The Duffer Brothers tease what fans can expect from Stranger Things season 5

A new interview with Stranger Things series co-creators Matt and Ross Duffer just dropped! Variety released a sitdown with the showrunners proctored by Kate Arthur and she asks a lot of excellent and engaging questions. If you’re curious about what we might be able to expect from Stranger Things season 5, which will be the final season, we’ve got some great information for you below!

The entire interview is a little over 30 minutes so there is a lot of information to cover. If you’re a Stranger Things diehard then I highly recommend watching the whole thing, but if you don’t have time then we can at least give you an overall idea of what the Duffers said regarding the show’s fifth and final season.

Will Stranger Things season 5 be split into two volumes?

The length and episode count of the fifth season will be dictated by story. Season 4 was split into two volumes due to the pandemic and subsequent delay. Matt and Ross felt like the show needed to come out by May, as any later than that would be pushing it.

Episodes 8 and 9 were not actually done when the first volume dropped because of how big and FX-heavy they are. But Matt also revealed that he kind of likes how the first part of the season dropped and now they have, essentially, a giant movie to release in July since the final two episodes are almost four hours in length.

In short, they will wait and see how people feel about the split when all is said and done before deciding how they release the fifth season. Without the pandemic causing massive delays (although who knows what the future holds) if they can get the entire show finished and completed, they might just release them at once as is customary.

Will the episodes in Stranger Things season 5 be super-sized?

Again, the answer to this revolves around the storyline and what it demands in terms of the writing and the way they structure the pacing of each episode. The Duffers talked about how they did not feel any of season 4 episodes could have been cutdown or split into more episodes due to the way the four storylines were constructed and divvied up in each installment.

How many episodes will be in Stranger Things season 5?

Similar to the above answer, it’s too early to tell. I’m assuming it’ll be around the same length of 8 or 9 episodes, but if the episodes don’t demand such a strict structure with several intersecting storylines, they could potentially break up longer episodes into more episodes, so 13 episodes of a shorter length rather than 8 or 9 massive ones.

The origins of the Upside Down will be explored in the final season

We will finally learn more about what exactly the Upside Down is, how it came into existence and more in the final season. Actually, Ross teases that the second half of season 4 will delve into the hierarchy of the Upside Down villains such as the Mind Flayer and Vecna. Who is more powerful? Is the Mind Flayer still around?

"“The only thing we don’t delve into in [season 4] volume 2 is Upside Down lore. We hint at it. I’m sure someone on Reddit will be able to maybe piece it together, but a lot of those answers for the Upside Down or that is really what the basis of season 5 is about.”"

So it sounds like lingering questions about the nature of the Upside Down will be addressed next season.

We will get answers regarding why the Upside Down is frozen on the day Will vanished

One of the big reveals in the fourth season was that the Upside Down has remained frozen on the day Will Byers went missing back in the first season.

Ross Duffer talks about how they debated putting that in this season because there will not be resolution to the reasoning in season 4 volume 2. However, he stated that it will be addressed in the fifth season and likely plays a role in the creation of the Upside Down and the lore behind it.

Stranger Things season 4 part 1 is now streaming on Netflix. Part 2 will release on Friday, July 1, 2022.