Table of contents for Stranger Things: The Final Chapter in Stranger Things: The Final Chapter

I CAME FACE TO FACE with the Mind Flayer and lived to tell about it! To clarify: I wasn’t alone. Some 1,600 other Stranger Things fans were with me that April night, as a mechanized version of the fearsome creature from the Upside Down hovered over the orchestra section of Broadway’s Marquis Theatre, thrilling an audience riveted to the Tony-winning stage prequel Stranger Things: The First Shadow. If this TV critic’s excursion to live theater convinced me of anything, it’s that absence has only made the heart grow desperate for new episodes of Netflix’s monster hit, which released its Season 4 finale way back in July 2022. The mere sound of those haunting synchronized chords of the Stranger Things theme, wafting through a packed theater, sent chills, prompting screams and…

Attention, nerds: If you haven’t started your Stranger Things full series rewatch before catching the final episodes on Netflix, now is your chance. And we highly recommend refreshing your knowledge on all of Hawkins’ happenings; show creators Matt and Ross Duffer have already announced there will be lots of callbacks in this fifth and final round. Plus, why wouldn’t you want to relive the magic and mayhem? From the first few minutes of Stranger Things, where an unseen Demogorgon stalks scientists through the halls of Hawkins National Laboratory, nestled in a cozy Indiana town, it was clear that this ’80s-set sci-fi drama would be able to bring big scares and beyond-creepy creatures to the small screen. What surprised us and drew the attention of most folks when Season 1 gained…

CHAPTER 1 Suzie, Do You Copy? IT’S JUNE 28, 1984, and the story begins in Kamchatka, Russia, where Soviet scientists are attempting to reopen the gate to the Upside Down. The powerful machine they’re using nearly succeeds—a rift begins to form, but it is swiftly closed when the machine malfunctions. The scientist in charge is killed for his failure, and his second in command, Dr. Alexei (Alec Utgoff), is given one year to accomplish the task. One year later, in Hawkins, Mike and Eleven are making out in Hopper’s cabin. The chief is not happy. Later, Mike, Will, Lucas and Max are hanging out at the newly opened Starcourt Mall. They go through the back of the Scoops Ahoy ice cream parlor, where Steve and his new colleague Robin Buckley…

Ever wonder what life in Hawkins looked like before the events of Season 1? Stage show Stranger Things: The First Shadow dives into the town’s history with many of its beloved residents—and their parents—in 1959, when Hawkins encountered a different type of superpowered outcast. The play follows a teenage Henry Creel, long before he became the Upside Down’s ruler Vecna, Season 4’s villain and likely key to the show’s ending. Henry moves from Nevada to Hawkins with his family, hoping for a fresh start after a violent incident involving another child. But soon after enrolling at Hawkins High, strange things start to happen. Henry crosses paths with many familiar faces, such as Joyce Byers (née Maldonado), Jim Hopper and Bob Newby. As Jim, Joyce and Bob look into a string…

DEMOGORGONS THERE’S NOTHING LIKE the O.G. ogre! In the Stranger Things universe, the Demogorgon emerged as Season 1’s menacing monster, terrorizing Hawkins, Indiana. The big bad, standing over 8 feet fall, with a humanoid body and giant flower petal–shaped mouth, memorably killed Nancy’s (Natalia Dyer) bestie Barb (Shannon Purser). The seemingly sole Demogorgon was obliterated by Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown) using her psychokinetic powers. The creature later popped up through out the series. We learned they begin life as sluglike larva, such as the one Will (Noah Schnapp) throws up into the sink, and later become pollywogs, like the critter Dustin (Gaten Matarazzo) finds and names Dart that eventually grows into a Demodog. Most recently, we saw Demogorgons fighting prisoners at a Russian gulag where Jim Hopper (David Harbour) faced down…

