The Cast of Stranger Things Is All Grown Up in First Photo From Season 5 Production

Get ready for one last trip to the Upside Down. 

Netflix confirmed that production on the fifth and final season of Stranger Things is underway by sharing a sweet group photo of the Hawkins crew. 

"THIS IS A CODE RED," the streaming service announced on social media Jan. 8. "STRANGER THINGS 5 production has officially begun!!!"

The black-and-white photo showed all the returning cast members reuniting ahead of the final season, including Noah Schnapp, Millie Bobby Brown, David Harbour, Winona Ryder, Joe Keery, Charlie Heaton, Brett Gelman, Maya Hawke, Natalia Dyer, Jamie Campbell Bower, Priah Ferguson, Gaten Matarazzo, Caleb McLaughlin, Finn Wolfhard and Sadie Sink as well as show creators Matt Duffer and Ross Duffer.

The pic is a bittersweet glimpse into the show's final season as it highlights just how much the younger cast has grown since season one began filming more than eight years ago.

Although Stranger Things season five was prepared to begin production in May, the Writers Guild of America and, ultimately, the SAG-AFTRA strike shuttered production for months.

But during this prolonged hiatus, the show's writers have given small peeks at the latest installment, revealing on social media during Stranger Things Day in November that the season five premiere will be called "The Crawl."

However, executive producer Shawn Levy promises the final season is worth the wait.  

"Our ambitions remain pretty high," he told E! News in an exclusive interview in September 2022, "and the way the audience has grown along with the cinematic scope of the show, I don't expect that we're going to mess with that approach going into season five."

As Shawn put it: "We are hard at work to stick the landing."

And don't worry because they don't plan on leaving us on a cliffhanger. In fact, the final installment "will answer all remaining questions," with Shawn adding, "We are in the business of satisfying viewers."

Keep reading to learn everything we know about season five of Stranger Things.

While Max's fate is still up in the air, Matt and Ross Duffer told the Happy Sad Confused podcast that Dr. Brenner (Matthew Modine) is dead "for real this time." As they said, "He's toast."

Same goes for Eddie (Joseph Quinn), who sacrificed himself to the Demobats to buy time for the rest of the kids fighting. Joseph told E! News he's still hoping to reappear in the show, saying, "I'd be very up for it. But yeah, let's see."

As for Max (Sadie Sink), the brothers aren't giving up on her just yet. "She's brain dead, but yeah, she's alive," they said. "She's blind and all of her bones are broken." 

While Max is technically still alive, there's no knowing if she'll ever wake up from her coma. "I have no idea what's coming in five and what that looks like," Sadie said in an interview with Deadline. "Max's storyline is very up in the air, 'cause obviously she's in a coma and Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown) can't find her in the void. So who knows where she is and what state she's in."

Even Natalia Dyer is confused about who Nancy belongs with. On one hand, she thinks Nancy and Jonathan (Charlie Heaton) are a good match, but she also sees that Steve (Joe Keery) has grown up. And there's a part of her that thinks Nancy shouldn't be with either one of them. "It's really tough," she told Variety. "I don't know. It feels like she's been in a relationship for a while so maybe she needs some self discovery time."

She continued, "Whatever happens, I would hope that she does it with integrity. I personally had some crunchy feelings about how the whole Jonathan thing started sort of behind Steve's back. I can't believe she did that. I mean, I can."

In the season finale, Will (Noah Schnapp) confirmed he and Vecna are still connected after they were linked to each other in season two. When asked if fans will see the two characters interact in season five, Jamie Campbell Bower told E! News, "We all know by now that Vecna and Will have history. So it would be a joy to to get back in there, as I'll gently put it."

In fact, Jamie remained secretive throughout the entire interview, but promised the Duffers have got it all thought out. "My lips are sealed," he said. "You'll have to wait and see. I think Matt and Ross got something beautiful cooking and they'll let us know in good time."

While Joyce (Winona Ryder), Will (Noah Schnapp), Jonathan (Charlie Heaton) and Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown) initially sought to start anew in California, it seems the Byers family is missing Hawkins and their hometown friends. So, they're leaving their California home and returning to Indiana, alongside Hopper and Eleven, in season five.

"It's mostly in Hawkins, and there's a lot obviously in the Upside Down," Matt Duffer told Collider about their season five plans. "But this is about everyone finally coming back. Coming back together, coming back to Hawkins.

The Duffer Brothers have mostly planned out season five, the final installment, but there's no knowing when filming will begin. 

"This last season took two years in total, so who knows how long season five will take," Sadie Sink told Deadline. "The Duffers definitely know the fans will be eagerly awaiting a fifth season, but I don't think they're gonna rush it. They wanna make the best final season that they could possibly make."

They may not rush the process, but it seems they're cutting down on the amount of scenes in the final season. The Duffer Brothers promised the upcoming episodes will be slightly shorter, though they anticipate the finale is going to be another feature-length episode. 

"The only reason we don't expect to be as long is, this season, if you look at it, it's almost a two-hour ramp up before our kids really get drawn into a supernatural mystery," Matt Duffer told the Happy Sad Confused podcast. "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. None of that is obviously going to be occurring [in season 5]."

On Jan. 8, Netflix confirmed that production on the fifth and final season of Stranger Things is underway by sharing a sweet group photo of the Hawkins crew. 

"THIS IS A CODE RED," the streaming service announced on social media. "STRANGER THINGS 5 production has officially begun!!!"

In an exclusive interview with E! News, Stranger Things executive producer Shawn Levy promised that season five "will answer all remaining questions," adding, "we are in the business of satisfying viewers."

On Nov. 6, fondly known as Stranger Things Day, Netflix revealed that the first episode of the final season will be titled, "Chapter One: The Crawl."

It appears that Will Byers will be the key to how Stranger Things wraps up its run on Netflix. On what fans can expect from the final season, star Noah Schnapp teased to Forbes, "I think they did a great job with Will's character this season, and beautifully addressed everything they needed to. The way they closed the show is just perfect—the story started with Will, and it'll end with Will."

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