Netflix's Stranger Things Season 5 Has Finally, Truly Begun Production

It's been over a year and a half since "Stranger Things" season 4 arrived on Netflix, and fans have been eagerly anticipating the return of the hit sci-fi series. Plus, there's a bit of a ticking clock on the series, since the teenage cast members, who were just kids when the show began back in 2016, are aging more everyday and don't exactly look like they belong in high school anymore. Thankfully, with the Hollywood strikes resolved and a new year upon us, 2024 is the year that "Stranger Things" goes back into production.

Netflix has officially announced that production has begun on "Stranger Things" season 5. The return of the series was celebrated with an official cast photo showing all the primary characters who will be returning, all seated with series creators Matt & Ross Duffer, including Jamie Campbell Bower as last season's villain Vecna, formerly Henry Creel. But they likely aren't going to look so happy when their characters return in season 5, especially since the Upside Down was literally breaking into the real world at the end of season 4. 

Millie Bobby Brown, Finn Wolfhard, Gaten Matarazzo, Caleb McLaughlin, and Noah Schnapp are all present and accounted for, with some of them looking like they're right on the cusp of being too old for this s***. Sadie Sink is back too, so she'll likely be doing more than being in a coma, even though that's where we left her at the end of season 4. Natalia Dyer and Charlie Heaton are back as well, along with Joe Keery and Maya Hawke. Plus, Priah Ferguson will be returning as Lucas' sister, who has grown up considerable since her debut on the series. The gang will also be joined by Amybeth McNulty, who will be back as Vickie, a character introduced in season 4 that Robin (Hawke) has a crush on.

Of course, the proper adults of Winona Ryder and David Harbour are back too, having finally come together romantically at the end of the previous season. Brett Gelman will also be back as the eccentric yet intrepid reporter Murray Bauman. And finally, the newest cast member is also seated among everyone else, and that's "Terminator" franchise star Linda Hamilton, whose role on the series has yet to be revealed. We'll likely be waiting awhile until we know her place in all of this.

Since this is the final season of "Stranger Things," you can expect plenty of secrets to be kept behind the scenes. As Harbour previously told the Happy Sad Confused podcast, "I know where we net out and it's very, very moving. It's a hell of an undertaking, too. I mean, the set pieces and the things in the scripts that we saw are bigger than anything we've done in the past." As of now, we know the first episode will be called "The Crawl," and we've already speculated wildly on what that could mean.

We'll keep you posted whenever anything major comes out about "Stranger Things" season 5, but since the new seasons likely isn't to debut until 2025, we could be waiting quite a long time. Stay tuned.