stranger thing

Before the sci-fi series “Stranger Things” premiered on Netflix, several traditional studios had already passed on it. Its creators were first-time show runners, unknown young actors were cast in lead roles, and even though the show starred kids, it was not for children.

That was nine years ago.

The 1980s-set show about a monster that wreaks havoc on fictional Hawkins, Ind., hit a chord with Netflix’s global subscribers. “Stranger Things” has since become one of the streamer’s most culturally significant shows, with its fourth season garnering 140.7 million views in its first three months and ranking third among its top English-language series. It was instrumental in growing new branches of business for Netflix, including live events, a Broadway production and inspired brands eager to partner on licensed merchandise. It became a major franchise for the platform, a chance to build a universe around its central characters and create its own version of “Star Wars.”

Rayna Lynn Chacon, 26, from Los Angeles dresses as Eleven from “Stranger Things” during the Netflix x CicLAvia event.

(Kayla Bartkowski / Los Angeles Times)

The show helped build Netflix’s reputation as a place that makes big bets on original ideas and, if it’s a hit, can build a large fandom for such programs with its worldwide subscriber base.

Netflix took a chance on show runner brothers Matt and Ross Duffer. The pair never imagined the series, which held its first premiere in Silver Lake at Mack Sennett Studios, would take off the way it did.

That wasn’t lost on Matt Duffer, who stood on stage at the final season premiere inside the historic TCL Chinese Theatre in Hollywood earlier this month. It was the same place “Star Wars” premiered in 1977.

“For me, as a nerd, this is a dream come true,” Duffer told the audience.

In an interview, Bela Bajaria, the chief content officer at Netflix, lauded the success of the series: “You could take a bet on an original story, and grow it to a major franchise that has massive global appeal.”

Other Netflix shows, like “House of Cards,” have certainly captured the zeitgeist before, but co-CEO Ted Sarandos said he believes “Stranger Things” stands above some previous hits.

“This was a lot closer to a ‘Star Wars’ moment,” Sarandos said speaking on stage at the “Stranger Things” final season premiere in Hollywood earlier this month. “This is a show, and these are characters that move the culture, that spawned live events and consumer products and spinoffs and sequels … Everything from the first episode of the first season to ‘The First Shadow,’ the Broadway show, the origin story of the Upside Down, it has been and continues to be a remarkable addition to entertainment culture.”

The four past seasons of “Stranger Things” made it into Netflix’s Top 10 this past week, Netflix said. From 2020 to the second quarter of 2025, “Stranger Things” earned more than $1 billion in global streaming revenue for Netflix and was responsible for more than 2 million new subscriber acquisitions, according to estimates from Parrot Analytics, which tracks streaming data. Netflix declined to comment on Parrot’s estimates.

“Every single streaming service needs that anchor series that drives customer acquisition and helps define the original programming,” said Brandon Katz, director of insights and content strategy at Greenlight Analytics, adding for Hulu it was “The Handmaid’s Tale” and for Disney+, “The Mandalorian.” “’Stranger Things’ has undoubtedly been that for Netflix. Every few years that it does air, Netflix knows there is a guaranteed high ceiling of acquisition, retention and viewership power,” Katz said.

Participants bike past a Demogorgon sleigh during the Netflix x CicLAvia event.

(Kayla Bartkowski / Los Angeles Times)

“Stranger Things” also helped Netflix expand into licensed goods, with brands eager to partner with the platform. There are themed Eggo breakfast foods, Lego sets and clothing.

The series “has been a catalyst for Netflix to explore all of the ways in which a single entertainment property can be turned into an entire global lifestyle,” said Robert Thompson, director of the Bleier Center for Television and Popular Culture at Syracuse University.

Its popularity has helped other creative collaborators as well.

Artists whose songs were featured on the show climbed the charts. Kate Bush’s “Running Up That Hill” was featured in Season 4 and reached No. 1 on the Billboard Global 200 and No. 4 on the Billboard Hot 100, 37 years after its original release, Netflix said. Metallica’s 1986 song “Master of Puppets” also broke the U.K. Top 30 for the first time after it played during the Season 4 finale, the streamer added.

