Stranger Things Season 5 Volume 1 Unleashes Final Trailer as the Endgame Begins

Netflix just dropped the final trailer for Stranger Things Season 5, and yes, this is the last lap. Volume 1 kicks things off soon, and the way they are rolling this out is basically a holiday event series. Grab a calendar.

Release plan

Season 5 arrives in three waves:

Volume 1 lands November 26 with four episodes. Volume 2 follows on Christmas Day with three more. Then the series finale bows on New Year's Eve. Four, then three, then one last goodbye to Hawkins before the ball drops.

Where the story picks up

We're in the fall of 1987. The Rifts have torn Hawkins open, and everyone is zeroed in on one mission: track down Vecna and end him. There's a catch, obviously. Vecna has disappeared, the government has locked the town under a military quarantine, and the feds have ramped up their search for Eleven hard enough that she has to go underground again.

"Find and kill Vecna."

As the anniversary of Will's original disappearance creeps up, so does that old familiar dread. The show is planting the flag: the final battle is coming, and the threat waiting on the other side is nastier than anything they've dealt with before. If they're going to shut the door on this nightmare, the whole party needs to stand together one last time.

Trailer takeaways

The trailer tees up an ambitious, borderline reckless plan from Mike, Dustin, Lucas, and Will to put Vecna down for good. We get a taste of some fun team-ups too: Dustin is back in the trenches with Steve (reunited, as it should be), and Robin pairs with Murray for the first time, which is a combo I did not have on my bingo card but instantly makes sense. The footage leans into tension and big swings across those first four episodes, with the kind of "this might actually break them" energy you want from a final season opener.

Who's in the fight

• Millie Bobby Brown, Finn Wolfhard, Noah Schnapp, Gaten Matarazzo, and Caleb McLaughlin
• Winona Ryder and David Harbour
• Natalia Dyer, Joe Keery, Charlie Heaton, and Sadie Sink
• Maya Hawke, Priah Ferguson, Cara Buono, and Brett Gelman
• Jamie Campbell Bower returns as Vecna/One/Henry Creel
• Amybeth McNulty is back as Vickie
• New this season: Linda Hamilton (yes, the Terminator icon) as Dr. Kay
• Nell Fisher as Holly Wheeler
• Jake Connelly as Derek Turnbow
• Alex Breaux as Lt. Akers

Bottom line: the trailer is doing the job. It promises scale, stakes, and some smart character pairings while keeping the big moves hidden. See you in Hawkins on November 26.