Stranger Things 4 ended with a major cliffhanger, setting up the fifth and final season with a bang.

Certainly, without giving too much away, it promises to be the biggest and boldest yet. It might even make you cry, according to the show's creatores, the Duffer Brothers.

Here's everything we know about it so far.

Stranger Things season 5 release date speculation

It was announced in February 2022 that the show was renewed for a fifth and final season, although there is no time scale on when we can expect it.

In fact, the Duffers aren't even sure: "It depends who you ask. You know what I mean? That's what we're still figuring out," they told Collider.

"If you ask our AD, and our line producer, they want more time for production. Our post-production supervisor wants more time for post-production. So it's going to be a big discussion. How long does everybody get?

"Here's the thing, the more you shorten production, the more you shorten post-production, the more things get compromised."

Scripts have started to appear, however. Netflix tweeted the front page of the first episode on 7 November 2022. It's titled "Chapter One: The Crawl".

A second is also underway, the writers added during an event in Los Angeles on 13 November 2022.

We suspect we'll have to wait until early to mid-2024 for shooting to start, we might even have to wait for a 2025 release.

"Ross and I will always favour quality, I think. At the end of the day, I think it's better that it's good than that it comes out quickly," added Matt Duffer.

Where to watch Stranger Things season 5

Stranger Things season 5 will be available on Netflix, as the entire run is exclusive to the platform.

What we know so far about Stranger Things 5

WARNING: MAJOR SPOILERS FOR SEASON 4 AHEAD!!!

The fragile barrier between the Upside Down and our own world has been smashed, with Vecna / Henry fulfilling his task of opening the largest rift yet.

That has seemingly allowed elements of the Upside Down to spill into Hawkins (with the dust-like snow a good indication of what's to come). Will also has good reason to think Vecna is still alive, thanks to his connection with the Mind Flayer as established in season one.

We also don't quite know what happened to the "particle monster" in the Russian prison, with the guard simply saying it had gone into "them".

So, all of this sets up the beginning of the next season nicely. It is likely to hit the ground running too, as show creators/writers The Duffer Brothers, Matt and Ross, explained to Happy Sad Confused podcast: "Typically... it’s almost a two-hour ramp up before our kids really get drawn into a supernatural mystery. You get to know them, you get to see them in their lives, they’re struggling with adapting to high school and so forth. Steve’s trying to find a date, all of that," said Matt (as transcribed by The Hollywood Reporter).

"None of that is obviously going to be occurring in the first two episodes [of the final season]."

The brothers also revealed that the entire season is "going to be moving fast".

"Characters are already going to be in action, they’re already going to have a goal and a drive, and I think that’s going to carve out at least a couple hours and make this season feel really different," added Matt.

How many episodes will there be in Stranger Things season 5?

We don't yet know the number of seasons planned for the Stranger Things' final season, but The Duffer Brothers have revealed that, apart from the finale, they won't be as long as many of the episodes in season 4.

The final episode of Stranger Things is likely to be similar in length to season 4's - 150 minutes long - but the others will be under 80 minutes: "We’re more likely to do what we did here, which is to just have a two-and-a-half hour episode," said Matt Duffer on the Happy Sad Confused podcast.

How to catch up on Stranger Things

All of Stranger Things is available on Netflix. You can watch the first four seasons (34 episodes in total) on the streaming platform in up to 4K HDR / Dolby Vision and with Dolby Atmos sound.

Will there be a Stranger Things season 6?

Sadly, Stranger Things 5 will be the last. The story will end with its last episode.