The series has been recognized with more than 65 awards and 175 nominations. Netflix estimates “Stranger Things” has helped create 8,000 production-related jobs in the U.S. over its five seasons and, since 2015, contributed more than $1.4 billion to U.S. GDP. In California, Netflix estimates the series contributed more than $500 million of GDP.

Netflix is doing a large marketing push with fan events in 28 cities and 21 countries as the series draws to a close. On Sunday, the streamer hosted a bike ride on a stretch of Melrose Avenue in partnership with CicLAvia where 50,000 fans were encouraged to dress in ’80s attire, or as a “Stranger Things” character. On Thursday, a “Stranger Things” float appeared in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade.

The company began a phased release of the final season with four episodes that debuted Wednesday. Another three episodes will land on Christmas Day and a two-hour finale Dec. 31 on Netflix. The finale will also play in more than 350 movie theaters in the U.S. and Canada on Dec. 31 and Jan. 1.

“Stranger Things” fans Kelly Audrain and Jason Serstock said they have been rewatching the show from the beginning to refresh their memories on the whole tale, and were still on Season 2 as of earlier this month. The couple attended the premiere of the last season in Hollywood.

“The whole costuming and everything was so perfect that you just feel like you’re taken back to the ’80s,” 29-year-old Audrain said, who was dressed as “Stranger Things” character Eleven in a pink dress and sporting a mock bloody nose.

Lilia Lupercio, 53, left, Audrey Haluska, 15, center, and Janet Lupercio, 45, right, from Downey pose for a photograph with a “Stranger Things” backdrop.

(Kayla Bartkowski / Los Angeles Times)

Netflix is expanding the show’s universe with the animated series “Stranger Things: Tales from ‘85” next year. In April, Netflix’s “Stranger Things: The First Shadow” stage play hit Broadway. The company has also opened “Stranger Things” pop-up stores, held live experiences and will feature immersive experiences at its Netflix House locations, including “Stranger Things: Escape the Dark” in Dallas. In Las Vegas, Netflix will offer themed foods like Surfer Boy Pizza at its Netflix Bites restaurant.

The Duffers recently told Deadline a spinoff is in the works at Netflix. Bajaria declined to share anything about that but said, “I think the world is really rich and there’s still a lot of story in there.”

But there are challenges ahead. Netflix, seen as the leader in subscription streaming, has had two major flagship series end this year — “Stranger Things” and Korean-language drama “Squid Game.” Analysts say the company will need to keep pumping out popular shows and movies to keep subscribers coming back.

Netflix has successfully expanded its “Squid Game” franchise to include reality competition series “Squid Game: The Challenge,” where more than 95% of watchers also tuned into the scripted series. Other popular franchises like Addams family series “Wednesday,” pirates tale “One Piece” and Regency-era romance “Bridgerton” are ongoing. Netflix’s hit animated movie “KPop Demon Hunters” will get a sequel.

Separately, Netflix placed a bid on parts of Warner Bros. Discovery, with interest in Warner’s Burbank studios and HBO, according to people familiar with the matter. If the acquisition is successful, it would greatly expand Netflix’s library of titles and intellectual property.

While the Duffer brothers still have projects with Netflix, they recently signed a four-year exclusive deal with Paramount for feature films, TV and streaming projects. Some industry observers viewed that as a loss for Netflix.

Omar Chavez, 42, left, and Jenna Chavez, 28, right, from West Hollywood walk past a poster during the Netflix x CicLAvia event.

(Kayla Bartkowski / Los Angeles Times)

“The Duffers are so young, and they’re just really beginning their journey,” said Tom Nunan, a former studio and network executive. “I have no doubt they’ll be pushing out more hits and more of a variety of successes in the future,” he said, adding that the brothers’ work at Paramount could compete with Netflix.

But Bajaria noted that the Duffers still have some projects in the works at Netflix, including sci-fi series “The Boroughs” and horror series “Something Very Bad Is Going to Happen.”

