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Stranger Things season 5 begins filming as Netflix shares first official look at reunited cast and crew

The entire Hawkins gang is back together.

News by Fran Ruiz,

Published on Mon Jan 08 2024

After much preparation (and several delays), Stranger Things' fifth and final season has started shooting, and Netflix has dropped the first look at the cast and crew

to mark the occasion. All the signs (and recent reports in late 2023) pointed to January 2024 being the month in which Stranger Things season 5 finally started becoming a tangible reality, but after so many holdups and the massive delays caused by last year's strikes, fans were starting to get nervous. Well, fret no more, as Netflix has officially confirmed the long-awaited news and even shared a cool black-and-white photo that shows the returning cast and crew:

Stranger Things season 5 cast and crew — Image credit: Netflix

The definitive production start date ended up falling within the ballpark suggested by Deadline last month, and also confirms the recent reports from Atlanta Filming that shooting was already underway late last week. Table reads had been happening for a while now, and it appears that all the prep was wrapped up ahead of the Christmas break, as the team has hit the ground running in January.

Stranger Things 4 — Image credit: Netflix

The length of the production and all the post-production and editing work that needs to be done will determine whether Stranger Things season 5 can still drop around summer 2025 or land closer to Christmas next year. At worst, it could slip into early 2026, but we're pretty sure that's a scenario Netflix wants to avoid at all costs. It'll be two full years since season 4 dropped this summer, and Netflix probably doesn't want interest in their biggest live-action series ever (with the exception of Wednesday and Squid Game) to cool off just as it nears its conclusion.

The matter of the younger cast members' age differences and physical appearances, which was already a noticeable issue in season 4, will probably be a talking point as we approach season 5 too. The Duffer Brothers have never been the fastest writers and showrunners when it comes to developing new chapters of the story, and that's probably helped the overall quality of the show, but it's also become a bit of a problem when most of the main cast is supposed to be growing naturally through high school. What do you think?

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