On Dec. 25, 2025, the popular Netflix show “Stranger Things” is coming to an end. Season 1 of the show was released July 15, 2016. Set in Hawkins, Indiana, circa 1983, the show follows 11-year-olds Mike, Dustin and Lucas on the hunt for their friend Will, who is taken by a monster the boys name after the D&D character, the Demogorgon. The Demogorgon lives in an alternate dimension called the Upside Down. Along the way, they meet and form a bond with Eleven, a young girl with powers who ran away from dangerous scientists, and learn that their family members have been getting closer to finding Will the whole time. Chief of police, Hopper, and Will’s Mom, Joyce, work together to find Will. Elsewhere, Mike’s sister, Nancy, Will’s brother, Jonathan, and Nancy’s boyfriend, Steve, attempt to kill the Demogorgon. The season ends with the kids finding Will and losing Eleven.
Season 2 brings in new characters, Max and her older brother Billy. Will is possessed by a new creature from the Upside Down, the Mind Flayer. Eleven is found by Hopper, who traveled to the Upside Down to rescue Will in Season 1, and lives off the grid in hiding. The popular Jonathan and Nancy versus Steve and Nancy love triangle starts, which continues through the rest of the show. To finish it off, Eleven closes the gate to the Upside Down.
Season 3 takes place primarily in the brand new Starcourt mall, where we meet Robin, a girl who works with Steve, and Erica, Lucas’s little sister. The Mind Flayer grows and takes control of Billy, Russians are discovered opening the gate to the Upside Down and Dustin sings “Neverending Story” with his totally real girlfriend. To end it all, we lose Billy to the mind flayer and Hopper to the machine used to open the gate.
The fourth season was split between Will’s family and Eleven living in California, and everyone else still settled in Hawkins. We learn that Hopper was alive, but a prisoner in Russia. The newest villain in Hawkins emerges: Vecna, who has really been the reason behind the whole story. The season is filled with trauma, which eventually leads to Max’s doom. The beloved character goes into a coma leading into the final season. The final shot shows Hawkins being split by the gates while the characters watch the Upside Down invade their home.
On the day before Thanksgiving, at 5 pm, Season 5 Volume 1 was finally released to the world. The first volume consists of four episodes, each around an hour long.
Taking place about a year and a half after the events of season four, Hawkins is left in rubble. The government has quarantined the town and continues to try to close the gate. The characters have somewhat adapted to life, but when Mike’s younger sister Holly is taken by Vecna, everything turns upside down.
The newest season is rated TV-MA on Netflix (Mature Audiences), and rightfully so. In the first four episodes, you see snapping bones, demogorgons and Vecna. Vecna is first shown as Henry, or “Mr. Whatsit,” who returns to the minds of children in Hawkins to take them, just like he took Will in Season 1. Old character romances stay strong so far, but new ones may be approaching soon.
Due to the intense CGI and choreography for the actors, the final season was released three years after Season 4. As noted by the cast, all three seasons of popular show The Summer I Turned Pretty were released between Seasons 4 and 5 of Stranger Things alone. The increased anticipation led to Netflix crashing when the fifth season was released, leaving around 14,000 people in the U.S. unable to watch the show immediately, according to The Guardian. Luckily, for most the crash only lasted around five minutes, and they were able to quickly start their binge.
The show is really taking over the November and December holidays, with memes starting to arise. Popular videos include family members noting when it is time to leave their teenagers on Thanksgiving so they can watch the show, or people with their jolly Christmas decorations around their TV with scary Stranger Things playing on the screen.
The final episode will be playing in theaters, a thing fans have been asking for for a long time. Even though it was a major request, fans doubted Netflix would listen. Netflix movies released to theaters always have a limited run and are usually only played in select theaters. A Netflix original TV show has never been put in theaters before, and is only running Dec. 31 and Jan. 1 in select theaters.
Volume 2 will consist of three episodes, which will be released on Christmas Day, and the Finale is a single episode that will be playing on Netflix on New Year’s Day, as well as in theaters. One of the most popular TV shows in the world is finally coming to an end.