“They’re always gonna be part of the Netflix family and I’m excited we still have more things with them,” Bajaria said.

Times staff writer Meg James contributed to this article.

This article contains spoilers for Season 5, Volume 1 of “Stranger Things.”

If anyone visited Jamie Campbell Bower in the days before he secured the role of Vecna in “Stranger Things,” they might have been disturbed by what they found.

Bower had spent that period “kind of going crazy,” studying the audition materials he had been given — a scene from the series (with fake character names), one from the 1996 film “Primal Fear” and one from the ‘80s horror classic “Hellraiser.” He then crafted a whodunit-style vision board, pinning printed images of iconic movie villains onto his walls. He latched onto Doug Bradley’s Pinhead and incorporated Voldemort, Nosferatu, Dracula and images from “The Shining,” “Insidious” and “The Prince of Darkness.”

Bower had essentially made a shrine to villainy. But what better way is there to make a monster than to draw from the scariest and most spine-chilling in the game?

He thumbed through a neat binder with all of the reference images that were once tacked to his walls as he sat in a hotel room at the Four Seasons earlier this month that was done up in “Stranger Things” decor. Although he had pulled ideas and inspiration from several different characters and movies, he couldn’t shake Bradley’s work from his mind.

He wanted Vecna to feel “so poised, so considered and surgical, almost. And Pinhead is that. He doesn’t run. Pinhead never runs. He knows that he’s an ultimate power all the time,” Bower said. “That feels really strong for me. I really, really like that.”

In addition to playing the monster, Bower plays the man he once was, Henry Creel, in “Stranger Things,” Netflix’s supernatural sensation, which released the first batch of episodes for its fifth and final season Wednesday. Henry, who we first meet as a young boy with powerful psychokinetic abilities, evolves throughout the show from the first child test subject in Hawkins Labs to the powerful Vecna after he’s banished to the Upside Down.

As he devolves in the dark, decaying shadow dimension, he becomes less and less human in both spirit and appearance. His skin is scorched by lightning, his body is overtaken by the vines from the Upside Down, and his left hand is mutilated. He has a deep, booming voice, which is actually Bower speaking without manipulation in post-production. And in Season 4, most of what the audience sees of Vecna — the vines wrapped around his body, his mutilations and burns, the slimy texture of his skin, his startling walk and movement — was pulled off practically with prosthetics, appliances and makeup.

Bringing Vecna to life was no easy feat, with a lot of cross-departmental collaboration happening behind the scenes. In Season 4, where Vecna is first introduced, the team built full-body prosthetics based on concept art for the character that took roughly eight hours to apply on Bower.

But for Season 5, the creatives behind the show were looking to make “Vecna on steroids,” as Barrie Gower, the prosthetics wiz for “Stranger Things,” put it.

Vecna has a sharper appearance and broader stance in Season 5 of “Stranger Things.”

(Netflix)

Michael Maher Jr., a concept illustrator and visual effects supervisor who had cooked up the earliest iterations of Vecna, said the show’s creators, brothers Matt and Ross Duffer, wanted Vecna to feel more powerful this season, “but not [in] the cliché, bigger and bulkier way.” They also wanted the extent of his injuries from the Season 4 finale, where his opponents set him on fire, shoot him repeatedly and send him flying out of a second-story window, to be evident.

Maher said he was sculpting to ideate on this new version of the character when he accidentally punched a hole in the figure’s torso. It was a serendipitous moment, however; it clicked for him that Vecna 2.0 could be simultaneously more exposed and sharper. The vines that overtook his body now have a Medusa-like quality near his head and shoulders, essentially serving as armor, Maher said.

His mutilated arm and hand, which was already terrifying with its long digits and sharp claws that he would draw close to his victims’ faces, is now extendable, as if he has become one with the vines of the Upside Down.

