The Rest of Stranger Things 5 Is Coming Out at the Best and Worst Possible Time
The release plan for Stranger Things' final episodes could work out fine for you, but it all depends on your situation.
If you’ve just finished watching the first four episodes of Stranger Things season 5, you might be sitting there thinking, “ok, where’s the rest?” and the answer is that you don’t have to wait a long time for the final chapters to drop on Netflix. At least, not comparatively, when you consider that the gap between season 4 and 5 was more than three years.
There are four more episodes arriving in December, with three on December 25 at 8 p.m. ET and the very final one streaming on December 31 at 8 p.m. ET. Yes, those dates are indeed Christmas Day and New Year’s Eve, so depending on how busy you are over the holiday period, this might be wonderful or terrible news.
There may be trouble ahead, as Irving Berlin once wrote, because cramming three episodes of Stranger Things in on December 25 might be awkward, considering how long they usually are. Three of the first four in Season 5 were over an hour long, with episode four clocking in at 1 hour 23 minutes. So, to be safe, you’ll want to allow yourself between four and six hours to watch the next three.
If you’re a die-hard fan of the show, you probably know exactly why you’d want to watch the episodes as soon as they’re released. You’ve waited a long time to see the end of all this, and there are spoilers everywhere. However, if you can’t make time on December 25 because of other commitments, that’s perfectly understandable. You might be working or be with family members who aren’t interested in Stranger Things, and catching up a blissfully unaware grampa on why you’re a Stancy shipper on Christmas afternoon before you hit play is going to be quite the gauntlet, so give it some thought.
But if you do want to jump on new episodes right away and have plenty of room to fit in three on December 25, this release plan is much better news. Things tend to slow down on that day, so setting aside a big block of time to find out what happens next could be feasible.
The New Year’s Day finale might also be tricky, because we could expect that episode to be longer than the rest of Season 5’s installments. The show’s finales have only grown longer since season 1’s 55 minutes, with Season 4’s finale clocking in at two hours and 22 minutes. The concluding episode of Stranger Things may end up being at least the length of a typical feature film (and it will indeed be screened in theaters). Plan accordingly!
Written by
Kirsten Howard has paid their dues. Yes sir, the check is in the mail.