The much-anticipated, long-awaited fifth and final season of Netflix’s Stranger Things has finally arrived. Or at least Part One of the series’ final season is now available to stream, just in time for Thanksgiving.
The cast and showrunners have done a fantastic job of keeping pre-release spoilers to a minimum. And that held true during the string of press conferences held leading up to the November 26, 2025 debut of Stranger Things’ fifth season.
Netflix grouped executive producer Shawn Levy with series stars David Harbour (“Jim Hopper”), Millie Bobby Brown (“Eleven”), and Noah Schnapp (“Will Byers”) for a lengthy Q&A. The following are highlights from the panel, and I promise they’re spoiler-free.
On stepping onto the set for this final season:
Millie Bobby Brown: “I can’t obviously speak much to the sets, because it’s a dead giveaway. But I would say a lot of the show has been quite practical in terms of, I mean, even Vecna. But our sets this year have felt insane. There’s one specific set that I just was kind of in shock that it was even built. And it’s just unbelievable.
I think that’s the privilege that we as actors get to have, which is just not having to imagine absolutely everything and being able to actually work with a world and space, and not having to imagine much is a joy.”
David Harbour: “So, you know, in a band you have like a bassist, a lead guitarist, a guy on keyboards, a guy on drums, whatever, blah, blah, blah. Like the guy who plays guitar doesn’t really need to understand the meaning of the song to like enjoy playing his part of guitar very well, or like what he loves about his particular thing. And I did find that for me, you know, it still comes back to the same thing. It doesn’t matter if there’s a huge green screen or a huge set or something like that. It’s like I’m playing guitar, what I love to do, and trying to bring my element and my voice, which is, as Shawn says, there is the epic and the intimate. And I much prefer the intimate.”
On the cast’s chemistry:
Millie Bobby Brown: “We’re all, in our own way, outcasts. And I think like if you see or meet any of us, which I’m sure you will, you’ll know how strange we are in our own way. I think that’s what speaks so well to the ensemble, but also us as individuals and us as actors. I think when you bring that together, I think that is also the DNA of our show.
I think that is also what makes our show so great, is that people and audiences can feel connected to that flawed person, that person that just brings a little bit of Robin or El or Harbour or Joyce. You go, ‘Wow, I feel incredibly connected to this person.’
[…] When we’re on set, I don’t feel like there’s any perfect person. And that’s what’s exciting, is that you are able to be entirely vulnerable because we all are. We’re all entirely ourselves.”
Noah Schnapp: “I think it’s so crucial to have good chemistry, and that was such a major part of the casting and the chemistry reads that we did back in season one, kind of making sure everyone worked so well together. And I mean, it reads. It reads on screen and not just our dialogue that’s scripted, but the improv that kind of happens in the moment that we get to do. Because we love each other and because we feel comfortable with each other, it allows for moments like that to shine.
I’m so grateful that we all do kind of work so well together and get along because it makes the job easier.”
On how playing Eleven’s bravery has affected her life:
Millie Bobby Brown: “[…] I’ve always been quite outspoken and brave in my own way. But as an actor, I’ve always been quite instinctual and based just off of kind of what I feel in the moment. But I do think in this season, I put a lot more thought into it and to speak to Shawn, just because it was the last one. And you question everything you’ve ever done with your character. You’re like, ‘Oh, this is my last go.’
Like last season, season four, I was like, ‘Right, I’m going to really play to the humanity of Eleven this year. And you’re able to kind of explore that. This season I was like, ‘Okay, now I’m playing a superhero. This is my last shot at playing this superhero,’ and being a superhero requires a lot of bravery. And as an actor, I think I threw myself into it.
You kind of have to leave your humility at the door because you are throwing your hands down pretending to fly when you’re not. So, I just really channeled my inner alpha bear. And, yeah, sometimes you look silly, but I think that there has always been a space on this set that makes me feel brave and welcomed. All of that is very welcomed. It’s like a playground where you’re able to just try out new things and see if it sticks.”
On the pivotal bond between Eleven and Hopper:
David Harbour: “[…] There are two people that are both lost, that are both heroic, sometimes beyond their capabilities, that both have such big, broad, deep hearts and are both deeply flawed in how they express themselves and make tons of mistakes. That is right up my alley. I love playing characters like that. I love human beings like that. I love humanity.
So, you know, Millie and I, we really got to do a lot during season two because they really focused the story on us. There was a lot of big broad emotions and stuff. And then season three, she gets lost with Mike in the mall and Hopper drops out and gets a shirt and whatever. Then Hopper goes to Russia. We only had like one scene, I think in season four. And then, so we got to come back together this season. I know that the Duffers were like, we really want to land this plane. It was really important for me that we land this plane too, because of the millions of people that love Hopper and Eleven and love that bond that they share. And they do something so extraordinary this season.
I don’t know if you’ll get the full effect until you see episode eight, which you have to wait until New Year’s Eve for that. Sorry, we’ve ruined every holiday for you – Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s Eve. […] I will say things happen in the best scripts where it’s perfect and it’s unexpected. And I think that’s what happens to these characters after 10 years, is you don’t expect this to happen. You don’t think it’s going to happen. It happens and it’s perfect. And the payoff is really deep and rich. I was thrilled to be able to do that with you this season.”
Millie Bobby Brown: “Thank you. I couldn’t agree more. I think starting out the show, meeting David, I never knew season one that he would eventually be my dad. [Laughing] It’s just such a weird pair. You know, this show brings the most unexpected characters together.
And to David’s point on season two, our fighting and really intense and emotional scenes of bonding as father and daughter for the first time, maybe unbeknownst to them as well, it built this foundation for me as an actor to just play and to have fun and to find a very, to David’s point, a really deep connection between them both.
I think in season five, it’s very funny how easily we slip into the father-daughter role and immediately, you know, Eleven’s able to bite back at him and he’s able to bite back at her.
They have this shorthand that I think is really unique in the show. […] I think when people come up to me and talk about Eleven, it’s always pretty much within the same sentence that they say that they love the dynamic between Hopper and El. And I think it’s really inspiring because what person has a relationship with any of their parental figures that’s absolutely perfect? And I think we’re able to bring that to screen and show the dynamics of growing up and how hard it is to navigate what that looks like. I think the Duffers wrote that so well this season, and I’m really excited for everyone to see.”
On wrapping up the series while striking a balance between honoring characters and answering mysteries:
Shawn Levy: “We prioritized the need to do both. It’s our last season and it was the North Star of the scripts and of making these episodes that we needed to finally unravel mysteries, give answers, but through the unexpected, become emotionally satisfying. And so, the thing about this gig, from its very beginning, is it can’t just be great three-and-a-half-page character scenes. It can’t just be cool monsters and visual effects. It’s both. They all matter and they matter equally. And it is that combination that is so unique about the show.
But having seen by the way that final episode – having been reduced, and this is in spite of having been in the pitch for it, read the outlines for it, read the script for it, been at the table read for it – that final episode of this final season is so masterfully done by the Duffers and by every actor in this cast. I’m incredibly excited. I’m very proud to be a part of this show, but I’m very excited for the world to experience such moving full-throated storytelling.”
- Stranger Things Season 5, Part 1: The first four episodes were released on November 26, 2025, at 5pm PT/8pm ET.
- Stranger Things Season 5, Part 2: The next three episodes will be released on Christmas Day, December 25, 2025, at 5pm PT/8pm ET.
- Part 3 (Finale): The series finale will drop on New Year’s Eve, December 31, 2025, at 5pm PT/8pm ET.
- Trailer for Volume 2