Because of Vecna’s souped-up look for the final season, a blend of practical and visual effects were used to accomplish the final look. Gower called it a “really beautiful marriage” of the two. The monster’s head, shoulders and right arm were made up of prosthetics, but for the rest, Bower wore a spandex suit that had a printed pattern of Vecna’s body from Season 4, serving as a reference for the visual effects team. Bower also wore foam inserts under his arms to capture the gait and broad stance of the creature.

Gower said with all of the moving parts and elements of Vecna’s body that they wanted to change for the new season, it would have been a “logistical nightmare” to pull off practically. He and Maher’s teams had lengthy conversations early on in the process to prevent overbuilding the prosthetics, Gower said. Creating the new look took about three months.

The team behind Vecna opted for a blend of prosthetics, appliances and a spandex suit to film Season 5. (Niko Tavernise / Netflix)

The character Will Byers (Noah Schnapp) and Vecna come face-to-face in Season 5. (Niko Tavernise / Netflix)

When the Duffer Brothers and Maher were initially talking about the design of Vecna, they drew from Pinhead and Freddy Krueger in the same way Bower did for his performance. The creatives had been pulling from ‘80s classic movies for the “nostalgia quality,” Maher said, but the challenge for him was creating something that still felt fresh and reflected Vecna’s power. He wanted to make it clear Vecna was “a character that is mostly powerful with his mind, that really resonates as a villain,” he said.

By 2019 as the developmental process for the concept art was moving along, the Duffer Brothers approached Gower, whose work on “Game of Thrones” and “Chernobyl” they admired. Gower has a young daughter who was an avid fan of “Stranger Things” at the time, and he said he couldn’t possibly turn down the opportunity. Even before Bower was cast, a roughly five-month process (save a pause in production for the pandemic) kicked off for Gower and his team to develop the Vecna gear. The full-body suit was made up of about 26 overlapping prosthetic pieces that fit together like a jigsaw puzzle.

Gower and his team used foam latex, which is lightweight and opaque, to cover large body pieces for Vecna, mainly his left arm and lower body. Silicone-based materials came into play for his face, soldiers, chest, back and right arm, since the material is clear and can be dyed to match the pigment of the creature’s skin. It’s challenging to paint the two different materials and make them appear as one, cohesive body, Gower said, but the artists he worked with are “incredible craftspeople,” some of whom are classically trained painters.

Gower said with all of the logistics involved in creating Vecna, Bower was patient and collaborative — whether that was through 2 a.m. calls to get the prosthetics applied before he was called to set or through the adjustments Gower’s team had to make as those long shoot days progressed. Gower also praised not only Bower’s stamina, but also his commitment to the performance.

Bower described the “gothy folk, black metal” music he would play as he sat in the makeup chair, which would get faster and more hardcore as they progressed. Gower said at the start of the hours-long application, Bower would crack jokes and be himself. But as they neared the end, they would “start to lose Jamie.”

Jamie Campbell Bower in his Vecna costume on the set of “Stranger Things” with showrunners Matt Duffer, left, and Ross Duffer.

(Niko Tavernise / Netflix)

“Vecna’s voice would start coming out,” Gower said. “By the end of the process, it was Vecna talking to us. It wasn’t Jamie anymore.”

“I really can’t imagine Vecna being as successful, as iconic a villain and character without it being Jamie Campbell Bower,” Gower continued. “He’s incredible.”

Becoming Vecna can be both mentally and physically taxing because of the prosthetics and the dark place it requires the actor to go. But Bower said he found playing Henry, Vecna’s human form, even more challenging this season.

For him, Vecna is devoid of any humanity, but when he is playing Henry, there’s still “elements of humanity,” though his intentions are pure evil. In Vol. 1, we see Henry targeting the children of Hawkins, but instead of presenting himself as Vecna, as he did in Season 4, he’s approaching his victims with a friendly, well-dressed front — they call him Mr. Whatsit.

“There was something that was arguably more terrifying in having the composure enough to be able to let whomever else is there make wrong choices,” Bower said. It’s a fun puzzle for him to figure out how much emotion to show and when to let the mask slip to the audience, he added.

In comparison to the monsters Bower drew from to develop Vecna, he looked to one person as inspiration for Henry in Season 5: Mister Rogers.

