At long last, the fifth and final season of Stranger Things is gearing up for its premiere. Set to be released in multiple volumes, the season promises to be an epic conclusion to a saga that started nearly a decade ago. Given the magnitude of the storyline, which has to wrap up a plethora of character arcs in addition to providing a satisfying resolution to the Upside Down conflict, it’s long been expected that the Stranger Things Season 5 episodes will have protracted run times. That was seemingly confirmed about a week ago when reports indicated the episodes would be between 90-120 minutes long. Now, series co-creator Ross Duffer has cleared things up.
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On Instagram, Duffer posted a short video revealing the “ACTUAL runtimes” of the first four episodes, which comprise the first volume that will be released on November 26th. Check out the list in the space below:
- “Chapter One: The Crawl” – 68 minutes
- “Chapter Two: The Vanishing of…” – 54 minutes
- “Chapter Three: The Turnbow Trap” – 66 minutes
- “Chapter Four: Sorcerer” – 83 minutes
Why Shorter Stranger Things Episodes Are for the Best
While Stranger Things Season 5 has a lot of ground to cover, the prospect of eight episodes between 90 and 120 minutes was quite daunting. Most viewers probably won’t mind that at least the first batch is a bit shorter. With all four episodes releasing on the same day, fans will want to binge through them as quickly as possible. That might have proven difficult if each one was feature-length (especially since people will be busy with holiday plans/traveling when the episodes drop). Shorter run times make it easier for fans to get through multiple episodes in a day if they so choose. Even if some people opt for one a day, carving out one hour for TV is easier than two.
This also means there’s less of a chance that individual episodes will be dragged down with meandering filler. While it’s true there are some three-hour movies that are so well-paced they feel like 60 minutes, it’s encouraging that the Stranger Things creative team has to be more economical and efficient when it comes to episode construction. Only one of the episodes pushes the 90-minute mark; the others are in the same rough ballpark of about an hour. Ideally, this will lead to a situation where everything in the episodes either pushes the plot forward or develops a character arc in a meaningful way. If the Duffer brothers were trying to fill two hours with each outing, there’d be a risk of the episodes (and the season itself) becoming drawn out in uninteresting ways.
It’ll be interesting to see what the run times for the second half of Season 5 are. Stranger Things hasn’t been shy about going feature-length in the past. The Season 4 finale ran two and a half hours, so the plan could call for something similar for the series finale. But those extra-lengthy run times should only be reserved for episodes that are truly deserving of them, like a finale. That way, they feel more special. If the season premiere ran as long as the concluding chapter, the episodes might lose their impact.
Fans certainly aren’t getting shortchanged with the Season 5 run times. Slightly more than an hour is still plenty of time to flesh things out, providing character arcs and plot developments with ample room to breathe. Arguably, these episode lengths are the sweet spot for a streaming series. As seen with Peacemaker Season 2, fans can take issue if the episodes are too short. The Duffers were smart to find a middle ground, and hopefully they deliver a compelling start to Season 5.
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