Stranger Things season 5 will be shorter than season 4, writers start working next month

The entirety of Stranger Things season 4 has now come and gone (you can read our review of season 4, volume 2 at THIS LINK), and now fans of the Netflix streaming series are left anxiously waiting for news on when we’re going to be seeing Stranger Things season 5. The good news is, we’re probably not going to have to wait as long between seasons 4 and 5 as we did between seasons 3 and 4, since the filming of season 4 was disrupted by the pandemic for several months. The bad news is… while series creators the Duffer Brothers have an outline in place for season 5, they haven’t started working on the scripts yet.

Speaking with Collider, Ross Duffer revealed that the writers room for season 5 will open in August:

We’re going to take a little vacation in July. And then we’re going to come back. I know that the writer’s room is going to start in that first week of August.”

Season 5 will be the last season of the show, and the Duffers know how it’s going to end. The last twenty minutes of the final episode are “locked in”. Matt Duffer says they feel good about the ending… and they also think season 5 is going to be a bit shorter than the epic season 4, which consisted of nine longer-than-usual episodes. (Including a 142 minute season finale.)

We thought Season 4 was going to be eight [episodes], and they were going to be regular length. So if you had interviewed us before four, that’s what I would’ve said. I think we’re aiming for eight again. We don’t want it to be 13 hours. We’re aiming for more like 10 hours or something. I think it’s going to be longer than Season 1 because we just have so much to wrap up, but I don’t think it’s going to be as long as Season 4.”

Matt Duffer reiterated that season 5 will be shorter on the Happy Sad Confused podcast:

The only reason we don’t expect to be as long is, (season 4), if you look at it, it’s almost a two-hour ramp up before our kids really get drawn into a supernatural mystery. You get to know them, you get to see them in their lives, they’re struggling with adapting to high school and so forth, Steve’s trying to find a date, all of that. None of that is obviously going to be occurring [in season 5].”

That said, they do expect the season 5 finale to be another two and a half hour long episode.

Stranger Things season 4 has the following synopsis:

It’s been six months since the Battle of Starcourt, which brought terror and destruction to Hawkins. Struggling with the aftermath, our group of friends are separated for the first time – and navigating the complexities of high school hasn’t made things any easier. In this most vulnerable time, a new and horrifying supernatural threat surfaces, presenting a gruesome mystery that, if solved, might finally put an end to the horrors of the Upside Down.

Episodes of Stranger Things season 4 were written by the Duffer Brothers (401, 402, 407, 408, 409), Caitlin Schneiderhan (403), Paul Dichter (404), Kate Trefry (405), and Curtis Gwinn (406). They were directed by the Duffer Brothers (401, 402, 407, 408, 409), Shawn Levy (403, 404), and Nimród Antal (405, 406).

Here’s the list of this season’s cast members and the characters they play:

Winona Ryder (Joyce Byers), David Harbour (Jim Hopper), Millie Bobby Brown (Eleven), Finn Wolfhard (Mike Wheeler), Gaten Matarazzo (Dustin Henderson), Caleb McLaughlin (Lucas Sinclair), Noah Schnapp (Will Byers), Sadie Sink (Max Mayfield), Natalia Dyer (Nancy Wheeler), Charlie Heaton (Jonathan Byers), Joe Keery (Steve Harrington), Maya Hawke (Robin Buckley), Priah Ferguson (Erica Sinclair), Brett Gelman (Murray), Cara Buono (Karen Wheeler), Matthew Modine (Dr. Brenner), Paul Reiser (Dr. Owens), Jamie Campbell Bower (Peter Ballard), Joseph Quinn (Eddie Munson), Eduardo Franco (Argyle), Sherman Augustus (Lt. Colonel Sullivan), Mason Dye (Jason Carver), Nikola Djuricko (Yuri), Tom Wlaschiha (Dmitri), Myles Truitt (Patrick), Regina Ting Chen (Ms. Kelly), Grace Van Dien (Chrissy), Logan Riley Bruner (Fred Benson), Logan Allen (Jake), Elodie Grace Orkin (Angela), John Reynolds (Officer Callahan), Rob Morgan (Chief Powell), Amybeth McNulty (Vickie), and Freddy Krueger himself Robert Englund (Victor Creel).

Stranger Things is produced by Monkey Massacre Productions and 21 Laps Entertainment. The Duffer Brothers serve as executive producers alongside Shawn Levy and Dan Cohen of 21 Laps Entertainment, Iain Paterson, and Curtis Gwinn.

Are you looking forward to Stranger Things season 5? Let us know by leaving a comment below.