MILLIE BOBBY BROWN ELEVEN WHEN VIEWERS MEET ELEVEN, she’s shivering, hungry and barely speaking. But the immense power within the Hawkins National Laboratory escapee was just hiding beneath the surface. Her psychokinesis—the ability to move objects with her mind—is just the start. She can also track people by entering the Void, her mental realm, where she observes or connects with others. And, well, she did open up the gate to the Upside Down, which caused so many horrible things to happen in Hawkins. It’s that last thing that makes El think she’s a monster at first. But her real superpower has always been picking her best friends—who convince her otherwise, are always there to lend a hand and, when there are no monsters to battle, show her the joys of…

CHAPTER 1 The Vanishing of Will Byers IT’S NIGHTTIME ON Sunday, November 6, 1983, in Hawkins, Indiana, at Hawkins National Laboratory. Fluorescent lights flicker, and a scientist is snatched up into the darkness of an elevator by an unseen snarling monster. Elsewhere, a group of four 12-year-old boys—Mike Wheeler (Finn Wolfhard), Will Byers (Noah Schnapp), Lucas Sinclair (Caleb McLaughlin) and Dustin Henderson (Gaten Matarazzo)—are in the middle of a tense Dungeons &Dragons campaign that’s broken up by Dungeon Master Mike’s mom, Karen (Cara Buono). While biking home, Will is chased into his garden shed by a predatorial monster, which we’ll later learn is a humanoid, dimension-jumping Demogorgon. Will and the monster seemingly vanish. On Monday morning, no one can find Will, and while Police Chief Jim Hopper (David Harbour) says…

6 SUZIE & DUSTIN In Season 3, Dustin’s (Gaten Matarazzo) friends don’t believe his girlfriend Suzie (Gabriella Pizzolo, right) exists when he tells them about meeting his Utah-based love at science camp in the summer of 1985. He even crafts a ham radio to contact her. After weeks of radio silence, though, he reaches out. But not to say hi. He needs her help with a math equation to save the world. Suzie first makes him sing “The NeverEnding Story” duet with her in exchange for the intel. What can we say? We just love their adorkable vibe. 5 MAX & LUCAS Lucas (Caleb McLaughlin) may have stalked Hawkins newcomer Max (Sadie Sink) after her arrival in the small Indiana town at the start of Season 2, but these two soon became…

In this scene from the fourth episode, “Sauna Test,” the kids trap lifeguard Billy (Dacre Montgomery) inside a sauna at the community pool to determine whether the Mind Flayer monster is using him as a host. The beast can’t tolerate heat, so they crank up the steam to see how he responds—and boy does he respond. What did you think when you first read it? Shawn Levy: I wanted to do justice to this big idea. When you have huge stakes plus a contained location, you get maximum inten-sity. The first step was about three months of storyboarding and stunt choreography to figure out the action. Unlike most scenes in a TV series, this one was going to require multiple [shooting] days, as if it were a movie. When Millie…

GOOSEBUMPS With its mix of clever, relatable teens, laughs and legit scares, the two-season anthology adaptation of R.L. Stine’s works is the perfect companion to the Hellfire Club kids. “One of the fun things about writing teenagers,” noted showrunner Hilary Winston of the series, which wrapped in 2025, “[is] that the world could be totally burning down around them and they would still be like, ‘Are you mad at me?’ And that’s where a lot of our comedy came from.” As for the scares? They came from classic Stine stories like The Haunted Mask, Night of the Living Dummy, Monster Blood and Stay Out of the Basement, which inspired much of Season 2’s storyline featuring David Schwimmer as a botanist in big trouble. STREAM ON DISNEY+ THE INSTITUTE This adaptation…

“THE STAKES ARE about as high as they can get—the end of the world,” says Matt Duffer about the final season of Stranger Things, the sci-fi/horror hit he created with his brother Ross, who adds, “The battle sequences are the biggest we’ve ever had by a long shot.” That’s saying a lot for this 1980s-set show that pits nerdy kids in Hawkins, Indiana, against monsters from a parallel world known as the Upside Down in fiery, gory fights that include a lab massacre and a mall inferno. Season 5’s life-or-death conclusion rolls out in three volumes, on November 26, December 25 and December 31. And battle fatigue isn’t an option for the small-town crew who, in Season 1, confidently pinged a baddy with slingshots. That was early in the insanity,…

