The creators of Stranger Things have promised fans that Season 5 will finally answer one of the biggest questions left hanging since Season 1 made its explosive debut a decade ago.
Warning! Spoilers for Stranger Things follow:
This isn’t about an explanation for what the Upside Down is; Matt and Ross Duffer have already said the fifth and final season will reveal all on Stranger Things’ hellish alternate dimension. This is about the kidnapping of Will Byers, played by Noah Schnapp.
Stranger Things began with the mysterious disappearance of Will, and Season 5 will finally answer why he was kidnapped and brought to the Upside Down in the first place. ‘Chapter One: The Vanishing of Will Byers’ is the first episode of Stranger Things and the first episode of the first season. It was written and directed by the Duffer Brothers and premiered on Netflix on July 15, 2016, along with the rest of the season.
In the new Season 5 trailer, we see evil monster Vecna (Jamie Campbell Bower) in full control over Will’s body. “You are going to help me… one… last… time,” it says.
At long last… we can begin. The trailer for the epic final season of STRANGER THINGS is HERE. pic.twitter.com/5qi9memqSv
— Netflix (@netflix) October 30, 2025
In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Ross Duffer said that fans should go back to Season 2, Episode 6, called ‘The Spy,’ to help them understand what Vecna means here. This is, Ross said, “the most important episode,” and shows Will “working, in a way, for the Mind Flayer.”
In The Spy, Will is brought to Hawkins National Laboratory. At one point, a severed tendril from the tunnels is burnt, causing Will to experience paint. Will later points soldiers in the direction of a place the monster doesn’t want him to see, which turns out to be a trap. Will says "he made me do it" because "they upset him." Will, it seems, is the spy.
Fans have for years theorized about why Will was taken in Season 1, rather than simply killed like so many others. What happened to him when he was kidnapped, and to what end? Finally, we’re getting answers.
According to Entertainment Weekly, Season 5 begins in the fall of 1987, near the anniversary of Will’s disappearance in the Upside Down. “So much of the season was built around the idea of coming full circle, answering many of the questions that were posed all the way back in season 1,” Matt said. “I think the two biggest questions that we didn’t really answer in Season 1 that we do answer this season is ‘what is the Upside Down, truly?’ and ‘why was Will taken?’”
“We reveal really everything about the Upside Down, all of which was planned out in season 1,” Matt added. “It was fun to finally pull back the curtain on all of that.”
Here’s the official blurb on Stranger Things Season 5:
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. 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.
Stranger Things Season 5 debuts on Netflix in three parts, with the first four episodes arriving for the Thanksgiving holiday on November 26. The next three episodes premiere on Christmas, and the series finale will debut on the streamer and in over 350 theaters nationwide on New Year’s Eve.
Stranger Things Season 5 release dates:
- VOL 1 - November 26, 5pm PT
- VOL 2 - Christmas, 5pm PT
- THE FINALE - New Year’s Eve, 5pm PT
Season 5 arrives over three years after the finale of Season 4. For more, check out the burning questions we still have from Stranger Things Season 4.
Image credit: Netflix.
Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
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