peril, arcs still incomplete and questions unanswered.

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But what we did get was a gut punch of a season finale, that brought season 4's central storyline to a head in a satisfying and often devastating fashion.

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Ahead of the final episodes being released, Will Byers actor Noah Schnapp tweeted an ominous picture of himself along with the words: "Happy Stranger Things finale" - now we know why, and it's fair to say it wasn't an overreaction.

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They said in a statement: "Seven years ago, we planned out the complete story arc for Stranger Things. At the time, we predicted the story would last four to five seasons. It proved too large to tell in four, but – as you’ll soon see for yourselves – we are now hurtling toward our finale. Season 4 will be the penultimate season; season 5 will be the last.

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"There are still many more exciting stories to tell within the world of Stranger Things; new mysteries, new adventures, new unexpected heroes. "But first we hope that you stay with us as we finish this tale of a powerful girl named Eleven and her brave friends, of a broken police chief and a ferocious mom, of a small town called Hawkins and an alternate dimension known only as the Upside Down."

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While season 2 arrived just over a year after season 1, the show's production has slowed as the scope of the series has expanded. Season 3 took two years to arrive, while season 4 took 3 years, although this was in part due to delays from the COVID-19 pandemic.

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we would say that 2024 is a fairly good bet for when we will get new episodes. We also don't yet know what release model the new season will take. Seasons 1 to 3 all released their entire seasons in one go, while season 4 released in two volumes, with volume 1 containing seven episodes and volume 2 containing two. Whether season 5 sticks with this new, split model we'll have to wait and see.

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We don't know exactly what story season 5 will tell but we've already had some teases from the creators and cast in interviews. When season 5 was first announced, the Duffer Brothers said in a statement that the "complete story arc" was planned out seven years ago, and that the fifth outing will see the culmination of that plan.

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Here's a full list of the cast we'd expect to be back for Stranger Things season 5: – Winona Ryder as Joyce Byers – David Harbour as Jim Hopper – Millie Bobby Brown as Eleven/Jane Hopper – Finn Wolfhard as Mike Wheeler – Gaten Matarazzo as Dustin Henderson

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Here's a full list of the cast we'd expect to be back for Stranger Things season 5: – Caleb McLaughlin as Lucas Sinclair – Noah Schnapp as Will Byers – Sadie Sink as Max Mayfield – Natalia Dyer as Nancy Wheeler – Charlie Heaton as Jonathan Byers – Joe Keery as Steve Harrington

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Here's a full list of the cast we'd expect to be back for Stranger Things season 5: – Maya Hawke as Robin Buckley – Brett Gelman as Murray Bauman – Priah Ferguson as Erica Sinclair – Paul Reiser as Dr Sam Owens – Jamie Campbell Bower as Peter Ballard/Henry Creel/One/Vecna – Cara Buono as Karen Wheeler – Eduardo Franco as Argyle – Gabriella Pizzolo as Susie

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