Netflix officially lifted the curtain on Stranger Things Season 5 by releasing the opening five minutes of the premiere episode during a virtual watch party. The scene returns to 1983, the moment the story first began, and places Will Byers back inside the Upside Down, where danger builds instantly and without pause.
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The episode, titled “The Crawl,” begins inside the shadowy forest of the Upside Down. Will sits alone inside a makeshift fort, shaken and alert. A crack in the distance pushes him to react, revealing a Demogorgon stalking nearby. He sprints deeper into the forest, climbs a tree, and still fails to escape. The creature drags him into Vecna’s deteriorating lair, where red lightning flashes through the sky and the tension rises further.
Vecna steps forward, addresses Will, and begins a new form of possession. Will struggles against tightening vines as Vecna speaks directly to him, promising what he calls “beautiful things,” before forcing a vine into Will’s mouth and placing a clawed hand against his head. The scene ends there, leaving the audience to wait for November 26, when the first four episodes arrive on Netflix at 5 p.m. PT.
After this opening sequence, Vecna vanishes from sight, but the aftermath reaches Hawkins immediately. The town enters full military lockdown, and the cast faces new conditions: government control, surveillance, and no return to normal life. The official synopsis frames the season around an approaching final battle as the anniversary of Will’s disappearance brings back the same dread from Season 1.
Ross Duffer explains that the season launches directly into conflict rather than easing into small-town routines. Matt Duffer supports that idea, noting that nothing remains ordinary in Hawkins, where cameras monitor residents and free movement no longer exists.
Season 5 will also reveal long-planned Upside Down mythology based on a 25-page document the Duffer brothers created before Season 1. Several unanswered questions from that early material will finally surface and guide the arc of the final episodes.
Stranger Things 5 releases in three parts: the first four episodes on November 26, three more on Christmas, and the series finale on New Year’s Eve. The central question remains unchanged: can the Hawkins group defeat Vecna for good, and what secrets remain inside the Upside Down before the story closes?