He’s a wolf in sheep’s clothing. And Bower promises we’ll see more of the wolf come out as the season progresses, though he’s careful not to reveal too much.

Seasons change. Kids grow up. Monsters evolve. Beloved TV series end.

“Stranger Things’” fifth and final season kicks off Wednesday after a nearly three-and-a-half-year absence. It’s a welcome but bittersweet reunion for fans of the show who’ve spent the last decade watching a gaggle of misfit kids (now teens) weaponize their nerd skills against supernatural and mortal enemies in the fictional town of Hawkins, Ind.

Will (Noah Schnapp), Mike (Finn Wolfhard), Lucas (Caleb McLaughlin), Dustin (Gaten Matarazzo) and Max (Sadie Sink) and their superpowered friend Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown) are now poised for a final battle against their mind-bending nemesis, Vecna, when the season’s Volume 1 arrives with four new episodes; Volume 2 (three episodes) drops Christmas Day, and the finale arrives Dec 31.

I might complain about the staggering of episodes — all timed for a holiday, of course — but the strategy gives sentimental viewers (my hand is raised) a bit more time to emotionally uncouple with the show.

The end of Netflix’s oddball-to-blockbuster series marks the end of an era, and surely the last generational touchstone to come out of series television. Gen Z, which grew up in the dawn of YouTube and, later, the emergence of TikTok, has generally favored short-form content over lengthier productions; however, “Stranger Things” became the exception. Young fans stretched their attention spans, watching entire seasons of a show where episodes might range anywhere from an hour to two hours plus. The Upside Down, a dark, gooey parallel universe of Hawkins, and its predatory demogorgons became part of their middle school vernacular, in the same way that pre-streaming generations used “isms” from their favorite shows: (“Just MacGuyver it, dude”).

“Stranger Things” takes place in the Reagan era, so from its very beginnings parents of Gen Zers could watch the series with their kids while revisiting their own fond and/or torturous memories of growing up in 1980s. My son was in the sixth grade when the show premiered, meaning I was there to confirm that, yes, tragic hairdos, pleated jeans and unchecked bullying were a thing in the ‘80s. But unlike Eleven, we did not have the power to make said bullies pee their pants in public. If only …

The Day-Glo decade still plays a pivotal role when “Stranger Things” returns this week. Look forward to a Tiffany “I Think We’re Alone Now” moment, nods to great bands like the Fall, and a well-timed mention of a flux capacitor. But Hawkins is no MTV dance party. The sleepy town is under a militarized quarantine. It’s for their own protection, and because the government is up to no good, again. Nothing comes in or out of the place without the knowledge of authorities, unless it’s smuggled in by the perpetually scheming Murray (Brett Gelman).

Hopper (David Harbour) and Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown) make their way to the Upside Down. (Netflix)

Max (Sadie Sink) remains comatose as Lucas (Caleb McLaughlin) attempts to reach her. (Netflix)

Last we knew, antagonist Vecna (who takes on many forms) had finally opened the gates to the dandruffy Upside Down, merging it with the real world. It was a violent event, but most of the town folk believed all that shaking and noise was because of an earthquake. Poor souls.

Hawkins’ beloved band of nerds know better. They’ve been doing covert “crawls” with the goal of locating and destroying Vecna before he turns the town, then the world, into an oozy wasteland. Joining the fight are Mike’s older sis Nancy (Natalia Dyer), Will’s big brother Jonathan (Charlie Heaton), friends Steve (Joe Keery) and Robin (Maya Hawke), Will and Jonathan’s mom Joyce Byers (Winona Ryder) and Elle’s adopted father, Jim Hopper (David Harbour). Max is comatose in the hospital. Her consciousness is trapped in Vecna’s mindscape, no matter how much Lucas plays Kate Bush’s “Running Up That Hill” to wake her.

