Month: October 2025

The lights are flickering once again in Hawkins. Shadows crawl, memories linger, and the air crackles with the kind of electricity only Netflix’s most beloved world can summon. Netflix invites us back to the Upside Down as the trailer for Stranger Things Season 5 drops. Counting down to the final chapter, the cast, creators, and executive producers of Stranger Things set the stage for what’s to come and where we find our characters at the start of the season, as told to Tudum. Millie Bobby Brown (Eleven) says, “Eleven is in training mode. She’s in a warrior state, which is the first time you see Eleven like that at the beginning of a season. As for her mindset, all she is thinking about is protecting her friends. Her friends are her chosen family, so she will do whatever it takes to protect them and we’re going to see that.”Gaten Matarazzo (Dustin) adds, “Dustin is kind of in a bit of a funk. I think everybody probably is considering the state that Hawkins is in, and it’s getting a little bit harder for the gang to keep all the pieces together. We’re all dealing with the day-to-day issues of what it is to try to keep everybody safe and figure out where Vecna is, while having a lot of unpacked baggage from the events in the previous season.”Caleb McLaughlin (Lucas) shares, “It’s always been in the beginning of a season that everything is all good, but this is the first season we come into it and the stakes are the same as where we left off. We haven’t defeated Vecna and the problem is still there. We’re still trying to figure it out and we may not be able to figure it out, so you feel that burden on Lucas as well as everyone else on the show. Everyone is on edge and we’re all just trying to keep hope alive.”Noah Schnapp (Will) asserts, “Will is back in Hawkins this season. He was out of Hawkins for the last season, so now we’re seeing the effects of him being back in that realm. We kind of hit the ground running right away this season, which is really exciting and not how we’ve started any other season. Everyone is all in one place and we all have the same objective.”Sadie Sink (Max) explains, “We [ended] Season 4 in a tough place for Max. Her final moments were her in a hospital bed. Eleven was searching for her in the void and couldn’t find her, so Max is definitely not the way she once was. There’s still a small glimmer of hope, though, and her friends are hanging on to that.”Finn Wolfhard (Mike) says, “Mike is back in leadership mode, and he’s kind of taken it more upon himself to help plan out these missions, and he and the whole gang are devoted to finding Vecna and ending this.”Ross Duffer (Co-Creator, Executive Producer, Writer, Director) shares, “I think what’s unique about this season is that it starts a little bit in chaos because our heroes ultimately lost at the end of Season 4. We usually set up their normal life and how they’re going about school, and then we introduce the supernatural element. But in this case, this season is sprinting from the start.”Matt Duffer (Co-Creator, Executive Producer, Writer, Director) adds, “They’re not experiencing normal life. Nothing in Hawkins is normal anymore. their movement is restricted, and there are Big Brother cameras everywhere. So not only are they active their everyday, normal lives are anything but.”Shawn Levy (Executive Producer & Director) concludes, “The action is next level, the visual effects are next level, but I’m also happy to say that the emotional center remains the same. And part of the magic of this show is that even as we evolve, even as the storytelling becomes more epic, it’s always anchored in these characters that we love.”Also Read: “Stranger Things fans will be truly satisfied with the ending”: Cast and makers speak about Netflix show ahead of final season premiere.