Skip to main content TechRadar the technology experts Search TechRadar View Profile België (Nederlands) Deutschland North America US (English) Australasia New Zealand Tech Radar Pro Tech Radar Gaming Back to school Nintendo Switch 2 NYT Wordle today Best laptop Best web hosting Recommended reading Stranger Things season 5 release dates have been revealed, and Netflix has turned my 2025 festive season plans upside down From a Stranger Things season 5 release date to new movie trailer reveals, these are the 4 things I'm most excited to see at Netflix Tudum 2025 Amazon Prime Video The Boys season 5: everything we know so far about the popular Prime Video show's final entry Netflix Tudum 2025: every announcement from Stranger Things, One Piece, Squid Game, Wednesday and more Outer Banks season 5: everything we know so far about the Netflix teen drama's return Squid Game season 3: release date, trailer, cast, plot, and everything else we know about the hit Netflix show's final chapter Disney Plus Marvel reveals first trailer for its long-gestating Ironheart TV show, but its rumored episodic release format has got me worried Stranger Things first aired 9 years ago today but who cares? Netflix has made us wait too long for season 5 Jasmine Valentine 15 July 2025 Just let the Upside Down go already When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works. Millie Bobby Brown as Eleven in Stranger Things season 4. (Image credit: Netflix) Congratulations, fellow Stranger Things fan! You’re on the home stretch of the three year wait between Stranger Things season 4 and Stranger Things season 5. The final episodes will be split into three releases – volume 1 on November 26, volume 2 on December 25 and the season 5 finale on December 31 – so there’s still a small wait to go, but rumour has it we’re getting the first full season 5 trailer at some point this week. Today (July 15) marks the first time we ever saw one of the best Netflix shows of all time on screen, with the series debuting nine years ago in 2016. If you can’t remember what happened when we last visited Hawkins (and that’s understandable), our group of best friends attempted to defeat Vecna, causing Max's apparent death as well as the opening of a massive rift between the town and the Upside Down. No big deal, I’m sure. But as Netflix finally tries to get its fanbase excited about the drawn-out end, a painful question has to be asked. Why should anybody care about Stranger Things season 5 when we’ve been left in the lurch for so long? I’m wondering if it would have been less of a hassle to have been eaten by Vecna when we first met him, and that’s a problem. You may like Stranger Things season 5 release dates have been revealed, and Netflix has turned my 2025 festive season plans upside down From a Stranger Things season 5 release date to new movie trailer reveals, these are the 4 things I'm most excited to see at Netflix Tudum 2025 The Boys season 5: everything we know so far about the popular Prime Video show's final entry Stranger Things season 5 and its trailer are coming, but do we even care? Stranger Things 5 | Date Announcement | Netflix - YouTube Let’s put it into context. Since Stranger Things season 4 aired, we’ve had four seasons of The Bear, five seasons of Slow Horses (if you count new episodes we’re going to get in September) and two seasons of Severance… and look how long that took to return. In the Stranger Things world alone, we’ve had the arrival of non-canon West End play The First Shadow, plus the announcement of two spinoffs: animated series Stranger Things: Tales from '85 and live-action show The Boroughs. Everyone and their nan has seemingly complained about not getting season 5 in the meantime, and they’ve got good reason to be annoyed. Back in the good old days of the mid-2000s, we were regularly whipping through 22-episode seasons of TV like there was no tomorrow. Desperate Housewives and Lost were great examples of this, each requiring a high level of input and resource in their own way. Fast forward two decades, and the consolation prize of feeling lucky to get eight new episodes in three years doesn’t feel like something worth investing in. Sure, these upcoming episodes are basically feature length movies and the technical craft needed to achieve them is immense, but this is Hollywood, for goodness sake! Every resource we allegedly have at our disposal is supposed to be at the top of its game, able to give us everything we have and haven’t yet dreamed up. From a marketing perspective, Netflix might have thought dragging out the jewel in the crown of its streaming back catalog would make fans hungrier for the end product, but there’s only so far you can stretch the theory in practice. Of course, I’ll be streaming Stranger Things season 5 like the rest of us, but it will be a reluctant watch. The endless wait over the last few years has definitely made me think twice about investing in shows on one of the best streaming services around, and that’s before we even touch on the frequent cancellations (another story for another day). You might also like Stranger Things season 5's 12-month shoot yielded 650-plus hours of footage for its eight 'blockbuster movie' episodes, the popular Netflix show's creators say Stranger Things: The First Shadow's big lore reveal needs addressing in hit Netflix show's final season Everything new on Netflix in July 2025 Today's best Netflix deals Netflix - Standard with ads /mthView Deal Netflix - Standard /mthView Deal Netflix - Premium /mthView Deal Get daily insight, inspiration and deals in your inbox Sign up for breaking news, reviews, opinion, top tech deals, and more. Contact me with news and offers from other Future brandsReceive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsorsBy submitting your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over. Jasmine Valentine Social Links Navigation Streaming Staff Writer Jasmine is a Streaming Staff Writer for TechRadar, previously writing for outlets including Radio Times, Yahoo! and Stylist. She specialises in comfort TV shows and movies, ranging from Hallmark's latest tearjerker to Netflix's Virgin River. She's also the person who wrote an obituary for George Cooper Sr. during Young Sheldon Season 7 and still can't watch the funeral episode. You must confirm your public display name before commenting Please logout and then login again, you will then be prompted to enter your display name. Stranger Things season 5 release dates have been revealed, and Netflix has turned my 2025 festive season plans upside down From a Stranger Things season 5 release date to new movie trailer reveals, these are the 4 things I'm most excited to see at Netflix Tudum 2025 The Boys season 5: everything we know so far about the popular Prime Video show's final entry Netflix Tudum 2025: every announcement from Stranger Things, One Piece, Squid Game, Wednesday and more Outer Banks season 5: everything we know so far about the Netflix teen drama's return Squid Game season 3: release date, trailer, cast, plot, and everything else we know about the hit Netflix show's final chapter Latest in Netflix Netflix is gearing up to reveal something big about Stranger Things season 5, and there's only one thing it can be Trainwreck has dominated Netflix’s top 10 for weeks, but Balloon Boy might be the series’ most unhinged installment yet Squid Game: The Challenge season 3 is a win for Netflix, but one unhinged game from the K-drama can’t be replicated Virgin River season 8 gets early renewal from Netflix, and this season 6 cliffhanger could be a sneaky red herring Netflix is giving Solo Leveling the live-action treatment, but I’m worried for season 3 of the hit anime Netflix reveals new trailer for Wednesday season 2 that sees Jenna Ortega's reluctant hero on a race against time to save her best friend's life Latest in Opinion The internet still runs on 1980s protocols – that should worry you Brainpower unleashed: agentic AI and beyond bots Cloud sovereignty in Europe and beyond: a tipping point? 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