Stranger Things 5 first teaser just dropped

Well, that came out of absolutely nowhere. Netflix has just dropped the first teaser for the fifth and final season of Stranger Things.

It’s been well over a year since season four of Stranger Things drew to a close - and what an epic season it was. It may have been dethroned as Netflix’s most-watched series since then, but our memories remain. Those juicy episode runtimes, Eddie’s iconic guitar scene, Sadie Sink killing it, the resurgence of Kate Bush’s ‘Running Up That Hill’, the ‘Chrissy wake up’ meme … Ah, it was a good summer. Given the ongoing Writers Guild of America (WGA) and Screen Actors Guild (SAG-AFTRA) strikes, we perhaps didn’t expect to hear any updates on season five for a while but alas, one just landed in our laps.

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The teaser was shared on the official Stranger Things Twitter account. We already know episode one is to be called ‘Chapter One: The Crawl’, and now we can see Scoops Ahoy - the ice cream parlour where Steve and Robin both worked - in total disarray. It was destroyed by the Spider Monster back in season three. In the rubble, we see Robin’s ‘You Suck’ sign as well the remains of the main Scoops Ahoy sign.

What does it all mean? I can’t help but notice the flashing lights on the Scoops Ahoy sign. Is there a significance to the order in which they flash? Or am I simply a Taylor Swift fan who reads too far into the most miniscule of details? The account both trolled and teased fans. “It means something sweet is coming,” they wrote.

Don’t expect season five to drop out of nowhere. Filming was due to kick off in June 2023 but strike-action prevented that from happening. Those involved have also teased that season five is the show’s biggest undertaking yet. To state the obvious, we have no idea when the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes will reach a conclusion but it’s looking as if the earliest we might see Stranger Things back on our screens would be late 2024, or more likely 2025.