“Stranger Things” wraps up after five seasons spanning nine years

“Stranger Things” wraps up after five seasons spanning nine years

By: Kevin Vickery

Premiering in July of 2016 as a “Netflix Original Series”, “Stranger Things” is set in the fictional rural town of Hawkins, Indiana, in the 1980s.  The Duffer Brothers (Matt and Ross) are the creators, directors, and executive producers of the series which incorporates science fiction, horror, and  mystery as well as drama and coming-of-age elements into the rated TV-14 series.

Despite being described as, “The town where nothing ever happens” Hawkins nearby National Laboratory seemingly performs scientific research for the United States Department of Energy, but also secretly experiments with the paranormal and supernatural, sometimes with human test subjects. There, they inadvertently create a portal to an alternate dimension referred to as the “Upside Down”, that’s presence begins to affect the residents of Hawkins in unusual ways.

The first season released in 2016, begins in November of 1983, and the story line centers around a group of middle school aged friends living in Hawkins.  When Will Byers (Noah Schnapp) is abducted by a creature from the Upside Down, dubbed “the Demogorgon”, his mother Joyce Byers, (Winona Ryder), Police Chief Jim Hopper (David Harbour) and a group of volunteers search for him.

A young psychokinetic girl named Eleven or El as she’s later known (Millie Bobby Brown) escapes from Hawkins Lab and is found by Will’s friends, Mike Wheeler (Finn Wolfhard), Dustin Henderson, (Gaten Matarazzo) and Lucas Sinclair (Caleb McLaughlin).  El befriends and assists them in their efforts to find Will. Mike’s older sister Nancy Wheeler (Natalia Dyer) and Will’s older brother Jonathan Byers (Charlie Heaton) learn about the Demogorgon and the existence of the Upside Down. Will is eventually found alive, while El disappears when killing the Demogorgon.

She returns during season two from 2017, which is set about a year later in November of 1984 developing new characters, Steve Harrington (Joe Keery) as Nancy’s ex-boyfriend, and Max Mayfield (Sadie Sink) who develops a relationship with Lucas. Despite his rescue, Will is still affected by a shadowy entity from the Upside Down later to be known as Vecna (Jamie Campbell Bower) while his friends and family learn that anything connected to the Upside Down is part of a hive mind known as the Mind Flayer. 

I won’t give too many spoilers in case you haven’t seen Stranger things so I’ll simply add that 2019’s third season, set in July of 1985 introduces us to “Rockin’” Robin Buckley (Maya Hawke) who is the real life daughter of actors Ethan Hawke and Uma Thurman as well as promoting Lucas’ snarky sister, Erica Sinclair (Priah Ferguson) from reoccurring character to full cast member.

Released in two parts in May and July of 2022, season four is set in March of 1986 as the Byers family and El have moved to California for a fresh start but meanwhile back in Hawkins, new character, Eddie Munson (Joseph Quinn), eccentric leader of “Dungeons & Dragons” group called, “The Hellfire Club” is framed by Vecna for the murder of local teens. 

We also become better acquainted with Murray Bauman (Brett Gelman), a private investigator and conspiracy theorist who travels with Joyce to Russia assisting in the rescue of Hopper and becoming a more prominent part of the cast.

The Duffer Brothers and Netflix then kept their audience starving  for the fifth and final season five which was finally released in 2025 split into three parts airing on Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s Eve.  The action of this season takes place primarily in November of 1987 where Nancy and Mike’s younger sister Holly, (Nell Fisher) is kidnapped along with other children like “Delightful” Derek Turnbow (Jake Connelly) from Hawkins by Vecna to use them in carrying out his evil plan of merging Hawkins and another newly discovered dimension called “The Abyss” via the Upside Down as a wormhole.

Again avoiding spoilers, season five then jumps to the Spring of 1989 when the original group of friends that started the series as sixth graders are now graduating high school, while the older group is home from college to celebrate the occasion.  After the graduation ceremony, Mike, Will, Dustin, Lucas, and Max play one final session of “Dungeons & Dragons” to wrap up the game they’ve been playing for years which also serves as a wrap up of the “Stranger Things” plot line.  Will as the storyteller, then offers a suggestion within that storyline which could also be applied to their personal quests and suggests a possible alternate ending involving their friend, El.

That hint of a potential alternate ending along with other details observed by the show’s dedicated fan base during the final episode lead to “Conspiracy Gate”.  This was an online theory that there would be one more episode revealing that the final episode all took place in Vecna’s mind and that the true ending would be revealed during the “real” final episode set to air a week later on January 7th.  Unfortunately that was all just fan-fiction based lore and we are left with the story ending a little uncertain depending on which way your opinion swings in the, “I believe” narrative.

I’ll admit that I was a latecomer to the “Stranger Things” saga.  When it first premiered in 2016 my oldest daughter, Alice was only five years old and far too young too watch the series but became a big fan at age 13 and went back and devoured all the past seasons.  With that, I decided I should finally take the advice of my close family friend who I call “my other oldest daughter”, Jacquelynn Adams (Dobrin) who had said back when she was still in high school at the beginning of the series that I should watch it.  She once told me, “I know you’ll really like it because you’ll be able to relate to the cast. – They are literally your same age during the time when you were a kid”.

