'Stranger Things' Season Four Will Hit Netflix in May — But the Show Will End After Season Five

Sometimes in life, the good comes with the bad. Maybe you've found yourself in a small American town after escaping from a lab, and you're desperate to discover everything about your past — all of which obviously is far from great — but also you make some fantastic  new friends and discover frozen waffles in the process, for instance. Or, for all of us who've been watching Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown, Godzilla vs Kong) navigate that path in Stranger Things, perhaps you find out when one of your favourite shows is finally returning after a lengthy three-year gap, but you also learn that it now has an end date.

Sorry Stranger Things fans, but the latter situation is now your reality — because the show has revealed when it'll drop its fourth season and also announced that there'll only be one more season to follow after that. The series' creators Matt and Ross Duffer revealed the news in a letter posted on social media, and also confirmed a few extra details about those season-four episodes that you'll be able to watch soon.

So, sticking with the happy part of the announcement at first, Stranger Things season four will arrive in two parts — with the first dropping on May 27 and the second on July 1. And, while you'll have a gap between your binging this time around, the show's fourth season has "a runtime of nearly twice the length of any previous seasons," the Duffer brothers advised. Indeed, that's why it's being released in two volumes.

uoos noʎ ǝǝs pic.twitter.com/pJ71dRgmo1

— Stranger Things (@Stranger_Things) February 17, 2022

Now, the not-as-cheery news: the Duffers are planning to wrap up Stranger Things after its fifth season. Yes, that means you have all of season four and then a whole other season after that to look forward to — but it also means that your time with the 80s-set Netflix sci-fi series is officially limited.

The Duffers also mention that they have more stories to tell in the Stranger Things world, though, so you know what that usually means: spinoffs. Netflix doesn't like letting go of its hits easily, after all, so the quest to find a way to keep wandering through this franchise is about as surprising as Jim Hopper's (David Harbour, Black Widow) gruff mood.

If you need a refresher on where things are at before May hits, quite a few season four trailers have released over the past two years, starting back in February 2020. Since then, a couple more teasers dropped in May 2021, then another one in August, followed by yet another in September and one more in November.

Across the clips, viewers have been taken to California, which is where Eleven, Joyce (Winona Ryder, The Plot Against America), Will (Noah Schnapp, Waiting for Anya) and Jonathan (Charlie Heaton, The New Mutants) have washed up following season three. Eleven is settling in as well as she can settle in anywhere, as she explains in a letter to Mike (Finn Wolfhard, The Goldfinch) — but she also can't wait until she can see him in person again.

And, we've also caught a glimpse of what happens to beloved police chief Hopper after the last season's big cliffhanger and Russian-set post-script, and spent time with Steve (Joe Keery, Spree), Dustin (Gaten Matarazzo, The Angry Birds Movie 2), Lucas (Caleb McLaughlin, Concrete Cowboy) and Max's (Sadie Sink, The Last Castle) in a haunted house in Hawkins. Plus, we've headed back to Hawkins Laboratory and its whole eerie setup, too.

It's worth remembering that when Netflix announced the show's renewal for a fourth season back in 2019, it did so with the catchphrase "we're not in Hawkins anymore". That clearly applies in a number of different ways.

And if you're wondering about timing within the show itself, season four will pick up six months since the Battle of Starcourt. Also, there'll be a new supernatural threat — of course there will — but if the series' latest mystery is solved, Eleven and the gang might be free of the Upside Down forever.

Check out the most recent Stranger Things season-four sneak peek below:

Stranger Things season four will be able to stream via Netflix in two parts, with Volume One dropping on May 27 and Volume Two hitting on July 1.

Images: courtesy of Netflix.