Stranger Things Smashes Netflix Record Ahead of Season 5
With Season 5 on the horizon, Stranger Things just made Netflix history: during the week of Nov. 17–23, all four seasons hit the English-language Top 10 simultaneously—a full-series sweep no other show has achieved.
Stranger Things is already doing victory laps before the final season even drops. In the lead-up to Season 5, the show just pulled off a very specific, very hard flex on Netflix that points to one thing: everyone is cramming a rewatch.
The record
During the week of November 17–23, all four existing seasons of Stranger Things landed in Netflix's Top 10 for English-language series. That has never happened before for any Netflix series — four separate seasons in the Top 10 at once.
- Season 1: No. 3 with 4.1 million views
- Season 4: No. 5 with 3.3 million views
- Season 2: No. 7 with 3.1 million views
- Season 3: No. 9 with 3.1 million views
It has been three years since Season 4 wrapped in July 2022, so the timing tracks: fans are catching up before the endgame. And the show is still a monster for Netflix. Season 4 alone is currently the streamer's third-most popular English-language season ever with 140.7 million views. Given that momentum, Season 5 will probably crash Netflix's all-time Top 10 once it lands.
Season 5: where it picks up
The new season jumps ahead 18 months from the Season 4 finale, when the Upside Down finally tore into Hawkins. The town is now under a military quarantine, Eleven is forced into hiding, and everyone else is bracing for the inevitable final showdown with Vecna.
Who is back
Pretty much the whole core cast: Winona Ryder, David Harbour, Millie Bobby Brown, Finn Wolfhard, Gaten Matarazzo, Caleb McLaughlin, Noah Schnapp, Sadie Sink, Natalia Dyer, Charlie Heaton, Joe Keery, Maya Hawke, Brett Gelman, Priah Ferguson, Jamie Campbell Bower, Cara Buono, Amybeth McNulty, Nell Fisher, Jake Connelly, Alex Breaux, and Linda Hamilton. Created by the Duffer Brothers, this is the last chapter for the series.
How Netflix is rolling it out
Netflix is slicing the finale season into three drops. The first four episodes arrive November 26, 2025. Episodes five through seven hit on December 25, 2025. The big finale lands December 31, 2025 — and that last episode will also play in select theaters. Not exactly a subtle way to ring in the new year.