Netflix co-CEO: There won’t be a dry eye watching the final season of Stranger Things

After being delayed several months by the writers strike and the actors strike, season 5 of the hit Netflix series Stranger Things (which is also the last season of the show) finally went into production at the start of 2024 with a twelve month shooting schedule, wrapping at the end of December. Series creators the Duffer Brothers are working hard to get the season ready for release by the end of the year – and Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos told Variety he doesn’t think there will be a “dry eye” watching this final season.

Stranger Things has the following synopsis: A love letter to the ‘80s classic genre films that captivated a generation, Stranger Things is a thrilling drama set in the seemingly normal Midwestern town of Hawkins, Indiana. After a boy vanishes into thin air, his close-knit group of friends and family search for answers and are pulled into a high-stakes and deadly series of events. Beneath the surface of their ordinary town lurks an extraordinary supernatural mystery, along with top-secret government experiments and a dangerous gateway that connects our world to a powerful yet sinister realm. Friendships will be tested and lives will be altered as what they discover will change Hawkins and possibly the world — forever.

When Variety asked him how he would describe the final season, Sarandos said, “There won’t be a dry eye.“

This chapter of Stranger Things is wrapping up, but we know there is more to come. Ross Duffer has previously said, “We’re not going to tell the story with these characters anymore, with that crew or those actors.” But, Matt Duffer said, “It’s not goodbye for Stranger Things. There are more Stranger Things stories to tell and in the works. It’s a bit early at this point to talk about them, but we’re deeply involved in every one. It’s very important to us that anything with the Stranger Things name on it is of the highest quality and not repetitive, that it has a reason to exist and always blazes its own path. And also, it needs to basically just be awesome — or we need to think it’s awesome. And there are a lot of what we think are awesome things in the pipeline.“

Variety asked Sarandos if Stranger Things will continue beyond the end of the original show. He said, “So Stranger Things, I believe, is a gigantic universe — you see it in novelizations of the characters now. You see it in consumer products. You see it in the live stage show, the prequel Stranger Things: The First Shadow. That’s just playing hugely successfully on the West End, and it’s going to be opening on Broadway.” Of course, he didn’t give any information on the TV spin-offs that are in development.

Here’s the list of the cast members and the characters they played in season 4: Winona Ryder (Joyce Byers), David Harbour (Jim Hopper), Millie Bobby Brown (Eleven), Finn Wolfhard (Mike Wheeler), Gaten Matarazzo (Dustin Henderson), Caleb McLaughlin (Lucas Sinclair), Noah Schnapp (Will Byers), Sadie Sink (Max Mayfield), Natalia Dyer (Nancy Wheeler), Charlie Heaton (Jonathan Byers), Joe Keery (Steve Harrington), Maya Hawke (Robin Buckley), Priah Ferguson (Erica Sinclair), Brett Gelman (Murray), Cara Buono (Karen Wheeler), Matthew Modine (Dr. Brenner), Paul Reiser (Dr. Owens), Jamie Campbell Bower (Peter Ballard), Joseph Quinn (Eddie Munson), Eduardo Franco (Argyle), Sherman Augustus (Lt. Colonel Sullivan), Mason Dye (Jason Carver), Nikola Djuricko (Yuri), Tom Wlaschiha (Dmitri), Myles Truitt (Patrick), Regina Ting Chen (Ms. Kelly), Grace Van Dien (Chrissy), Logan Riley Bruner (Fred Benson), Logan Allen (Jake), Elodie Grace Orkin (Angela), John Reynolds (Officer Callahan), Rob Morgan (Chief Powell), Amybeth McNulty (Vickie), and Freddy Krueger himself Robert Englund (Victor Creel).

Stranger Things is produced by Monkey Massacre Productions and 21 Laps Entertainment. Series creators The Duffer Brothers serve as executive producers alongside Shawn Levy and Dan Cohen of 21 Laps Entertainment, Iain Paterson, and Curtis Gwinn.

10 Cloverfield Lane and Prey director Dan Trachtenberg directed an episode of the final season before heading off to make the new Predator movie Badlands, starring Elle Fanning. The Shawshank Redemption director Frank Darabont also ended an 11 year break from directing to take the helm of an episode. New to the cast for Stranger Things season 5 are Linda Hamilton (The Terminator), Nell Fisher (Evil Dead Rise), newcomer Jake Connelly, and Alex Breaux (Joe Pickett).

Are you looking forward to seeing the final season of Stranger Things later this year? Do you think Sarandos is right and these last episodes are likely to make you cry? Let us know by leaving a comment below.

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