The Real Reason Stranger Things Season 5 Outspends Avengers: Endgame and Avatar 3

Netflix is cracking open the piggy bank for one last trip to Hawkins. The final season of Stranger Things is massive in every sense of the word: budget, runtime, release plan, emotions, all of it. Here’s what you’re actually in for.

The price tag: Netflix is spending movie money

Puck News says Season 5 is landing somewhere around $50–60 million per episode. There are eight episodes, so you’re looking at a reported total between $400–480 million. That puts this last season in the conversation with the most expensive TV ever, and honestly, with a lot of giant movies too.

How it stacks up next to mega-movies

For context, Avengers: Endgame is widely reported in the $356–400 million production range, and still had a separate marketing spend north of $200 million (that’s where those endless trailers and billboards come from). Endgame’s VFX alone has been estimated around $65 million, and the cast checks were huge: Robert Downey Jr. reportedly took home $20 million base, Scarlett Johansson around $15 million base before bonuses. Meanwhile, the next Avatar film (often referred to as Avatar: Fire and Ash) is said to be around $250 million to produce. The point: Stranger Things 5 is right there with the biggest of the big.

Why the number is so high

Short version: they’re making a lot of show. Last season was already pricey at about $30 million per episode. This time, it’s reportedly $50–60 million each, and each episode runs feature-length — Puck says 90 to 120 minutes. That’s eight little movies. More minutes means more sets, more VFX, more reshoots, more everything. On top of that, the cast has leveled up across the board, and their pay reflects it. Business Insider previously pegged the main cast in the $6–9 million range for this season, and Puck’s breakdown backs up the top end of that. Also worth noting: filming Season 5 took about a year and pushed through strikes and shutdowns. None of that is cheap.

Shawn Levy on the goodbye

"Season 5 was a beast. It took a year just to film... There were strikes, there were shutdowns, but it was also goodbye — goodbye to these stories, goodbye to Hawkins. You’re lucky if you get one 'Stranger Things' in your life. That’ll never happen again, and I think we all know it and cherish it."

That’s executive producer Shawn Levy (also the Deadpool & Wolverine filmmaker) describing the finish line on the red carpet for The First Shadow’s opening night. Translation: expect big feelings.

Release plan, story setup, runtimes

Netflix is stretching this finale across the holidays in three drops: Part 1 on November 26, Part 2 on December 25, and the finale on December 31. Eight episodes total, each reportedly 90–120 minutes. Yes, those are movie-sized runtimes.

Story-wise, we pick up a year after Season 4. Hawkins is grappling with the Rifts, the gang is back on the same mission: find Vecna and finish it, for real this time. Stakes are high enough that it sure sounds like not everyone makes it out clean. The Duffer Brothers are back steering the ship with Shawn Levy producing. And for my own sanity: please, do not touch Steve.

Who is making what

This part is a little nitty-gritty, but it tells you how Netflix is allocating that mountain of cash. Puck News outlines tiered deals, with Winona Ryder and David Harbour leading the pack, and Business Insider’s earlier $6–9 million range lining up with most of the core ensemble. Millie Bobby Brown is reportedly on a separate, very lucrative arrangement outside those tiers.

• Winona Ryder (Joyce Byers) — about $9.5 million
• David Harbour (Jim Hopper) — about $9.5 million
• Millie Bobby Brown (Eleven/Jane Hopper) — separate deal, not in tiers; exact figure not disclosed
• Finn Wolfhard (Mike Wheeler) — over $7 million
• Gaten Matarazzo (Dustin Henderson) — over $7 million
• Caleb McLaughlin (Lucas Sinclair) — over $7 million
• Noah Schnapp (Will Byers) — over $7 million
• Sadie Sink (Max Mayfield) — over $7 million
• Natalia Dyer (Nancy Wheeler) — over $6 million
• Charlie Heaton (Jonathan Byers) — over $6 million
• Joe Keery (Steve Harrington) — over $6 million
• Maya Hawke (Robin Buckley) — over $6 million
• Brett Gelman (Murray Bauman) — not specified in the tiers
• Priah Ferguson (Erica Sinclair) — not specified in the tiers
• Jamie Campbell Bower (Vecna/Henry Creel) — not specified in the tiers

Puck adds that a fourth tier exists and those actors make much less than the top three tiers. Beyond the above, expect familiar and new faces: Cara Buono, Linda Hamilton, Amybeth McNulty, Nell Fisher, Joe Chrest, and more are in the mix.

Bottom line: Netflix is spending like this is a major theatrical event — because, functionally, it is. If the Duffers deliver a finale that matches the scale of this budget, you’re going to get some wild, crowd-pleasing moments across eight feature-length chapters. Stranger Things Season 5 starts November 26.