Following multiple attacks on their modest home by demodogs and U.S. agents, the Byers have been living in the basement of Mike’s home with his family, the Wheelers. The unfulfilled Mrs. Wheeler (Cara Buono) has been hitting the sauce and the usually flaccid Mr. Wheeler (Joe Chrest) is finally bothered by something — they’re eating his morning bacon! The youngest Wheeler, Holly (Nell Fisher), is now approaching the age that the core cast of kids were when the series premiered in 2016. And Erica (Priah Ferguson), Lucas’s don’t-mess-with-me little sister who still delivers all the show’s best zingers, is now in Mr. Clarke’s middle school science class.

Elevating the storylines of younger characters helps bridge the age gap created when the core cast of kid actors had the audacity to grow up over the show’s run. Brown was 12 when the show premiered. She’s now 21. Critics have complained that they should not be playing high schoolers. But accepting 22-year-old Wolfhard as a teenage Mike is not a stretch — especially given everything else “Stranger Things” fans have been willing to believe in (“talking” Christmas lights, psychokinetic battles, a nefarious Soviet lab under the mall food court).

There are spoiler embargoes aplenty so there’s a limit to what can be said about the first four new episodes out for review. Suffice to say there’s a mega battle on the horizon. Eleven has been training hard, honing her powers. Now she can fling armored vehicles, leap atop large buildings and bend the toughest of minds with a minimal nosebleed. Dustin is fighting angry, hardened by the death of his Hellfire Club buddy, Eddie Munson (Joseph Quinn). Steve and Jonathan are still competing for Nancy’s attention while her focus is on perfecting her sharpshooting skills. Hopper has a distractingly long beard. And Mrs. Wheeler proves to be a formidable warrior when armed with a jagged, broken wine bottle.

Their original kids’ circumstances haven’t changed all that much, but their outlooks have, making for unpredictable twists in their powers, strengths and alliances.

In the final season of their little show that did, creators the Duffer Brothers (twin siblings Matt and Ross), lean heavily on the interpersonal feuds and friendships between all the aforementioned characters, pairing high-budget action with advancing storylines about folks that fans have come to love. It is, after all, the kids at the center of the story that kept us coming back for more. And it appears they’ll continue to do so, right up to the end.

Since “Stranger Things” last released new episodes in 2022, a lot has happened. The writers’ and actors’ guilds went on a historic strike, delaying production on the final season. The Duffer Brothers, as the show’s creators Matt and Ross are known, developed a stage play set in the “Stranger Things” world that premiered on London’s West End and transferred to Broadway earlier this year. The star, Millie Bobby Brown, who was 12 when the show premiered, became a wife and mother.

The time between the fourth and fifth seasons is long enough that many fans — save the ones who have been faithfully rewatching and carefully taking notes in preparation — may not remember what happened last. And key context and developments from earlier seasons may be even fuzzier in our memories, like Eleven trying to recall what happened in the rainbow room.

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Let’s refresh our memories together.

“Stranger Things,” set in fictional Hawkins, Ind., (primarily) in the 1980s, follows a ragtag bunch of kids and a handful of trusted adults as they battle evil and supernatural forces in their small town. High school students Will (Noah Schnapp), Mike (Finn Wolfhard), Lucas (Caleb McLaughlin), Dustin (Gaten Matarazzo) and Max (Sadie Sink), along with older teens Nancy (Natalia Dyer), Jonathan (Charlie Heaton), Steve (Joe Keery) and Robin (Maya Hawke), work alongside Eleven (Brown), a girl with special psychokinetic abilities, to protect the town from a parallel dimension called the Upside Down with monsters, electrical storms and a Lovecraftian, other-worldly force. Joining them in the fight is Joyce Byers (Winona Ryder), Will and Jonathan’s mom, police chief Jim Hopper (David Harbour) and a handful of other instrumental characters.

Here’s a recap of the important storylines to remember, a refresher on where the series left off and everything else you need to know to prepare for the fifth and final season that will be released in three installments, beginning with Vol. 1 on Nov. 26, Vol. 2 on Christmas Day and the finale on New Year’s Eve.

Where we left off

The crew gathers as they see dark clouds move over Hawkins at the end of Season 4, indicating that the Upside Down is infiltrating the real world.

