Netflix surprise releases first five minutes of ‘Stranger Things’ season 5

November 7, 2025 2

Finn Wolfhard as Mike Wheeler, Caleb McLaughlin as Lucas Sinclair, Natalia Dyer as Nancy Wheeler, Joe Keery as Steve Harrington, Charlie Heaton as Jonathan Byers and Gaten Matarazzo as Dustin Henderson in ‘Stranger Things’ season 5. (Netflix)

(SPOILER ALERT) Stranger Things fans have been given a chance to return to the Upside Down a few weeks early.

Netflix has released the first five minutes of the fifth and final season of Stranger Things, and they may leave audiences surprised with where and when the season starts.

Season 5 begins with a scene that canonically takes place in season 1. It opens with Will Byers, played by Noah Schnapp, on Nov. 12, 1983 — six days after he originally went missing.

A de-aged Schnapp acting as 12-year-old Will is confused and shaking with fear inside of the Upside Down’s version of Castle Byers. He sings the song “Should I Stay or Should I Go” by The Clash to himself in an attempt to calm himself down. His older brother, Jonathan (Charlie Heaton), introduced that song to him in the series’ pilot episode.

A demogorgon then crashes inside of Castle Byers. Will makes his escape after shooting the creature with a hunting rifle. The young boy climbs a tree to try to outwit the demogorgon, but it scales up after him, causing Will to plummet to the ground, unconscious.

The creature pulls Will to the Upside Down’s version of Hawkins Library, straight to the villainous Vecna (Jamie Campbell Bower).

“You and I, we are going to do such beautiful things together, William,” Vecna says to the boy.

Netflix is releasing season 5 in three different drops. The first four episodes arrive on Nov. 26, just ahead of Thanksgiving, while the following three episodes will debut on Dec. 25. The series finale of Stranger Things premieres on Dec. 31.