Netflix has officially announced the release plan for Stranger Things‘ fifth and final season, but the schedule is following a trend that fans of the show are all too familiar with. During Netflix’s 2025 TUDUM event, Stranger Things season 5’s release date was finally made public, along with the first look at the highly anticipated concluding chapter. July will notably mark three full years since Netflix aired new episodes of Stranger Things, and though we finally know when the final episodes are arriving, fans will have to wait until the holiday season.

Stranger Things season 4’s ending left the show’s core characters facing the fallout of Vecna’s defeat. Not only did the plan leave Eddie dead and Max in a coma, but the aftermath also caused the Upside Down to spill out and invade Hawkins. As seen in the teased footage from TUDUM, the surviving Stranger Things characters are still reeling from the events of the past few years. Due to their unique connections to Vecna and elements within the Upside Down, Eleven and Will are especially struggling, but the interwoven story will reach a conclusion by the end of 2025.

Stranger Things Season 5’s Release Schedule Explained

The Final Season Is Releasing In Three “Volumes”

Stranger Things season 4 was memorably released in two parts, with seven episodes dropped on May 27, 2022, and the final two on July 1 of that year. For the final installment, Stranger Things season 5 is releasing in three parts, or “Volumes,” with a combined total of eight episodes, on November 26, December 25, and December 31. Here’s an official breakdown of Stranger Things‘ final batch of episodes:

Episode
Release Date

“Chapter One: The Crawl”
November 26, 2025

“Chapter Two: The Vanishing of…”
November 26, 2025

“Chapter Three: The Turnbow Trap”
November 26, 2025

“Chapter Four: Sorcerer”
November 26, 2025

“Chapter Five: Shock Jock”
December 25, 2025

“Chapter Six: Escape from Camazotz”
December 25, 2025

“Chapter Seven: The Bridge”
December 25, 2025

“Chapter Eight: The Rightside Up”
December 31, 2025

All three volumes have also been announced to hit Netflix at 8pm ET/5pm PT on their respective release dates. However, the timing and release dates for Stranger Things season 5 are garnering extra attention because the episodes are releasing around three major holidays: Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s. While the release plan could be frustrating to a lot of Stranger Things fans, it probably shouldn’t come as a complete surprise based on the show’s past.

How Stranger Things Season 5’s Release Plan Follows A Holiday Trend

Stranger Things Has A Habit Of Releasing Around Holidays

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If Stranger Things sticks with its announced schedule for season 5, four episodes will release on the evening before Thanksgiving, three episodes will arrive on Christmas night, and the series finale will drop in the final hours of 2025 on New Year’s Eve. Dropping major releases around big holidays is nothing new for streaming or theatrical releases. In fact, Stranger Things has been known to release new seasons around holidays, dating back to season 2 in 2017, when the follow-up installment dropped a few days before Halloween.

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Stranger Things season 3 took the holiday celebration a step further by releasing on the Fourth of July in 2019, which would be the last time the show released all episodes at once. While seasons 2 and 3 utilized the holiday settings in their respective stories, that wasn’t the case for Stranger Things season 4, despite also releasing the first seven episodes around Memorial Day weekend and the final two episodes a few days before July 4, 2022. Netflix will be embracing the holiday trend for Stranger Things yet again, but the plan is undoubtedly risky.

How Stranger Things Season 5’s Release Schedule Could Backfire For Netflix

Stranger Things Season 5’s Release Plan Is Risky For Several Reasons

From a marketing standpoint, it makes a lot of sense why Netflix would want to use holidays to build on the excitement surrounding the release of Stranger Things‘ final season. The streamer is relying on subscribers being off from school and work, looking for new releases to check out. Granted, it’s interesting to see Netflix attempt to claim three end-of-year holidays when there’s already so much competition during that same time period, suggesting that the schedule for Stranger Things season 5 could backfire.

Stranger Things will also be facing off against some heavy movie competition during the holiday weeks of November and December.

Sure, a large portion of potential viewers could have time off around Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s, but that could also mean a good percentage of those viewers have obligations tied to those various holidays in November and December. If that’s the case, there could be delayed viewership from those who realistically can’t sit down and watch the last batch of Stranger Things episodes until after the New Year. When it comes to streaming, viewership is key, but perhaps Netflix isn’t worrying about the immediate data since it’s the final installment.

Stranger Things will also be facing off against some heavy movie competition during the holiday weeks of November and December. Wicked: For Good is set to release the week before Volume 1, whereas Avatar: Fire and Ash will hit theaters just before season 5’s remaining episodes hit Netflix. Both franchises have excellent box office histories and are expected to have long-tailed interest in theaters. Anyone with limited free time during some of the busiest times of the year might not be able to prioritize Stranger Things like Netflix is hoping.