Netflix has dropped the trailer for Stranger Things’ fifth and final season, and it’s heavy on horror, light on heart.
Once the show that blended supernatural terror with nostalgic joy, malls, mixtapes, and Dungeons & Dragons, Stranger Things looks to be ending on a darker, bleaker note. Gone are the goofy Halloween costumes and bike-riding camaraderie. In their place: crying, bloodied faces, collapsing streets, and an Indiana town turned war zone.
The trailer opens on Hawkins under military lockdown as the government struggles to contain the chaos unleashed by Vecna (Jamie Campbell Bower). Mike (Finn Wolfhard) and his friends plot to find and destroy him, while Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown) flexes her powers in scenes that feel more Apocalypse
Now, E.T. Hopper (David Harbour) stalks through the darkness with a shotgun. Max (Sadie Sink) is rescued from her hospital bed by Lucas (Caleb McLaughlin), who’s chased by a snarling demodog. And poor Will (Noah Schnapp) — still linked to the Upside Down — seems fated to be Vecna’s puppet “one last time.” Watch below:
Even series co-creator Ross Duffer has admitted that this season won’t offer much levity. “It starts in chaos because our heroes ultimately lost at the end of season 4,” he told Tudum. “We usually set up their normal life and then introduce the supernatural. But this season is sprinting from the start.”
In other words, don’t expect Scoops Ahoy jokes or mall-rat hijinks. Stranger Things is going out in all-out war mode.
The first four episodes of Stranger Things 5 premiere on November 26 on Netflix, followed by three more on Christmas Day, and the finale on New Year’s Eve.
The laughter may be gone, but the stakes have never been higher.
The Geek is a working screenwriter, director and screenwriting instructor.
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