‘Stranger Things’ Season 5 Episode Runtimes Revealed – Fans Won’t Believe How Long They Are

The fifth and final season of Stranger Things is coming to Netflix later this year. The season, which will have eight episodes, is set to release in three parts.

The first four episodes will drop on November 26, the next three on December 25, and the series finale will air on December 31. The Duffer Brothers, along with Shawn Levy and Dan Cohen, return to produce the season.

Many of the familiar faces are back, including Winona Ryder, David Harbour, Finn Wolfhard, Millie Bobby Brown, Gaten Matarazzo, Caleb McLaughlin, Noah Schnapp, Sadie Sink, Natalia Dyer, Charlie Heaton, Joe Keery, Maya Hawke, Priah Ferguson, Brett Gelman, Cara Buono, and Jamie Campbell Bower.

Amybeth McNulty, who appeared as a guest in season four, has been promoted to the main cast. The season also introduces Linda Hamilton as a newcomer.

Every battle has led to this 💥 the Stranger Things 5 teaser is HERE! pic.twitter.com/dSYwnfgsER

— sƃuᴉɥʇ ɹǝƃuɐɹʇs (@Stranger_Things) July 16, 2025

Set a year after season four, in the fall of 1987, the story follows the group as they try to find and kill Vecna after the Rifts opened in Hawkins. Their mission is complicated when the military arrives and begins hunting Eleven. With the anniversary of Will Byers’ disappearance approaching, the group faces one last deadly threat.

According to Puck News, each episode of the final season reportedly cost between $50 million and $60 million to produce. The episodes are also longer than usual, ranging from 90 minutes to two hours.

Interestingly, this is not the first time that the rumor that episodes are going to be long surfaced. Back in July, one of the Duffer Brothers explained via his Instagram stories that this is not accurate.

Some of what must have bolstered the rumor is what cast members have previously said about the runtime of the finale episodes. Maya Hawke revealed during an episode of Podcrushed last year that season 5 will be “basically eight movies” with “very long” episodes, while Finn Wolfhard told Collider in January that “not every episode is like a full-blown movie, but there are definitely some episodes this year that the runtime is definitely film-length.”

Fans can expect a dramatic and intense conclusion as Stranger Things wraps up its story in these three final batches of episodes.

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