Damsel

Netflix

In the wake of the end of the writers and actors’ strikes, Netflix said that their top two priorities were getting out Stranger Things season 5 and Wednesday season 2, new seasons of their most popular shows. But even with that mandate, it is going to be a long, long time before Stranger Things season 5’s eventual release date.

Millie Bobby Brown is out promoting her new “Damsel” movie on Netflix, and of course is getting asked about Stranger Things. On The Jonathan Ross Show, she revealed that there is still nine months of filming left for Stranger Things season 5.

So, add to that what is likely going to be 5-8 months of post-production, as was the case with previous seasons (this one could even be more as it is no doubt going to be very, very VFX heavy, final battle and all), we can map out a potential release date, and it is really far away.

Nine month of filming plus 5-8 months of post production means that’s anywhere from May 2025 to August 2025, over a full year from now. And if that really is the case, that would be effectively three full years after season 4 debuted in 2022, and that wasn’t even all of the episodes, as post-production was still going on, and the second part didn’t arrive until July. It stands to reason that Netflix is probably going to also break season 5 into two parts as they have been doing with essentially all of their biggest shows that return for further seasons.

STRANGER THINGS. (L to R) Jamie Campbell Bower as Peter Ballard and Millie Bobby Brown as Eleven in … [+] STRANGER THINGS. Cr. Courtesy of Netflix © 2022

Courtesy of Netflix

This exemplifies one of Netflix’s biggest problems, that the gaps between seasons of shows are simply yawning. Many are at least two years now, and three for Stranger Things season 5? Even with the writers and actors strike taken into account, it would have still been what? Two and a half years?

While Netflix is not the only place this happens, with more shows with more demand for them to return, it feels like it happens all the time there, especially with big series. Elsewhere, some places seem to have gotten it down. We are about to get a third season of The Bear on Hulu with exactly a year between all the seasons so far.

Still, any update is better than no update, and I do not expect Netflix to give an official release date anytime soon. At best they’re going to tell us its in 2025, and yes, spring/summer 2025 seems like the best estimate we have so far.

No doubt it is going to be an absolute blockbuster no matter how long we have to wait, and I do wonder what Netflix is thinking could possibly replace it once it ends. Nothing comes to mind, unless Wednesday can grow into a super-monster for multiple seasons, or something else springs up out of nowhere.

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Pick up my sci-fi novels the Herokiller series and The Earthborn Trilogy.