Stranger Things Writers Tease Season 5 Episode Count

By Patrick Cavanaugh

Stranger Things Season 4 was the longest adventure in the series yet, and with Season 5 set to be the final installment of the series, creators Matt and Ross Duffer have confirmed the new season will be shorter than its predecessor, with the series' writers potentially confirming how many episodes audiences can expect. The writing team's Twitter account shared the early stages of developing the new season, which shows eight episodes being planned, potentially confirming that the goal is for the final season to consist of eight installments. With it likely being early in those writing stages, plans could surely change for the final season. Stay tuned for details on Season 5 of Stranger Things.

The Twitter account captioned the photo "grid stage" alongside a photo of a whiteboard detailing eight episodes, likely plotting how all the various major events will unfold in order to maintain the appropriate narrative momentum of the season.

In the years since the series debuted, the episode counts of each season has jumped between eight and nine episodes, depending on the events that transpired. With Season 4, production was delayed due to the coronavirus pandemic and this offered the writers longer than ever to complete all of the scripts for the new season, resulting not only in the season earning nine episodes, but with each chapter being at least 70 minutes in length. The final two episodes had a combined run time of more than four hours.

In addition to Season 5 seemingly having fewer episodes, the series creators previously teased the plan was for the final season to have an overall shorter run time.

"The only reason we don't expect it to be as long is because if you look at it, it's almost a two-hour ramp-up before our kids really get drawn into the supernatural mystery," Matt Duffer shared with the Happy Sad Confused podcast of developing Season 4. "You get to know them, you get to see them in their lives, what they're struggling with, adapting to high school, and so forth. Steve's trying to find a date, all of that. None of that obviously is going to be occurring in the first two episodes of [Season 5]."

He continued, "For the first time ever, we don't wrap things up at the end of 4, and so it's going to be moving. I don't know that it's going to be going 100 miles an hour at the start of 5, but it's going to be moving pretty 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. I'm sure the wrap-up will be a lot longer, it's going to be [The Lord of the Rings:] Return of the King-ish with, like, eight endings."

Stay tuned for details on Season 5 of Stranger Things.

Are you looking forward to the final season? Let us know in the comments or contact Patrick Cavanaugh directly on Twitter to talk all things Star Wars and horror!

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