We’ve just heard that the fourth season Netflix’s smash hit supernatural series Stranger Things will be delivered in two volumes this summer – but the news just in from Hawkins doesn’t end there. Via an open letter to fans from show creators the Duffer Brothers, Netflix have confirmed today that this is “the beginning of the end” for Eleven, Mike and the gang – a fifth season is officially coming, but it will be the last.
As they state in their open letter, Matt and Ross Duffer are ending the show on their own terms – our journey to the Upside Down was only ever meant to last this long. Looking back at the show’s inception and how it developed since then, they write: “Seven years ago, we planned out the complete arc for Stranger Things. At the time, we predicted the story would be four to five seasons. It proved too large to tell in four, but – as you’ll soon see for yourselves – we are now hurtling towards our finale. Season 4 will be the penultimate season, Season 5 will be the last.”
So, the nosebleed-inducing, Dungeons And Dragons-playing, Demogorgon-killing adventures as we currently know it will come to an end – but judging from a cryptic sentence near the end of the Duffer’s letter, the chance to explore a different part of the Stranger Things universe could be in store. “There are still many more exciting stories to tell within the world of Stranger Things,” they write, before going on to mention “new adventures, new mysteries, new unexpected heroes”. Could that be a hint that spin-off series focusing on new characters are on the way? It certainly sounds like it – and if Stranger Things taught us anything, it’s that friends don’t lie.