After waiting two years for Stranger Things season 5, we definitely thought it was a slam dunk that we would see the final season of the Netflix original series in 2025. While Netflix has confirmed that's the plan, Matt and Ross Duffer, the creators of Stranger Things, recently opened up about why a 2025 release is "quite the push."
According to a report from Variety, the Duffer brothers, as they are known, were speaking at SCAD TVfest and accepting the Variety Showrunners Award when they revealed that it's going to be a close call if Stranger Things season 5 will be released in 2025. Matt also shared that they have a call with Netflix to iron out the release plans.
Here's what Matt Duffer told Variety:
“A lot of it hasn’t been decided, in terms of exactly the release dates and cadence. That’s one reason I’m not allowed to talk about it. We’re getting on a call in about a couple weeks about it. I just know it was very important for us and Netflix that we get it out this year. But even that is quite the push.”
Clearly, the Duffers and Netflix are going to try to get the season done this year, but these comments definitely are not what fans want to hear. I would much rather hear a confident, "Stranger Things season 5 is coming this year. No doubt about it." This is as far away from that as we can be, and that's alarming because Stranger Things season 5 is supposed to come out later this year. Fans were even hoping to see the new season as early as this summer. Remember, three of the four seasons of Stranger Things have been released during the summer.
Matt Duffer also revealed where they are at in post-production right now. It's just getting started.
"Right now, we’re just cutting all the visual effects sequences for the show so they can get started on those, so that they can be running in time for a release.”
Why the Stranger Things season 5 release update is concerning
After reading this Stranger Things season 5 release update from the Duffers, it's definitely starting to cause some concern from fans, myself included. As I mentioned, hearing it put so bluntly that they have so much work left to do on the season when it's already been so long is a lot for fans to take in. Netflix tends to operate in secret when it comes to these things. We often don't hear updates from creators at this part of the process. We hear when filming wraps, and then we can kind of follow the cast as they're pulled back in for ADR. Sometimes, the post-production people share something. Often, we're left in the dark.
There are also a lot of Netflix shows coming in 2025, and many are finished or will be finished before Stranger Things season 5. If there are post-production hiccups or delays, Netflix could easily, but probably regretfully, decide to push Stranger Things season 5 to 2026. There's no way that anyone wants to do that, but it's not like there aren't enough TV and movies coming to Netflix this year. There are literally so many big shows that we've already seen a few big titles pushed to 2026 anyway.
That's my main worry. There's still so much time left to get Stranger Things season 5 ready, but this is the final season, so you know the Duffers want it to be perfect. Netflix wants it to be perfect. And, they'll want to do a massive sendoff to the best and biggest Netflix show so far. Stranger Things is really the show that put Netflix on the map in terms of its original TV production. They had seen some big wins, of course, but there have only been so many shows like Stranger Things in modern history.
If Stranger Things season 5 isn't ready to go, it makes a lot of sense to make sure it's perfect and then give it the sendoff it deserves. Again, that's the fear at this point, but it's not all doom and gloom. We're closer to seeing Stranger Things season 5 than we ever have been before, you know? That's not nothing.
I listened to all the Netflix earnings calls with investors and Ted Sarandos as confirmed plans to release Stranger Things season 5 this year multiple times over the last year. That has to mean something, too!
It's also possible that the Duffers always feel like this coming out of production with the amount of work that needs to go into putting the final product together. It sounds like that's basically what happened with Stranger Things season 4, too. Matt Duffer even mentioned in the Variety interview that they were adding in visual effects after the episodes were released.
“Even Season 4, we cut that so tight. We were dropping in visual effects shots the day after the launch! So hopefully we’ll be a little more on schedule this year … now it’s just sort of climbing up another hill as we head towards finally finishing this.”
For now, we'll just have to wait until Netflix shares more information. Netflix and the Duffers want the show to come out this year, and they're working hard to make it happen. That's the positive takeaway. We'll talk more about the negative takeaway when it comes to that!
Stay tuned for more news about Stranger Things season 5.