Fans of the long-running pop-culture behemoth Stranger Things know a thing or two about waiting long periods of time. The blockbuster Netflix show, which first premiered all the way back in July of 2016, is coming to a close at last with the release of its fifth and final season this holiday season.
Over three years after the release of the last season, fans are understandably anxious to return to the world of the Upside Down and see how things wrap up for their favorite characters. However, if a recent viral post was to be believed, that lengthy wait may have resulted in some ungodly lengthy runtimes for these new episodes.
Season 4 of Stranger Things saw showrunners Ross and Matt Duffer scale up the size and scope of the seminal science-fiction horror series in just about every way, including its runtimes. The longest episode of that season, its finale, clocked in at nearly two-and-a-half hours. Thus, when an allegedly leaked episode runtime list for the fifth season began to circulate online, claiming that several of the impending episodes were set to be over two hours long, it was surprising—but not exactly hard to believe.
No, the Stranger Things finale won’t be three hours long
The most shocking revelation of this supposed Netflix-approved document was that it had the runtime of the series finale listed at a full three hours. Fortunately, none of this appears to actually be true.
The runtime list went viral online with Stranger Things die-hards and casual fans alike. While some were enthused about the idea of this last season containing so many hours of storytelling within it, the vast majority of people were quick to decry these runtimes as bloated and overblown. In response to its circulation, Ross Duffer himself took to Instagram to clear up the rumors and speculation with a blunt post.
On his own personal Instagram story, Ross Duffer posted a screenshot of the alleged runtime list with the simple caption, “Lol not even close to accurate,” as captured by What's On Netflix.
ross duffer secret twt user CONFIRMED?? pic.twitter.com/wQ6migv3uN
— rayu : ̗̀➛| FORMERLY GREEN YURI PFP (@ryumiezz) July 18, 2025
In this new digital age, it has become increasingly difficult for audiences to discern what is and isn’t authentic anymore. For example, while fake trailers have long been a popular trend on sites such as YouTube, the popularization of technological tools like AI have led to an insane uptick in their output. Similarly, this falsified runtime list bore the appearance of an official piece of marketing, even sporting an “approved by Netflix” watermark, and thus tricked many people into believing it was real.
If anything, all of this is just indicative of how ravenous audiences are for more information relating to the final season of Stranger Things. All of the media released up until this point (from the official trailers to the stage production of Stranger Things: The First Shadow, which recently premiered to sold-out crowds on Broadway) has been met with unprecedented engagement and fervor. Fans are clearly eager to feast their eyes upon this last season, and given just how long they’ve had to wait, it isn’t exactly surprising.
Stranger Things season 5 will be split into three parts: the first batch of episodes releasing on Thanksgiving (November 26), the next on Christmas Day (December 25), and the final episode on New Year’s Eve (December 31). This time around, the episodes will be released in primetime at 5:00 p.m. ET instead of the usual 3:00 a.m. ET.
Watch the teaser:
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