In ‘Stranger Things’s final season, Vecna comes to Hawkins
It's the final countdown
By 
THE ‘STRANGER THINGS’ kiddos are all grown up as they prepare for the fight of their lives.
In our first glimpse of the hit Netflix show’s final season, the teaser trailer opens with Steve Harrington (played by Djo/Joe Keery) tuning the signal of the satellite strapped to the roof of his van, the radio inside climbing to 100 decibels (the equivalent of standing next to a chainsaw).
Rapid-fire images and cuts piece together a Hawkins preparing for a war-like scenario: young children are sleeping in a bunker, teens riding bikes on the highway as a squadron of helicopters fly above, a soldier pacing by a sectioned off portal to the Upside-Down in the town’s library.
It’s now 1987, a year after the events of season four, with a more pronounced military presence placing the town in quarantine.
As for our main cast, Max (Sadie Sink) remains in a coma after her encounter with Vecna, while Lucas (Caleb McLaughlin) watches over her.
Eddie Munson (Joseph Quinn) has been buried, but his tombstone has been vandalised with the words “BURN IN HELL” in blood-like smears. Perhaps some Hawkins citizens thought he was involved with the disaster; but his self-sacrifice came with being mauled by Demobats.
Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown) and the gang seem to be holed up at the WSQK radio station, probably to pierce through to the other dimension with sound. Loud sounds have so far been Vecna’s biggest weakness, which the main cast have exploited by blasting period hits like Kate Bush (who doesn’t love Kate Bush?).
Speaking of Bush, the show has been a pretty good bellwether of flinging classics to the forefront of the zeitgeist; Spotify reported a 9,000 per cent increase of her 1985 “Running Up That Hill”, garnering over a billion streams in 2022.
What is the song playing in the Stranger Things season 5 trailer?
Prepare for Deep Purple’s “Child In Time” to be playing everywhere when volume one of season five drops on November 26. (Surpassing Bush or Eddie’s guitar solo of Metallica’s “Master of Puppets” will be a tough hill – no pun intended – to scale.)
Watch the Stranger Things season 5 teaser trailer here
When is Stranger Things season 5 dropping in Australia?
- Volume one will drop on November 27
- Volume two a month later on December 26, Boxing Day
- The finale will drop on on January 1, New Year’s Day
(It’s an annoying drop system the streamer rolled out during the pandemic lockdown to stave off bingeing/build hype without a weekly release schedule. But hey, you have half your holiday watchlist sorted now.)
New characters joining in Stranger Things season 5
- Linda Hamilton as Dr. Kay, aka the ’80s film icon and star of the Terminator films opposite Arnold Schwarzenegger
- Alex Breaux as Lieutenant Akers
Who is returning for Stranger Things season 5?
- Winona Ryder as Joyce Byers
- David Harbour as Jim Hopper
- Millie Bobby Brown as Eleven
- Finn Wolfhard as Mike Wheeler
- Gaten Matarazzo as Dustin Henderson
- Caleb McLaughlin as Lucas Sinclair
- Noah Schnapp as Will Byers
- Sadie Sink as Max Mayfield
- Natalia Dyer as Nancy Wheeler
- Charlie Heaton as Jonathan Byers
- Joe Keery as Steve Harrington
- Maya Hawke as Robin Buckley
- Priah Ferguson as Erica Sinclair
- Brett Gelman as Murray
- Jamie Campbell Bower as Vecna
- Cara Buono as Karen Wheeler
- Amybeth McNulty as Vickie
- Nell Fisher as Holly Wheeler
First look images of Stranger Things season 5
Related:
Djo and his journey to ‘The Crux’
Joseph Quinn says he and his ‘Fantastic Four’ co-stars are “All weirdos”
