Quick TakeArticle at a glance
- Streaming options in the United States, updated Sep 15, 2026.
- A twelve-year-old cycles home from a Dungeons & Dragons game in Hawkins, Indiana and never arrives – and the government lab down the road is already hunting something of its own.
- Mike hides the shaven-headed girl his friends found in the woods, Joyce clings to a phone call nobody else heard, and Hopper widens the search.
Series guide
- Science fiction
- Horror
- Drama
- Fantasy
- Youth
- Creators
- Matt Duffer · Ross Duffer · Duffer Brothers
- Stars
- Millie Bobby Brown · Winona Ryder · David Harbour
Images: Netflix
Where to watch Stranger Things
Streaming options in the United States, updated Sep 15, 2026. More from netflix.com. Service logos are trademarks of their owners.
- Episodes aired
- 42 of 42
Seasons 5
Stranger Things episodes 42
Season 1 · 8 episodes · 8 aired · Jul 15, 2016 to Jul 15, 2016
S1.E1 ·
Chapter One: The Vanishing of Will Byers
A twelve-year-old cycles home from a Dungeons & Dragons game in Hawkins, Indiana and never arrives – and the government lab down the road is already hunting something of its own.
Directed by The Duffer Brothers · Written by The Duffer Brothers
S1.E2 ·
Chapter Two: The Weirdo on Maple Street
Mike hides the shaven-headed girl his friends found in the woods, Joyce clings to a phone call nobody else heard, and Hopper widens the search.
Directed by The Duffer Brothers · Written by The Duffer Brothers
S1.E3 ·
Chapter Three: Holly, Jolly
Joyce becomes convinced Will is talking to her through the lights, Nancy goes looking for a friend who never came home, and Hopper starts pulling at the lab's paperwork.
Directed by Shawn Levy · Written by Jessica Mecklenburg
S1.E4 ·
Chapter Four: The Body
The search ends in a way nobody is ready to accept – except Joyce, who refuses to believe it, and Hopper, who thinks the evidence is wrong.
Directed by Shawn Levy · Written by Justin Doble
S1.E5 ·
Chapter Five: The Flea and the Acrobat
The boys ask their science teacher whether you could travel to another dimension, then go looking for the door with compasses and a borrowed map.
Directed by The Duffer Brothers · Written by Alison Tatlock
S1.E6 ·
Chapter Six: The Monster
Nancy and Jonathan stop waiting for the adults and arm themselves, while Joyce and Hopper track down a woman with her own missing-daughter story.
Directed by The Duffer Brothers · Written by Jessie Nickson-Lopez
S1.E7 ·
Chapter Seven: The Bathtub
With government vans closing in, the kids, the teenagers and the adults finally end up in the same room – and Eleven needs somewhere very quiet to listen.
Directed by The Duffer Brothers · Written by Justin Doble
S1.E8 ·
Chapter Eight: The Upside Down
Two rescue plans run at once: Joyce and Hopper bargain their way into the lab while Nancy, Jonathan and Steve set a trap at the house.
Directed by The Duffer Brothers
Season 2 · 9 episodes · 9 aired · Oct 27, 2017 to Oct 27, 2017
S2.E1 ·
Chapter One: MADMAX
A year on, Hawkins is trying to be normal for Halloween – a new girl is beating the arcade high scores, Joyce has a boyfriend, and Will keeps seeing something in the sky.
Directed by The Duffer Brothers · Written by The Duffer Brothers
S2.E2 ·
Chapter Two: Trick or Treat, Freak
It is Halloween night, Eleven is sick of being kept indoors, and Nancy can no longer pretend she does not know what happened to Barb.
Directed by The Duffer Brothers · Written by The Duffer Brothers
S2.E3 ·
Chapter Three: The Pollywog
Dustin finds something small and hungry in his bin and decides to keep it, while Nancy and Jonathan plan a conversation that could get them killed.
Directed by Shawn Levy · Written by Justin Doble
S2.E4 ·
Chapter Four: Will the Wise
Will comes home acting strangely and starts drawing, and Joyce works out that the scribbles are meant to be laid side by side.
Directed by Shawn Levy · Written by Paul Dichter
S2.E5 ·
Chapter Five: Dig Dug
Bob reads Will's drawings as a map, Eleven goes looking for the mother she never knew, and Dustin calls the only babysitter he can think of: Steve.
