The return to Hawkins is imminent, and Netflix certainly pulled out all the stops to go out with a bang. The streamer has dropped the final trailer for the long-awaited and highly anticipated Season 5 of Stranger Things, which puts the main crew in the thick of the action against inter-dimensional monsters.
“We have a plan. It’s a bit insane,” says Mike Wheeler in the opening moments, setting the stage for an adrenaline-fuelled time in Volume 1 that involves every party member in some form of danger, whether it’s Eleven leaping over a barbed fence, Jonathan Byers and Nancy Wheeler fending off attacks with a machine gun and a flare, Lucas Sinclair holding up a metal pipe, or Steve Harrington driving straight into a gate.
Volume 1 is the first of three parts that make up the new season, comprising the first four episodes: The Crawl” (68 minutes), “The Vanishing of ____” (54 minutes), “The Turnbow Trap” (66 minutes), and “Sorcerer” (83 minutes). It premieres on 26 November, followed by the next three episodes on Christmas, before culminating in a two-hour grand finale on New Year’s Eve, with a simultaneous theatrical release in the U.S. and Canada.
“The fall of 1987. Hawkins is scarred by the opening of the Rifts, and our heroes are united by a single goal: find and kill Vecna. But he has vanished — his whereabouts and plans unknown. Complicating their mission, the government has placed the town under military quarantine and intensified its hunt for Eleven, forcing her back into hiding,” reads the synopsis of Stranger Things 5.
“As the anniversary of Will’s disappearance approaches, so does a heavy, familiar dread. The final battle is looming — and with it, a darkness more powerful and more deadly than anything they’ve faced before. To end this nightmare, they’ll need everyone — the full party — standing together, one last time.”
The Duffer Brothers return to write and direct the penultimate instalment, joining Paul Dichter, Curtis Gwinn, Caitlin Schneiderhan and Kate Trefry as co-writers, and Frank Darabont and Shawn Levy as co-directors.
Meanwhile, the main cast, consisting of Millie Bobby Brown as Eleven, Finn Wolfhard as Mike, Gaten Matarazzo as Dustin Henderson, Caleb McLaughlin as Lucas, Noah Schnapp as Will Byers, Joe Keery as Steve, Sadie Sink as Max Mayfield, Natalia Dyer as Nancy, Charlie Heaton as Jonathan, Maya Hawke as Robin Buckley, Winona Ryder as Joyce Byers, David Harbour as Jim Hopper, and Jamie Campbell Bower as Vecna, will all reprise their roles.
Si Jia is a casual geek at heart – or as casual as someone with Sephiroth’s theme on her Spotify playlist can get. A fan of movies, games, and Japanese culture, Si Jia’s greatest weakness is the Steam Summer Sale. Or any Steam sale, really.
Kevin Low