(Netflix)

Season 4 of “Stranger Things” concludes in a dark place, literally.

Vecna, the main antagonist from Season 4, had been seeking out four victims whose deaths would open four gates to the Upside Down. Although his final victim, Max, was only dead for a minute (more on that later), he succeeded. The gates converge at the center of Hawkins, culminating in a large boom at the Hawkins Public Library. Although it’s dismissed by officials as an earthquake, our gang knows better — the Upside Down is merging with the real world.

The final moments of the season show dark clouds billowing through the sky as the familiar, dandruff-like particles from the Upside Down float through the air. Earlier in the season, Vecna possessed Nancy, showing her a terrifying vision of mass death and destruction in Hawkins and the four gates to the Upside Down ripping through the town. These are just a few steps in his mission to destroy humanity.

At the end of the season, we also see the long-anticipated return of Hopper, who was trapped in a Russian prison until Joyce and Murray Bauman (Brett Gelman), their mutual friend and a private investigator, help break him out and bring him back home. Eleven and Hopper, who have a father-daughter-like bond, reunite in one of the bright spots of an otherwise dark season.

And although he achieved his goal, Vecna is weak. Nancy, Robin and Steve set his body on fire while he was attacking Max, who was in a trance. Fearless Nancy then shoots him repeatedly until he falls out of the second story of his lair. Although it seems at first that they have killed him, his body is gone by the time the crew rushes to the ground floor, and Will senses that he is still alive.

Characters who died in Season 4

Vecna’s attack briefly killed Max, but Eleven was able to revive her. She’s in a coma at the end of Season 4.

(Netflix)

Max Mayfield (sort of)

Vecna preyed on Max for much of Season 4, and in the final episode, playing Kate Bush’s “Running Up That Hill” on repeat from her Walkman is not enough to save her. Vecna kills Max, but Eleven is able to revive her by using her powers to restart her heart. The last shot we see of Max is of her hospitalized in a coma, with broken bones and her concerned friends by her side.

She’s alive, but her temporary death was enough for Vecna to accomplish his goal. Theories about whether Max’s consciousness is trapped in Vecna’s visions, or if she will recover with powers that enable her to spy on Vecna, have been circulating on social media since the release of Season 4, but fans of the character shouldn’t fret. Sink is listed in the credits for Season 5 and she is seen briefly in the Season 5 trailer, with Lucas carrying her body as a Demogorgon, one of the monsters in the show, runs toward them.

Although he died in the Season 3 finale, Billy Hargrove, Max’s stepbrother, is noteworthy since his death took a big emotional toll on Max, filling her with guilt and grief, which primed her to be one of Vecna’s targets.

Eddie Munson

This fan-favorite character played by Joseph Quinn died in the final episode of Season 4, but he went out with a blaze. Eddie and Dustin were in the Upside Down carrying out their part in the plan to attack Vecna, and Eddie shredded out Metallica’s “Master of Puppets” on his guitar in order to distract the Demobats protecting Vecna’s lair. Dustin says the musical ruse is the “most metal ever,” but it’s not enough to keep them safe from the terrifying creatures.

After Dustin makes it through the gate back into the real world, Eddie stays behind to drive the bats away and buy the group more time. He is eventually attacked by the creatures, and dies in Dustin’s arms after protecting his friends.

Eddie initially befriended Mike, Lucas and Dustin because of their shared love of Dungeons & Dragons, forming the Hellfire Club to play the game together. Eddie’s death is likely to reverberate with Dustin in the upcoming season, who is seen in the trailer wearing his Hellfire Club T-shirt.

Dr. Martin Brenner

Dr. Brenner, or Eleven’s “papa” as his test subjects called him, was killed by military gunfire when officers invaded his research facility in search of Eleven. They believed she was behind the strange happenings and murders taking place in Hawkins.

Brenner (Matthew Modine) played a significant role in the controversial MKUltra program, a real-life covert CIA mind-control and chemical interrogation research program. He took a young Henry Creel (who ultimately became 001/Vecna) into his custody after discovering he possessed psychokinetic abilities and tried to replicate those abilities in other children, including Eleven.

