Stranger Things Season 5 Update Delays Release Date Projections

Release date projections have been delayed following new quotes from Stranger Things 5 star David Harbour.

The hit Netflix series is set to come back for one final season on the streamer, rounding out the story of Hawkins, Indiana, and the bizarre supernatural phenomena that have plagued the small town.

This closing chapter has been described as if “Season 1 and 4 had a baby” and then “that baby was injected with steroids,” but few specifics have made their way out about the title.

Production on Stranger Things 5 started in June; however, shooting has been put on hold due to the ongoing SAG-AFTRA strike in Hollywood. 

Will Stranger Things Season 5 Get Pushed Back?

New comments from actor David Harbour have seemingly delayed release date projections for Stranger Things 5. 

Speaking with The Hollywood Reporter, Harbor addressed the idea of shooting Stranger Nights and Marvel’s Thunderbolts at the same time, revealing, “Stranger Things 5 will shoot for a year” when it does get back in front of cameras:

“There will be a little bit of a push difference, but ‘Stranger Things 5’ will shoot for a year. So ‘Thunderbolts’ will have to live somewhere within that, but the whole thing is crazy speculation at this point.”

This year-long production schedule is new info in relation to Stranger Things, potentially pushing back release date projections for the show. 

Many expected that Stranger Things 5 would shoot for eight or nine months, working on a similar timetable to past seasons, but that does not seem to be the case.

Both Stranger Things 2 and 3 were filmed for seven months, and Stranger Things 4 went through a whole year of production, but that was in part caused by the COVID-19 pandemic protocols that slowed down shooting.

Some had projected that Season 5 of the hit series would come out in mid-2025; however, that timeline will need to be pushed back three to four months, putting Season 5’s premiere sometime in late 2025 or early 2026 depending on when production can start back up again after the resolution on the ongoing Hollywood strikes. 

When Will Stranger Things 5 Release?

With this new information from David Harbour, the gap between Stranger Things 4 and 5 grows ever longer. 

By the time the final chapter of the hit Netflix service hits the series it will very probably be the longest time gap between seasons for the show, breaking the 38-month mark set between the third and fourth seasons (and that was mainly because of the global COVID-19 pandemic). 

Right now, it remains unclear exactly when this culmination of the Stranger Things story will actually come out. 

The biggest obstacle in the way is the ongoing job action in Hollywood. Both the actors and writers are on strike and a resolution does not look to be in sight. 

After what seemed to be some positive momentum, between the studios and the guilds, negotiations have come to a halt (per Deadline).

While some had hopes Stranger Things would resume production sometime in 2023, that is looking less and less likely. 

Traditionally, Stranger Things has needed 7-9 months after finishing filming before release. So, even if the show got started back in January 2024, that would mean production would theoretically wrap in January 2025, which puts the release following post-production sometime around September 2025. And that is the absolute best-case scenario at this point. 

What is more likely to happen is production gets pushed even further out, putting the series into early 2026 very easily. 

Stranger Things 5 currently has no public release date.