Directed by Andrew Stanton · Written by Jessie Nickson-Lopez
S2.E6 ·
Chapter Six: The Spy
Doctors conclude that whatever is inside Will can hear them, which turns every plan to fight it into a plan to hurt him.
Directed by Andrew Stanton · Written by Kate Trefry
S2.E7 ·
Chapter Seven: The Lost Sister
Eleven leaves Hawkins for Chicago to find the other girl from her mother's memories, and gets a very different lesson in what to do with her anger.
Directed by Rebecca Thomas · Written by Justin Doble
S2.E8 ·
Chapter Eight: The Mind Flayer
The lab falls, the survivors barricade themselves in the Byers house, and the kids finally put a name to the thing in the sky.
Directed by The Duffer Brothers · Written by The Duffer Brothers
S2.E9 ·
Chapter Nine: The Gate
Three teams split up for a plan that has to close the gate without killing Will – and Billy picks the worst possible night to come looking for Max.
Directed by The Duffer Brothers · Written by The Duffer Brothers
Season 3 · 8 episodes · 8 aired · Jul 4, 2019 to Jul 4, 2019
S3.E1 ·
Chapter One: Suzie, Do You Copy?
Summer 1985: Starcourt Mall has swallowed downtown Hawkins, Hopper cannot stand Mike, and Dustin's homemade radio tower picks up Russian instead of his girlfriend.
Directed by The Duffer Brothers · Written by The Duffer Brothers
S3.E2 ·
Chapter Two: The Mall Rats
Mike's lie about Eleven sends her to Max for advice, Steve finds himself scooping ice cream for a living, and Nancy chases a tip about rats behaving strangely.
Directed by The Duffer Brothers · Written by The Duffer Brothers
S3.E3 ·
Chapter Three: The Case of the Missing Lifeguard
Eleven and Max start using her powers to spy on the boys for fun, and stop laughing quickly. Robin takes a run at decoding the Russian broadcast.
Directed by Shawn Levy · Written by William Bridges
S3.E4 ·
Chapter Four: The Sauna Test
The kids design a test to prove what they suspect about someone they know, while Dustin, Steve, Robin and Erica find a way underneath the mall.
Directed by Shawn Levy · Written by Kate Trefry
S3.E5 ·
Chapter Five: The Flayed
Hopper and Joyce raid an abandoned building and leave with a Russian scientist, and the mall crew see what the Soviets have actually built down there.
Directed by Uta Briesewitz · Written by Paul Dichter
S3.E6 ·
Chapter Six: E Pluribus Unum
Murray translates the bad news, Dustin and Erica have to get Steve and Robin out, and Eleven learns what the Mind Flayer has been assembling.
Directed by Uta Briesewitz · Written by Curtis Gwinn
S3.E7 ·
Chapter Seven: The Bite
The group works out that the monster wants Eleven specifically – and Hawkins' Fourth of July crowd is the worst place in Indiana to be hunted.
Directed by The Duffer Brothers · Written by The Duffer Brothers
S3.E8 ·
Chapter Eight: The Battle of Starcourt
Three separate plans converge on Starcourt on Independence Day: shut down the machine, close the gate, and get everyone out alive.
Directed by The Duffer Brothers · Written by The Duffer Brothers
Season 4 · 9 episodes · 9 aired · May 27, 2022 to Jul 1, 2022
S4.E1 ·
Chapter One: The Hellfire Club
Eight months on, the Byers and Eleven are starting again in California while Hawkins deals with a death that its Dungeons & Dragons club gets blamed for.
Directed by The Duffer Brothers · Written by The Duffer Brothers
S4.E2 ·
Chapter Two: Vecna's Curse
Joyce chases a hint that Hopper survived, Mike flies west for spring break, and the Hawkins kids go looking for a badly frightened Eddie Munson.
Directed by The Duffer Brothers · Written by The Duffer Brothers
S4.E3 ·
Chapter Three: The Monster and the Superhero
Owens offers Eleven a way to get her powers back, Nancy and Robin dig into a decades-old Hawkins murder, and a vigilante mob begins to form.
