The return to the Upside Down is nigh, and fans now have an idea of how long the journey will take. Following earlier rumours that every episode in Stranger Things Season 5 would come in at over 90 minutes, series co-creator Ross Duffer has put speculation to rest with the official runtimes for the first four episodes.
Taking to Instagram, the filmmaker shared that the pilot episode, titled “The Crawl”, will clock one hour and eight minutes, followed by “The Vanishing of ____” at 54 minutes, “The Turnbow Trap” at one hour and six minutes, and “Sorcerer” at a hefty one hour and 23 minutes. No runtime details were announced for the latter half of the forthcoming outing, comprising “Shock Jock”, “Escape From Camazotz”, “The Bridge”, and “The Rightside Up”, as previously revealed, but Duffer stated back in 2022 that they won’t be as long as those in the fourth season, except for the grand finale.
Season 5 of Stranger Things is slated to be released in three parts: Volume 1 on 26 November, spanning the four episodes above, Volume 2 on Christmas (three episodes), and the grand finale on New Year’s Eve. The main cast, consisting of Millie Bobby Brown as Eleven, Finn Wolfhard as Mike Wheeler, Gaten Matarazzo as Dustin Henderson, Caleb McLaughlin as Lucas Sinclair, Noah Schnapp as Will Byers, Joe Keery as Steve Harrington, Sadie Sink Max Mayfield, Natalia Dyer as Nancy Wheeler, Charlie Heaton as Jonathan Byers, Maya Hawke as Robin Buckley, Winona Ryder as Joyce Byers, David Harbour as Jim Hopper, and Jamie Campbell Bower as Vecna, will all be reprising their roles.
“Hawkins is scarred by the opening of the Rifts, and our heroes are united by a single goal: find and kill Vecna. But he has vanished — his whereabouts and plans unknown. Complicating their mission, the government has placed the town under military quarantine and intensified its hunt for Eleven, forcing her back into hiding,” reads the synopsis for Stranger Things Season 5.
“As the anniversary of Will’s disappearance approaches, so does a heavy, familiar dread. The final battle is looming — and with it, a darkness more powerful and more deadly than anything they’ve faced before. To end this nightmare, they’ll need everyone — the full party — standing together, one last time.”
Si Jia is a casual geek at heart – or as casual as someone with Sephiroth’s theme on her Spotify playlist can get. A fan of movies, games, and Japanese culture, Si Jia’s greatest weakness is the Steam Summer Sale. Or any Steam sale, really.
Kevin Low
