#stranger-things

#stranger-things

Over five seasons and nine years, "Stranger Things" has evolved from an '80s-set story about a small Indiana town reeling from the sudden disappearance of a local boy into Netflix's big-budget flagship show. The fifth and final season, which premiered on Nov. 26 and concluded on New Year's Eve, broke streaming records and led the platform to its biggest Christmas Day viewership of all time. It's the most-watched show in Netflix history, with over 1 billion all-time views.

While plenty of people were fine with how the Netflix horror series wrapped up after a decade, there's a loud subset of fans who are taking to the digital streets to tear it down, say awful things about the people who worked on it, and declare it the . Another fraction of that group, however, is holding onto a bizarre sliver of hope with the belief that perhaps the disappointing conclusion is not all it seems.

Did Maya (Hawke) want to die, Ross, or am I making that up?

A young woman with mysterious powers makes an enormous personal sacrifice - hoping that her decision will effect positive change in the community she leaves behind. In a tearful goodbye, she thanks her closest companion for changing her life and promises they'll always be with each other. But in the end, what the world thinks happens to her might not tell the full story.

Hellfire lives! That is, if Dustin Henderson - and the actor who brought him to life, Gaten Matarazzo - has anything to say about it.

Getting your Trinity Audio player ready... The Duffer Brothers have effectively ruled out eventually revisiting Mike, Eleven and co. in a Stranger Things sequel as a gross cash grab, despite a spinoff of the Netflix hit on the horizon. Matt Duffer told The Hollywood Reporter that there's no plan or intention to tell the story because it's a coming-of-age story. Ultimately, that's what it's supposed to be. That's what the show always was.

Introduced in season four, Vickie Dunne - played by Amybeth McNulty - became a fairly huge part of Robin Buckley's (Maya Hawke) storyline, playing her lesbian love interest. Between season four and season five, Vickie and Robin confirmed their relationship, and Robin spends a fair amount of time in the final season promising to take Vickie out on a proper date and shielding her from the fact that Hawkins is facing impending doom.

Formally, he's addressing Vecna (Jamie Campbell Bower), the little boy who grew up to be the big monster that brought so much fear and pain to the families of Hawkins, Indiana. But Will may as well be speaking on behalf of any character in a coming-of-age story. That's their goal, after all: to leave the relatively comfortable confines of childhood and embrace their uncertain, oft-terrifying future as adults. They're not afraid to grow up. Not anymore.

You have to answer your email, Finn Wolfhard's father tells him. The young actor is home in Vancouver in 2017 for a break after filming IT and Stranger Things season 2 back-to-back. In another life, he'd be preparing to enter high school or searching for a summer job that would pay him enough cash to take his crush on a date to the mall. Instead, he's hearing it from his father for neglecting an email from his agent.

The animated series is set in the winter between the second and third seasons of Stranger Things, "where the original characters must fight new monsters and unravel a paranormal mystery terrorizing their town," per Netflix's logline. In addition to having a different visual style, new actors will be lending their voices to the animated spinoff, including star Odessa A'zion. It arrives in 2026, so you won't have to wait too long for a return to the world of Stranger Things.

The 1980s-set Netflix series Stranger Things, returning this week for Season 5, has always had a real knack for choosing songs of the era and exploding their popularity. The most notable example of this was Season 4's epic use of Kate Bush's "Running Up That Hill," but every season has featured some unexpected yet welcome needle drops, including The Clash's "Should I Stay or Should I Go," The Police's "Every Breath You Take," and Metallica's "Master of Puppets."

When Netflix announced a unique release schedule for the final season of "Stranger Things" that sees the final season of the juggernaut hit split into three releases on Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's Eve, it felt like a brash pronouncement of their pop culture dominance. There are few shows that could get away with competing with the holidays, but few shows have been as prominent as the creation of the Duffer brothers,

The fifth and final season of Stranger Things required a full calendar year of production in Atlanta, a marathon of 240 shooting days that will bring the beloved Netflix series to a close with eight super-sized episodes. A job of that scale and duration is an arduous undertaking that could rightfully intimidate any crewmember. For Caleb Heymann, it's kind of his thing.

It's obviously important to be able to balance being a normal kid and having a social life outside of this crazy world, while also pursuing what you love,

Man, there are some wild Stonathan theories, which aren't really theories as much as they are just fanfic. People really want to see Joe Keery and Charlie Heaton make out. Whatever does it for you. Two very handsome men,

Now, it seems as if series creators the Duffer Brothers, Matt and Ross, have hinted that another fan-favourite may end up getting killed off in the second half of the fifth season: None other than Steve 'baseball bat full of nails' Harrington, a.k.a. the best babysitter in Hawkins, played by Joe Keery. Steve is particularly beloved by LGBTQ+ fans, due to his touching friendship with lesbian character Robin (Maya Hawke).

But ahead of the end of the Upside Down, you'll find a bunch of new Funko Pops celebrating the hit Netflix series, most of which are just $15. This new batch of Stranger Things Funko Pops includes models for Derek, Dustin, Holly, Eleven, Mike, Will, Lucas, Hopper, and Nancy. All of these are traditional Funkos, standing around 3.75 inches tall and giving the cast the iconic Funko makeover.

Fans noticed that Eleven's training outfit - a gray cropped sweatshirt and matching sweatpants layered under teeny shorts - looked remarkably like Josh Brolin's character's in The Goonies, leading many to suspect this was the inspiration. And they're right. "I loved referencing real fashion trends," says Parris, who took over the ST costume department by the third season. "It was a blip of a trend, [but] shorts-over-sweats was a thing. That happened."

Microsoft has announced the next crossover collaboration for Microsoft Flight Simulator 24, and it's none other than Netflix's hugely popular Stranger Things. "Turn the skies upside down," Microsoft said in its announcement for a collaboration set to come to the game on December 9. The teaser video doesn't give much away, but one possibility is that the upcoming crossover will allow people to fly through Hawkins, the setting of Stranger Things.

Drop the Brown. It's just Millie Bonnie Bongiovi. Millie Bon Bon!

One thing to keep in mind while watching and discussing "Sorcerer" - this is only the midpoint of the season. This is only the midpoint. So many major revelations are made, each one bigger than the next, and we are only halfway through the final season of Stranger Things. I mean, that battle sequence in the MAC-Z alone is finale-level stuff. If this is what they're giving us now, what are we in for next? I'm exhausted, both emotionally and physically speaking. (Complimentary.)