‘Stranger Things 5’ Finale Trailer: Eleven Prepares for Epic Showdown with Vecna
Netflix has released the trailer for the final episode of Stranger Things 5, which will premiere both in theaters and on the streaming service on December 31. The finale, titled “The Rightside Up,” is the eighth and concluding episode of the show’s fifth season.
Earlier this season, Netflix split the episodes into two volumes. Volume 1, released on Thanksgiving, included the first four episodes, while Volume 2, released at Christmas, had the next three.
The seventh episode set the stage for the finale, revealing Vecna’s plan to merge the human world with a dangerous parallel dimension called the Abyss. Max, played by Sadie Sink, helps uncover the villain’s plot, and the group forms a plan to enter the Abyss, rescue the kidnapped children, and destroy it using a bomb.
One last trailer.
— Netflix (@netflix) December 30, 2025
The final episode of STRANGER THINGS premieres TOMORROW at 8PM ET | 5PM PT. pic.twitter.com/cb3bJEqKFs
Stranger Things was created nearly a decade ago by Matt and Ross Duffer, with the first season arriving on Netflix in July 2016.
The show quickly became a hit, with seasons 2 and 3 following in 2017 and 2019. Season 4, like the current season, was released in two parts in 2022. Beyond television, the series has expanded into a stage play, Stranger Things: First Shadow, which premiered in London in 2023 and is now playing on Broadway.
In a recent interview with Variety, the Duffers discussed Eleven’s journey and the challenges she faces in the finale. “There is the supernatural threat, which is represented by Vecna this season. But the military has always posed a threat, from Season 1 on. Even when Brenner is gone, he gets continually replaced by someone else. In this case, in Season 5, by Kay,” Ross Duffer said.
He added, “So we needed Kali to represent maybe a more pessimistic, but perhaps realistic, version, compared to Mike’s worldview of we’re gonna have butterflies and rainbows. And Kali’s going, ‘How is this going to work? And what is the solution here, that you can live a normal life?’ That’s really a huge part of Eleven’s journey this season.”
The finale has a runtime of two hours and five minutes and will mark the first time the franchise is shown on the big screen. It will screen in more than 500 theaters across the U.S. and Canada, starting on New Year’s Eve at 5 p.m. PT, simultaneously with its release on Netflix. Ross Duffer said that over 1.1 million people have RSVP’d to watch the episode in theaters, with 3,500 showings in more than 620 theaters already sold out.
Stranger Things has become one of Netflix’s most-watched series, recently passing 1.2 billion total views. The finale promises to deliver a dramatic and emotional conclusion for Eleven and the rest of the characters.
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