The end is near for “Stranger Things”

By Geneva Huang
News Editor

One of Netflix’s most popular shows, “Stranger Things,” returns late November for its highly anticipated fifth and final season. The L.A. premiere on Nov. 6 brought together the cast and fans alike in celebration for the final season at the TCL Chinese Theatre.

The beginning of the season takes place 18 months after the end of season 4, with a brief flashback scene in the first episode. Fans were shown the first five minutes of the season opener, “The Crawl,” in which Will is inside The Upside Down and alone in his makeshift fort, Castle Byers.

Season five features the government’s intensified hunt for Eleven and a looming nightmare following Vecna’s disappearance. This final season, taking place in the fall of 1987, marks not only a sendoff to the beloved characters but a bittersweet goodbye for the cast.

Cast member David Harbour, who plays Jim Hopper, recalls back on the past ten years of filming “Stranger Things,” telling reporters that while he has loved being with his co-stars and filming the past four seasons, “We have to move on and let go. And that is life.”

Millie Bobby Brown, who plays Eleven, and Harbour arrived with each other to the premiere despite recent controversy revealing possible tension between the two co-stars. According to the UK’s Daily Mail, it appears that Brown had filed a complaint against Harbour for bullying and harassment before they began shooting season five. At the same time, Harbour has been the subject of media speculation of cheating to his former wife Lily Allen of four years.

Nevertheless, any hostility between the cast members went undetected at the premiere and the night was nostalgic for everyone. Winona Ryder, who plays Joyce Byers in Stranger Things, has always talked fondly about her younger co-stars and promises to “love them forever” even as they go their separate ways.

“Stranger Things” season 5 Volume 1 will premiere on November 26, with Volume 2 following on Christmas Day and the finale on New Year’s Eve. This final season marks a farewell to a series that shaped generations of fans for nearly a decade.