Respectfully, I’m tired. Scratch that—I’m exhausted. And I’m almost positive a good chunk of people will agree with me, and if you don’t, then please teach me yours. During Netflix’s annual TUDUM event on Saturday, May 31, the streamer announced that the fifth and final season of Stranger Things will be split into three parts.
As a series, nothing might ever top the first season of Stranger Things. We all remember where we were when Winona Ryder started communicating with Christmas lights, and we all flocked to the grocery store because we started craving Eggo waffles thanks to Millie Bobby Brown’s Eleven. Now, the younger actors are grown adults, and as of today, we’ve had four seasons of Hulu’s The Bear while we’ve waited for this last installment of Stranger Things after the Season 4 finale. Put into perspective like this, my brain short-circuits a bit. The scale of this show is understandably larger than that of more realistic dramas, but waiting over three years and then breaking up the season is outright tiring.
At the very least, this final drop could’ve been weekly, allowing conversations about the show’s final season to stretch out for a longer period of time. Instead, we’re heading back to the Upside Down during the busiest time of year.
When Is Stranger Things Season 5 Coming to Netflix?
Unfortunately, Stranger Things Season 5 will premiere on November 26, December 25, and December 31, during the three major holidays that, although the majority of the world might not be celebrating, the end-of-year workload typically tends to be incredibly busy. As journalists, we also have a plethora of Best Of coverage on our hands, on top of the holidays.
In addition, splitting something into three parts makes it much harder to adequately review. Most of us are forced to wait until the very end to get a clear picture. It’s all just a big ol’ mess that could have been avoided by at least airing the episodes weekly, if not all at once. The season will also feature eight episodes, likely meaning that each part will be split into four episodes, making it all the more challenging to cover.
This type of multi-episode drop does indeed work in some cases (as evidenced by Andor Season 2), but the time of year matters significantly as well. If this had happened during the summer, or at the very least, early fall, like September and October, it’d be far easier to figure out what we’re doing. More than anything, it’s the fact that it’s been three whole years since the last season that continually contributes to the fatigue people might be feeling. The amount of casual viewers I’ve personally spoken to who’ve said they’ve forgotten about it isn’t something anyone should say.
Still, here we are. If Netflix is going to torture us this way, then we should at least have the guarantee that our boy Steve Harrington will be alive and well before the finale.
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The streamer has also given viewers a short teaser that’s more nostalgic than anything else, and that’s perhaps a good thing. The series loves keeping us on our toes, so we’ll hold onto that for now. And we’ll also be lighting candles to end this split-season thing for good.
Stranger Things Seasons 1-4 are now streaming on Netflix.