Netflix confirms that Stranger Things 5 isn't coming out this year

The other week, the producers of Stranger Things announced that they were halfway done filming the fifth and final season. The new season has been filming for months and has months to go. That probably means we won't be watching it until 2025 at the earliest.

If you were holding out hope that the show might air its final episode this year, Netflix put the nail in that coffin during its Q2 earnings call. Per Dextero, CEO Ted Sarandos said, "Looking forward through 2025, you've got new seasons ofWednesday, Stranger Things, andThe Night Agent."

So there you go. We didn't actually think that Stranger Things had a chance to air in 2024, but since fans have already been waiting over two years since the end of season 4, it's understandable if people were getting their hopes up. Well, abandon hope.

Stranger Things season 5 will be "out of control"

The one comfort we can take is that it sounds like the fifth and final season of Stranger Things will be lit. Jamie Campbell Bower, who plays the villainous monster Vecna, talked about things ramping up: “If you thought last season was nuts, this season is just out of control, wild, like, it’s bonkers," he told The Hollywood Reporter. "It really, really is.”

He almost seems at a loss for words. "It’s bigger. It’s just completely insane. It’s completely insane." The fourth season ended with Vecna, who dwells in the shadowy Upside Down dimension, punching a hole through that reality and into our own. It's up to a high-strung single mom, a local cop, a couple of college kids, a telekinetic teenager and several high schoolers to save Indiana from destruction. How could the final season not be crazy?

There's also a strong possibility that season 5 will feature the return of a fan favorite character, or at least that's the impression we're getting from his interviews. Beware potential SPOILERS ahead.

Will Joseph Quinn return for Stranger Things season 5? It's sounding that way

Joseph Quinn made his Stranger Things debut in season 5, playing guitar-shredding, D&D-loving slacker Eddie Munson. Eddie died at the end of the season, but given his immense popularity, fans are wondering if he could return anyway, maybe in a flashback or dream sequence or Upside Down-world anti-reality shenannigans.

We don't know the answer for sure, but if you look at interviews Quinn has given, the evidende is piling up. Here's what he told ET when they said they had a feeling that Eddie would return: "Do you? You have a feeling, huh. I might have that feeling, too… Or maybe I don't? Who knows!" Another time, a fan asked him at a convention whether he was coming back. "I do know...but I'm not telling you," Quinn replied.

More recently, Quinn appeared on the Happy Sad Confused podcast, where host Josh Horowitz hit him with the question again. “I’m excited to see how they do it. I think it’s going to be amazing," Quinn said. "I’ve heard some ideas from the fifth season, and I think it’s going to surpass all of our expectations.”

When Horowitz expressed surprise that Quinn knew anything about the upcoming season given how tightly guarded that information is, Quinn explained himself: “I mean, I’m just excited to see. I’m not saying anything.”

"I’ve heard whispers. I had to tie them to a chair and get it out of them! But I do know now, I know some bits, and it sounds very exciting. I’m very excited to see how they pull it off, and I’ve no doubts that it’s very much within all of their capacities — the showrunners, the direction, the cast, everything...I think it’s going to be a wonderful swan song to that incredible TV show."

My guess is that Eddie will show up in Stranger Things season 5. We'll find out for sure in...sigh...2025. Until then, Quinn will appear in Gladiator II, coming out this November.

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h/t Buzzfeed News