Custom split image of Millie Bobby Brown as Eleven and Jamie Campbell Bower as Vecna in Stranger Things

Stranger Things has been a major point of conversation for the better part of the last year, with fans growing weary as more time passed since the release of Season 4, which came in the Summer of 2022. The fifth and final season of Stranger Things wrapped filming earlier this year, and while everything was pointing towards a 2025 release date, recent reporting revealed that may be a tough window to hit. However, Collider’s Steve Weintraub recently attended a panel at SDAC TVfest where creators Ross and Matt Duffer spoke about the show. Confirming work has begun on the visual effects the Duffers said, “We’re focused on visual effects sequences right now. We started back in January, so it’s going well. We’re actually ahead of schedule which is rare for us, so that’s great.”

During the panel, they went on to confirm that Stranger Things Season 5 will be released in 2025. “It’s coming this year,” they said before the crowd burst into excited applause. While they did not reveal an official date, and even also made sure to say “It’s still a long way away,” fans can rest easy knowing we won’t be waiting until 2026 for more Stranger Things.

Stranger Things is far from the traditional TV show; the final three episodes in Season 4 were more comparable to short movies, with the season finale even coming in at a whopping 2:22 runtime, which is one of the longest episodes ever for a series. Stranger Things stars and creatives have not been shy to tease that the same thing is coming for Season 5. During a recent interview with Collider’s Weintraub, Stranger Things star Finn Wolfhard said that while there will still be some episodes that have a more traditional 45 to 50-minute runtime, there are some that are once again more like small movies than TV episodes. Stranger Things Season 4 was its most ambitious season yet, and we now have confirmation we won’t have to wait long to see how the Duffer brothers top themselves in Season 5.

When Does ‘Stranger Things’ Season 5 Take Place?

Hopper (David Harbour) eats a bowl of cereal with a slight smile on his face in 'Stranger Things' Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown) holds an ice cream cone and is clearly upset in 'Stranger Things' Yuri Ismaylov (Nikola Djuricko) in Stranger Things Stranger Things' Chrissy Cunningham copy Eleven, with a bloody nose, and Dustin and Mike behind her on the floor at the mall, looking scared Hopper (David Harbour) eats a bowl of cereal with a slight smile on his face in 'Stranger Things' Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown) holds an ice cream cone and is clearly upset in 'Stranger Things' Yuri Ismaylov (Nikola Djuricko) in Stranger Things Stranger Things' Chrissy Cunningham copy Eleven, with a bloody nose, and Dustin and Mike behind her on the floor at the mall, looking scared

It’s been confirmed that Stranger Things Season 5 will take place in 1987, which is around a year and a half after the events of Season 4. This will certainly shine a brighter light on a complaint that many have developed about Stranger Things as the show has progressed, which is that the cast members do not even remotely match the age of their characters. The show now features many actors in their mid-20s still portraying characters who are supposed to be 10 years younger than them. This is so noticeable, in fact, that Star Wars: Skeleton Crew creators referenced this when speaking about a potential Season 2 of their show, saying that they would not make the same mistake as Stranger Things and would instead account for time jumps and aging child actors.

Stranger Things Season 5 will be released before the end of 2025. Stay tuned to Collider for future updates and watch Stranger Things on Netflix.