The long wait is for a good reason.
Maya Hawke has teased a truly epic final season of Stranger Things, which is supposedly set to be the equivalent of "eight movies".
The Netflix hit saw a leap in runtime and ambition with the action-packed fourth season, which ended with three feature-length episodes – the last of which clocked in at a whopping 2 hours and 30 minutes.
It sounds as if we can expect more bumper-sized instalments in the fifth entry, with Hawke telling Podcrushed that each chapter is "very long" as we near the conclusion of the Hawkins saga.
The actor continued: "Season 4 and season 5 are very connected. Season 4 had a part 1 and part 2 because they separated them, so the last two episodes came out at a different time, which is unusual for streaming.
"But this is its own season. It is a continuation, but it's the finale. And it has been a long time since last season."
Hawke added: "Our showrunners, Matt and Ross [Duffer], take a lot of responsibility. They have an amazing team of writers, but they're very involved.
"They write a lot and they are very intense and serious about the quality of the continued writing, and so it takes a long time to write each season, and a long time to shoot them."
Alas, it seems fans still have a lengthy wait ahead of them for Stranger Things season 5, which faced a substantial delay due to the Writers Guild of America (WGA) and Screen Actors Guild (SAG) strikes that took up much of last year.
In March 2024, Millie Bobby Brown appeared on The Jonathan Ross Show and said that there were nine months of filming left on the Netflix series, which would indicate a completion date in December and a potential release date in the second half of 2025.
We wouldn't expect the episodes any sooner than that due to the extensive post-production process that Stranger Things requires to ensure its visual effects and action sequences look as polished as they possibly can be.
That said, perhaps splitting the season into multiple parts could allow for more rapid delivery. We'll bring you more updates as they come in.
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Stranger Things season 5 is coming soon to Netflix. Seasons 1-4 are streaming now. Sign up for Netflix from £4.99 a month. Netflix is also available on Sky Glass and Virgin Media Stream.
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David Craig is the Senior Drama Writer for Radio Times, covering the latest and greatest scripted drama and comedy across television and streaming. Previously, he worked at Starburst Magazine, presented The Winter King Podcast for ITVX and studied Journalism at the University of Sheffield.
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