Stranger Things Final Season Will Deliver Epic Payoff

Netflix has shared a longer teaser trailer for the fifth and final season of Stranger Things. The release date has been set for late this year.

The new teaser trailer for Stranger Things Season 5 is just the Hawkins kids’ worst nightmare. That is, if they had been hoping to have a break before season five drops and the final battle with the Upside Down begins.

The 59-second teaser is an excellent taste of the expected showdown between Hawkins’ motley crew of heroes and the latest apocalyptic wave of the Upside Down. A head-on collision that fans will not soon forget.

Action-packed and rife with callbacks, the trailer shows more of the action from the series than previous teasers for the highly anticipated season. Viewers get a first look at the gang’s reunion, including an angry and heavily armed Linda Hamilton, a nod to the 1987 cult classic film, The Terminator.

Each second of this new teaser trailer for Stranger Things Season 5 escalates into more intense peril for Hawkins, Indiana. The Upside Down is growing in strength, literally seeping into Hawkins in new places. Demo-dogs stalk the corridors. The flames of flamethrowers burst.

Season 4 ended with Vecna ripping the monster-sized gate open, which created a leak that allowed the Upside Down to begin spilling into Hawkins. In the new season, which will take place in the fall of 1987, everything is set to culminate on the third anniversary of Will Byers’ original disappearance, an event that was referenced throughout season one.

There are eight episodes in the series’ fifth and final season. However, all of them are feature-length episodes. This means that the final season of Stranger Things will give audiences eight full Stranger Things films.

The Official Synopsis for Season 5

The official synopsis of Stranger Things Season 5 provides a glimpse into what to expect from the series’ finale. As we learned in the season four finale, Hawkins has been forever changed by the Rifts that have opened.

The old and the new band together with one objective: to find and kill Vecna. However, nobody knows where he is or what his next move will be. To make matters worse, the U.S. government has quarantined Hawkins under a military lockdown and has doubled down on capturing Eleven. Now, she is on the run, again.

With the third anniversary of Will’s disappearance upon Hawkins, the horror is only just beginning. For while the heroes of Hawkins have managed to find each other and unite, this is not the Upside Down they know. This time, it’s darker, deadlier, and very much more organized. As the final trailer for the season ominously reminds us, the final battle is coming, and everyone will need to band together, all allies included, for the fight of their lives.

Fans will be able to see all of their favorite characters in season five, including a good chunk of mainstay, recurring characters. Amybeth McNulty is back as Vicki. Dustin’s girlfriend, Suzie, is played by Gabriella Pizzolo, and Jamie Campbell Bower returns to play Vecna, one of the scariest faces to be seen in the fourth season.

Joining the returning cast is Linda Hamilton as Dr. Kay. Other new characters include Nell Fisher as Holly Wheeler, Jake Connelly as Derek Turnbow, and Alex Breaux as Lt. Akers.

Pop Culture Moments and Easter Eggs

The trailer contains several high-energy, fast-paced set pieces. One scene in particular shows Lucas and other group members ducking down to hide from demo-dogs. Their hiding spot and the layout of the building are uncannily similar to the kitchen in the 1993 film Jurassic Park, where the characters hid from velociraptors.

Who can forget how freaked out they were? The trailer gives viewers another chiller by allowing them to hear Vecna once again. For those looking for a dose of psychological terror, the trailer brings us more Vecna —specifically, the ghost-like figure yelling, “found you.”

Emotional Moments

Amid all the chaos, the trailer also has some emotional beats that will hit hard for fans. In a scene that will surely cause a stir, viewers can spot Eddie Munson’s gravestone with “Burn in hell” written across it. This is a heartbreaking reminder that even though Eddie sacrificed himself for the town in the season four finale, much of Hawkins still sees him as a villain.

The character’s death is still raw, and for many fans of the show, Eddie is the biggest loss since the heart-rending death of Bob Newby in Season 2. The tragedy is both a relief to see put to rest, but as the trailer gives us, justice is far from served.

As for the structure of the season, some fans might have mixed feelings about it. Netflix has decided to release the eight episodes in three separate installments. This is likely to be an unpopular decision among some in the fandom, who have waited so long for this season that they are ready to marathon it.