In his final moments, Brenner tells Eleven he is proud of her and that all he ever wanted was to help her and protect her, despite the psychological and physical abuse he inflicted on her.

Other important things to remember

Although Hopper and Joyce were able to rescue Will from the Upside Down, he is still closely tied to the dimension and its monsters.

(Netflix )

Will’s connection to the Upside Down

Since he was trapped in the Upside Down during Season 1, Will hasn’t been able to sever his tie to the dimension. In Season 2, he is possessed by the Mind Flayer and feels pain when the vines in the Upside Down are damaged or Demogorgons are hurt. He is tapped into the dimension’s “hive mind” and can sense Vecna’s presence, usually through a strange feeling on the back of his neck.

Eleven’s ‘sister’

Although all of the test subjects who were raised alongside Eleven were killed by Henry/001 in the massacre at Hawkins Labs (Season 4, Episode 7), one of her “siblings” managed to escape the lab before that fateful day. Kali, or 008, made a brief appearance in a Season 2 storyline — Eleven temporarily joined her gang of misfits to help in Kali’s mission of getting revenge on people who worked in the lab.

Kali did not appear in Seasons 3 or 4, but aside from Eleven and Henry/Vecna, she is the only other person known to have powerful psychokinetic abilities.

‘The First Shadow’

The stage play “Stranger Things: The First Shadow” is a prequel diving into Henry’s origins and how he eventually became 001, and Vecna. Although it is considered a standalone work, the Duffer Brothers collaborated with “Stranger Things” writer Kate Trefry to create the play’s story and they have confirmed it is canon in the “Stranger Things” universe.

Some fans who have compared the details from the play and the series say that the play suggests Vecna might not be in control of the Mind Flayer, as he has suggested. Rather, the Mind Flayer is in control of him, or that it had at least corrupted his human self.

Fans who have traced back through the series to see if this theory holds water point out that Dustin, whose theories about the Upside Down tend to be correct, suggested the same thing in Season 4. Speaking about the Mind Flayer, he says, “If the Demogorgon was just his foot soldier, Vecna’s his five-star general.”

What we know is coming next

In the first look at Season 5, Will and Vecna come face to face.

(Netflix)

Netflix released the first five minutes of the new season in early November, in which we see a flashback to Will’s time trapped in the Upside Down. A Demogorgon drags an unconscious Will to Vecna’s lair, and Vecna ominously says they can begin their work “at long last.” “You and I, we are going to do such beautiful things together, William,” he continues.

It looks like we can expect a showdown between our heroes and Vecna, but it’s possible we might also get further explanation about why Will was specifically targeted from the beginning.

Is this the end of ‘Stranger Things’?

In a word, yes. But new stories taking place in the world of “Stranger Things” will be coming. Netflix recently unveiled the first look at an animated spinoff series, “Stranger Things: Tales From ’85.” The series is set between the events of Seasons 2 and 3, and it will feature the main characters fans know and love. The Duffer Brothers collaborated with showrunner Eric Robles to create the series, which does not have a premiere date yet.

The Duffer Brothers are also developing a spinoff series with new characters and a “clean slate,” which they teased in a recent interview with Variety.

A strange world is taking to the streets of Melrose Avenue this Sunday, Nov. 23, as CicLAvia touches down in partnership with the Netflix series “Stranger Things” in promotion of the show’s upcoming final season.

From 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., the car-free event will stretch from Vermont to Fairfax, with a reimagined street that brings the fictional town of Hawkins, Ind., to life. Fans are also encouraged to embrace an ’80s theme, so break out the neon, leg warmers and windbreakers.

With no starting point or finish line, participants are invited to go at their own pace and patron local businesses along the way. Take a break with over-the-top lattes, French baguettes, Filipino barbecue, an iconic hot dog stand, vegan ice cream, Uzbek cuisine and more. Here are 15 food and drink stops along the Melrose Avenue CicLAvia route.