Warning! This article includes SPOILERS for Stranger Things season 4
Stranger Things creators the Duffer Brothers have offered up some details about the setting and story of season 5. The Stranger Things season 4 finale delivered some major blows, including the loss of Eddie Munson and the very near death of Max Mayfield. However, its biggest reveal came in the form of the season's cliffhanger, which saw Hawkins threatened by an impending apocalypse after Vecna managed to open all four gates to the Upside Down. Now, audiences are desperate to learn the town's fate in the final Stranger Things season 5, which is likely over a year away from release.
Unlike previous chapters, Stranger Things season 4 found the core Hawkins gang split up. While Eleven and the Byers family moved to California after the devastating (seeming) loss of Hopper at the Battle of Starcourt Mall in season 3, the secretly alive Hopper was stuck in a Russian prison. Meanwhile, the remaining members of the original gang stayed in Hawkins to witness Vecna's bloody rampage. Stranger Things' lead characters were only brought back together in the season 4 finale, when Eleven, Will, Jonathan and Argyle returned from her breakout from the Nina Project facility, and Hopper, Joyce and Murray found their way back from Russia. However, now it seems that the final Stranger Things season 5 will be a return to form for the series.
Speaking to Collider, the Duffer Brothers teased story details and the key locations of Stranger Things season 5. The co-creators revealed that the two major settings for season 5 will be those set up in season 1: Hawkins and the Upside Down. The Duffers also teased some major reveals about the Upside Down itself, which has grown more mysterious over the course of the series.
"It's mostly in Hawkins, and there's a lot obviously in the Upside Down ... We do a couple more big reveals in Volume 2, but it's all related to Vecna, Henry, and his journey. But what we haven't really discussed is exactly what the Upside Down is ... The big reveals that are coming in Season 5 are really about the Upside Down itself, which we only start to hint at. There is that moment where we realize in episode seven this year that it's frozen in time."
Based on the Duffers' comments, it's clear that Stranger Things season 5 seeks to recreate the show's original structure, scaling back the focus after a significantly wider-reaching season 4. The creators have also recently promised that the final season would be a return to "season 1 dynamics," focussing on Eleven and the original Hawkins group of Mike, Will, Dustin and Lucas. This update suggests that Max could be incapacitated for a large part of season 5 after her near death at the hands of Vecna, which put her in a coma. The creators' comments also promise that season 5 will finally be offering some insight into the workings of the darker, alternate Hawkins. While season 4 clarified how time works in the Upside Down, there is still the mystery of how and when it was created (by Eleven or otherwise), and whether it can ever be closed to real-world Hawkins for good.
It is interesting to hear that Stranger Things' final installment intends to come full circle, bringing the Hawkins gang back together to fight against their very first enemy in the Upside Down itself. However, the stakes are significantly higher this time, with the alternate world having evolved from the kidnapper of one boy in Will Byers to now threatening humanity. As Vecna, the Mind Flayer and other Upside Down monsters loom over Hawkins, Stranger Things season 5 is likely to be set entirely in the town as Eleven and the gang prepare for a final battle to save their home.
Source: Collider