Stranger Things season 5
Netflix
We have nearly arrived at the grand finale of Stranger Things in season 5, the conclusion to one of Netflix’s most popular series of all time. Well, we’ve nearly arrived at half of the season, where the release dates for eight episodes are being spread out over the course of a month.
It is no longer unusual for Netflix to make its most popular shows air chunks of episodes a month apart, usually in halves. This seems in part to drive further conversation, but more pressingly, get people to subscribe to the service for two months instead of one, and possibly make them forget to cancel altogether now that they can no longer binge and delete in one sitting.
Stranger Things breaking things up into three parts in one month is eye-rolling enough, but it has also decided that the best time for these episodes to air is on the three holidays that take place over the next month. So we have:
- Stranger Things season 5 part 1 release date (4 episodes) – November 26, 2025
- Stranger Things season 5 part 2 release date (3 episodes) – December 25, 2025
- Stranger Things season 5 part 3 release date (1 episode) – December 31, 2025
Stranger Things season 5
Netflix
Maybe I’m alone in this, but I find the idea that Stranger Things wants to insert itself into Thanksgiving, Christmas Day and New Year’s Eve extremely annoying.
No, November 26 is not Thanksgiving Day, which is the 27th, but it is both a travel day for many to get into town, and then obviously the first night there, you’d probably be spending time with family or friends.
Christmas Day is…Christmas Day. Obviously, you are probably going to be preoccupied with better things to do than sitting down for three hours of Stranger Things during the most significant holiday of the year. At least that’s how my holiday works.
New Year’s Eve, the grand, two-hour finale of Stranger Things season 5, and the entire series, is airing at 8 PM ET, making it an integral part of the evening’s plans unless you want to wade through spoilers by being anywhere on the internet the next 24 hours.
I don’t know, it just seems exceedingly lame to me to try to force not just one but three airings into holiday plans if you want to catch the episodes when they air, rather than not being able to and spoiler dodging. Maybe Netflix genuinely thinks that because people have time off for the holidays, it’s easier to watch, but I just don’t think that’s how things work in practice for most people, and sliding in literally hours of viewing during those days is going to be harder than not.
Once again, I think the best way Netflix could air a season like this is week-to-week, something they are allergic to doing. That’s the best way to generate hype and discussion, and it would still engage people for a month. This three-date breakup is awful, and the dates they have chosen are worse. I don’t know when I’ll actually get to these, given that choice.
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Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/paultassi/2025/11/24/the-stranger-things-season-5-release-dates-are-so-annoying/
