For three years, fans of the Netflix television show Stranger Things have been patiently waiting for the release of the series’ final season after the most recent one left everyone on a giant cliffhanger. On November 26, 2025, the first part of the final season was released.
The 1980s town of Hawkins, Indiana, has been a recipe for disaster since season one. When four boys play Dungeons and Dragons in their basement and one goes missing, the group discovers an alternate dimension called the “Upside Down.” Throughout the series, the creatures from this dimension have haunted the characters with terrifying monsters like demogorgons, demobats, The Mind Flayer, and Vecna, to name a few. At the end of season four, fans were left shocked with Max being put into a coma, the death of the beloved character Eddie, and the continued presence of Vecna, season four’s antagonist. Viewers were left with a haunting image of the sky being merged with the alternate dimension, the Upside Down.
In the new season, there is a major change of focus in the plot. Instead of hyperfocusing on Will, a character who’s had a connection to the Upside Down ever since he was kidnapped in the first season, the plot now focuses on Holly Wheeler, the younger sister of Mike, Will’s best friend. After her family is brutally attacked by a monster called the demogorgon, she mysteriously goes missing. The characters soon discover that Vecna takes the form of a character named Mr. Whatsit to kidnap her. She then finds Max Mayfield, a character who many thought was dead, when she is, in reality, in Vecna’s mind world. At the very end of the season, we see character development with Will, as he gains powers that had only before been seen by Eleven, the main protagonist.
In the later volumes of the new season, we come to learn about Vecna’s past, and his trauma that drove him to be a villain. While in his mind, Will learns to understand where he came from, but Vecna ends up continuing with his decision as a villain. As we continue through the season, while in the Upside Down, Kali, Eleven’s sister, sacrifices herself for El. Vecna is finally defeated by Joyce, driven by him tormenting her son, and Eleven makes the choice to sacrifice herself for the group, which leaves them devastated while ordinary citizens celebrate the return of the Hawkins they knew.
In season 5 of Stranger Things, the audience members of the show finally got to see it close out. With many major plot points, such as the sacrifice of El, the character whose journey we’ve followed for nine years, Will, the once weak boy gaining powers, Max waking up from a coma, and the death of Vecna. This season was a great way to close out all the endings for different characters!
