Stranger Things fans, get ready to clear your calendars — because Season 5 is bringing some seriously packed episodes.
Co-creator Ross Duffer has finally put the swirling rumors to rest and revealed exactly how long the first four episodes of the hit Netflix series’ fifth and final season will be. And while they’re not quite feature-length films, they’re still pretty epic.
After speculation spread that every episode would clock in at over 90 minutes, thanks to Duffer previously comparing the new season to “eight blockbuster movies,” he took to Instagram to share the real runtimes.
The season premiere, titled “The Crawl,” will run 1 hour and 8 minutes. Episode 2, “The Vanishing of _____,” comes in at 54 minutes, followed by episode 3, “The Turnbow Trap,” at 1 hour and 6 minutes. Episode 4, “Sorcerer,” is the longest so far, with a runtime of 1 hour and 23 minutes.
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Ross also gave fans some exciting teases about what’s to come. He called “The Crawl” his “favorite” and the “most eventful first episode since Season 1.” Episode 2, he teased, has “the craziest cold open we’ve ever done. One of the sequences we’re most proud of this season.”
For episode 3, “The Turnbow Trap,” Duffer described it as “the most classic Stranger Things-y episode of the season,” and revealed that legendary director Frank Darabont came out of retirement to helm the episode. As for episode 4? He didn’t hold back, calling it “MASSIVE — as big as any finale we’ve ever done, and the most logistically insane shoot of our lives.”
This update comes as fans eagerly await the conclusion of the Hawkins saga. Production on Season 5 began in January, and according to Maya Hawke, who plays Robin, the scale of the episodes is bigger than ever.
Back in November 2024, Maya described the filming process on the “Podcrushed” podcast, saying, “We’re making, basically, eight movies. The episodes are very long.” She added that it would take the rest of the year to finish filming.
“They are very intense and serious about the quality of the continued writing, and so it takes a long time to write each season and a long time to shoot them,” she explained.
