The series finale is “exciting” so far

It has also spawned a whole series of spin-offs and tie-ins, including a theatrical prequel (Stranger Things: The First Shadow) and an upcoming animated series (Stranger Things: Tales from ’85), as well as board games, comics, and clothing lines. What’s more, it has made stars out of its young cast, including Millie Bobby Brown — who plays Eleven, a girl with supernatural powers trapped in a cruel live science experiment — Sadie Sink, Finn Wolfhard, Gaten Matarazzo, Caleb McLaughlin, and Noah Schnapp.

But back in 2022, it was announced that this fifth season would also be the last. Despite being a globally successful juggernaut, it’s a good time to wrap up the series, not least because the original ‘kiddie’ heroes are now in their early twenties. Perhaps that’s why the final season, set in 1987, sees the master ghoul, known as Vecna, Henry Creel, or One (played mostly under horrific prosthetics by Jamie Campbell Bower) targeting a new generation of kids, presumably to tug at viewers’ hearts a little further.

There’s one child in particular, Holly (Neil Fisher), who Vecna ​​stars in her latest incarnation, who appears as an imaginary friend, haunting people’s minds. Holly is the younger sister of Mike Wheeler (Wolvard) and Nancy (Natalia Dyer). Their mission and their peers in the opening four episodes of the series, released today, is, as Mike said, to ensure “that the big, wrinkled, noseless, rotting villain is dead and gone, never to come back.”

New challenges

That’s easier said than done, as the odds are stacked against them more than ever. There’s a new human adversary in the ruthless Dr. Kay – played by Terminator star Linda Hamilton – a military scientist hunting down Eleven (Brown). Eleven and Hopper (David Harbour) are on the run, but the rest of the main group of characters have now been reunited; They develop more crazy ideas using radio tracking devices to eliminate Vecna, whose hive mind and demogorgons continue to flow into Hawkins. All of this takes place while the city is under quarantine and military rule, after the entire topsy-turvy hell hole of the previous series opened up.