I guess I didn’t really understand what she meant until years later when Alice took interest in the show and I started watching and discussing it with her.  Yeah, I guess I can pretty much relate to being a smart mouthed junior high and high school aged kid riding bikes and skateboards around a small town in rural Indiana, hanging out and getting into trouble with my dorky friends while our boom-boxes or walk-mans played Journey, Metallica, The Police and The Scorpions all of whom had songs featured in the show.  It does my heart some good to hear Alice singing “Should I Stay or Should I Go” by The Clash, or Michael Jackson’s version of, “Rockin’ Robin” knowing that she is only familiar with them from watching “Stranger Things”.  

The show didn’t disappoint on nostalgia in terms of fashion or cars of the era either.  Bowl cuts, mullets, big perms, and high top fades worn with satin jackets, denim vests, Vans and Chuck Taylor’s all made their appearances throughout the series as did Hopper’s 1980, Chevy K5 Blazer, Joyce’s ‘76 Ford Pinto, and Steve’s 1980 BMW7333i.  Suffice to say the pop-culture of the 1980’s was thoroughly represented.

Wrapping up the series with graduation in 1989 is easily why I identify the most with the characters and why I’d recommend it to all Gen-Xers around my age.  Yes, there are a certain amount of first crushes, first kisses, and teen age self discovery that you’d expect from any dramatic show about young people coming-of-age but “Stranger Things” still holds is own as a high quality suspense and science fiction series with some great special effects and multiple story lines for adults.

With those overlaying multiple story lines and such a big cast comes my only real complaint  about the series.  Sometimes there’s just too much going on at once for the viewer to follow.  The group frequently breaks off into smaller teams to compete various parts of their plans and while one group is hanging in suspense, the show switches focus to other segments with different groups sometimes failing to adequately return to all the different groups’ activities and sum up the outcome of each scenario. When discussing that with Alice she said, “Yeah, I think the Duffer Brothers just got lazy in their writing as the series went on”.  Maybe she’s right.

I was able to speak with old friend and science-fiction buff, John Hellert of Creve Couer, MO and get some of his thoughts.  He said, “Seasons one and two are some of the best television ever made. – I’d rank it right up there with M*A*S*H, Breaking Bad, House, the first nine seasons of The Simpsons as ‘Must See TV’.   Adding, “I could rewatch these episodes anytime, any day for any reason or no reason at all.”  

The next three seasons got mixed reviews from John saying, “Watch season three once, then forget it. – It just didn’t hold up”.  On Season four he explained, “The introduction of Eddie Munson (Joseph Quinn) was brilliant. – It was truly heartwarming to see my high school stereotype being accurately recognized in a major production like this. – I probably will rewatch this season again at some point.”

His review of season five was far less approving saying, “Outside of clips of Delightful Derek (Jake Connelly), I really could care less about rewatching anything that happened in this season. – There are worse things to watch but it just felt like a chore rather than an experience.”  I would agree with John’s assessment of the series as a whole when he said, “So… Some parts of “Stranger Things” were killer, but some parts needed some work”.

Whether you loved it, hated it or are somewhere in between, “Stranger Things” has concluded after five seasons including 42 episodes over a nine year time span of real life air time, featuring the last seven years of the 1980s in setting time.

There is a recently released documentary, “One Last Adventure: The Making of Stranger Things 5” that provides an inside look at the years of effort that went into the final installment of the series and is now streaming on Netflix.

There are also plans for an animated spin off series, “Stranger Things: Tales From ‘85” which is set between seasons two and three and expected to be released on Netflix in 2026.  This series will feature the same characters as the TV series but with different actors voicing their roles.

The Duffer Brothers also have plans to expand the “Stranger Things” universe with a completely different live-action show featuring new characters, a new town, and new mythology, expanding the universe beyond Hawkins.

A lesser known fact is that  a prequel, “Stranger Things: The First Shadow” is a stage play originally premiering in London before making its way to Broadway.  It focuses on the early lives of Joyce, and Hopper while exploring the backstory of Henry  Creel before he became Vecna.  If you find yourself in New York City anytime soon, it is still currently playing at The Marquis Theatre through September 2026.

If all that’s not enough for you to get your “Stranger Things” fix the franchise also includes: five great soundtrack albums featuring the ‘80s music from series, several games including video, mobile, VR, and table top versions, a complete series of books, comics, and novels as well as virtually unlimited amounts of collectibles and toys (even a Lego set) for you or that “Stranger Things” fan in your life to enjoy.

Even though the original “Stranger Things” series has concluded I believe it’s safe to say, as a brand, it’s here to stay.  Who knows? It might even be the kids of this generation’s Star Wars.

For more information about everything in the “Stranger Things” universe, visit the website netflix.com for more details.