CHAPTER 1 MADMAX THE SOPHOMORE SEASON OPENS on a dark night in Pittsburgh, October 28, 1984. A masked robbery is taking place, followed by a high-speed chase. One of the vigilantes (played by Linnea Berthelsen) is a telekinetic, like Eleven. We see her tattoo: “008.” In Hawkins, it’s nearly Halloween and the boys are heading to the arcade. Someone named “MADMAX” has beaten their high scores on games like Dragon’s Lair and Dig Dug. Will is still connected to the Upside Down, unknowingly shadow walking into the realm. He does so from the arcade, and watches as a horrifying cloud closes in on Hawkins. Outside the police station, conspiracy theorist Murray Bauman (Brett Gelman) is waiting for Hopper. He says there’s reports of a Russian girl with psychic abilities in…

BARBARA HOLLAND SEASON 1 Studious teen Barb (Shannon Purser) was Nancy’s (Natalia Dyer) best friend and, seemingly, a constant third wheel to her and Steve’s (Joe Keery) relationship. While at Steve’s house party in the second episode, “The Weirdo on Maple Street,” Barb was surrounded by peers but clearly felt out of place. As Nancy chased new friends and love, Barb struggled to fit in. In a clumsy attempt to belong, she tried to shotgun a beer, but only managed to slice open her hand instead. “Go home, Barb,” Nancy told her. Hurt, Barb wandered to the pool, dripping blood into the water. The scent drew the Demogorgon, which lunged from the shadows and dragged her screaming into the Upside Down. Wounded, filthy and terrified, she found herself in a grotesque…

On July 15, 2016, Netflix viewers were introduced to four Hawkins, Indiana, youngsters who loved playing Dungeons & Dragons: Mike Wheeler (Finn Wolfhard), Will Byers (Noah Schnapp), Dustin Henderson (Gaten Matarazzo) and Lucas Sinclair (Caleb McLaughlin). They would play all day. And a campaign (game) that lasted less than 10 hours? Well, that was pretty disappointing for the middle school nerds. In the fantasy role-playing game, participants create their own characters and then engage in a creative tale, using numbered dice to dictate their next moves, successes or failures. A designated “Dungeon Master”—who acts much like a narrator—guides players throughout the story. In the show, Mike was the original party’s DM, coming up with elaborate group quests for them all, but he also played along as a paladin. Will was…

TV SHOWS ABOUT children in jeopardy are often mired in grief and sorrow, but executive producers Matt and Ross Duffer (Wayward Pines) looked to the works of Steven Spielberg, John Carpenter and Stephen King to find the right balance for their new Netflix original series Stranger Things. Those works “tend to deal with ordinary people in very relatable settings who encounter something extraordinary,” Matt says. “This show has a lot of different tones to it: It’s scary, but it’s also really fun. It’s got this bigger, epic, supernatural vibe to it.” The eight-part streaming thriller centers on the emotional aftermath when a young boy named Will (Noah Schnapp) goes missing in a small Indiana town. Among those reeling from the mysterious disappearance are Will’s friends, who were the last ones…

CHANCES ARE, YOU’VE heard about the frightening yet feel-good series Stranger Things. And chances are, you’ve also thought, “Kids battling monsters? I’ll watch a rerun of Big Bang Theory instead!” If that’s the case, you’re missing out on this show about adolescents fighting supernatural forces. Yes, our heroes—including lovable nerds Mike Wheeler (Finn Wolfhard), Will Byers (Noah Schnapp), Lucas Sinclair (Caleb McLaughlin) and telekinetic pal Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown)—are young, but they have just as much courage as Law & Order: SVU’s Lt. Olivia Benson or anyone on NCIS. After all, they’re not just going toe-to-toe with creatures—they’re coming of age. As TV GUIDE MAGAZINE’s Matt Roush has noted about the phenomenon—reportedly one of the most popular streaming shows of all time—“it’s as endearing as it is terrifying, imbued with…