Directed by Shawn Levy · Written by Caitlin Schneiderhan
S4.E4 ·
Chapter Four: Dear Billy
Nancy and Robin interview the man who survived the Creel house, while Max, certain she is next, tries to outrun a curse with a stopwatch running.
Directed by Shawn Levy · Written by Paul Dichter
S4.E5 ·
Chapter Five: The Nina Project
Eleven agrees to a programme in a Nevada missile silo that means reliving Hawkins Lab, and Mike's group phones Utah for help.
Directed by Nimród Antal · Written by Kate Trefry
S4.E6 ·
Chapter Six: The Dive
Eleven's memories of the lab stop matching the story she was told, and in Russia Hopper works out why the guards are feeding the prisoners so well.
Directed by Nimród Antal · Written by Curtis Gwinn
S4.E7 ·
Chapter Seven: The Massacre at Hawkins Lab
Both halves of the party finally get their answers – one in a Kamchatka prison yard, the other in the Upside Down's version of Hawkins.
Directed by The Duffer Brothers · Written by The Duffer Brothers
S4.E8 ·
Chapter Eight: Papa
The kids settle on a plan that uses Max as bait, and Eleven discovers what her training in Nevada was really for.
Directed by The Duffer Brothers · Written by The Duffer Brothers
S4.E9 ·
Chapter Nine: The Piggyback
Four teams, one night, one shot: bats to be lured away, a house to be stormed, and a mind for Eleven to enter.
Directed by The Duffer Brothers · Written by The Duffer Brothers
Season 5 · 8 episodes · 8 aired · Nov 26, 2025 to Dec 31, 2025
S5.E1 ·
Chapter One: The Crawl
Autumn 1987: Hawkins is under military quarantine, Eleven is training in hiding, and the survivors run coded messages through a local radio station.
Directed by The Duffer Brothers · Written by The Duffer Brothers
S5.E2 ·
Chapter Two: The Vanishing of Holly Wheeler
Something gets into the Wheeler house, and the hunt that follows takes Eleven past the edge of the wall the army has built around the town.
Directed by The Duffer Brothers · Written by The Duffer Brothers
S5.E3 ·
Chapter Three: The Turnbow Trap
The group sets a trap using a schoolboy as bait, while Hopper and Eleven try to find out what the army is keeping inside its base.
Directed by Frank Darabont · Written by Caitlin Schneiderhan
S5.E4 ·
Chapter Four: Sorcerer
Hopper and Eleven infiltrate the base expecting one prisoner and find another, and Will's group learns how many children are meant to be taken.
Directed by The Duffer Brothers · Written by Paul Dichter
S5.E5 ·
Chapter Five: Shock Jock
The plan needs Will to reconnect to the hive mind on purpose, using a radio tower's voltage and a body that has stopped moving.
Directed by Frank Darabont · Written by Curtis Gwinn
S5.E6 ·
Chapter Six: Escape from Camazotz
Dustin explains what the Upside Down actually is, which changes the plan entirely, and the memory-maze holding the missing children starts closing in.
Directed by Shawn Levy · Written by Kate Trefry
S5.E7 ·
Chapter Seven: The Bridge
With the two worlds being pulled together, the group works out they can climb into the gap – and that the window is one night wide.
Directed by The Duffer Brothers and Shawn Levy · Written by The Duffer Brothers
S5.E8 ·
Chapter Eight: The Rightside Up
Everyone converges for the last time: a mind to break into, children to bring home, and the Upside Down itself to bring down.
Directed by The Duffer Brothers · Written by The Duffer Brothers
Videos 3
How season 5 was actually released, and what catching up really costs
Season 5 did not arrive in one piece, and the episode table above is the clearest way to see it. The first four episodes landed on November 26, 2025, three more on December 25, and the finale on its own on December 31 — a three-drop release that is why so many people watched the ending a month after they watched the premiere. Netflix also put that finale in cinemas, which was a first for the company. All 42 episodes are now on Netflix.
The catch-up maths is less friendly than the episode count suggests. Forty-two episodes sounds like a fortnight, but the running times swing hard: Wikipedia lists the series at 42 to 142 minutes an episode, and the back half of season 4 and all of season 5 sit at the film end of that range. Netflix’s own page splits the run into Stranger Things through Stranger Things 5; every episode above carries a spoiler-free line so you can see what a night actually is before you start one.
The series itself is finished — season 5 was made and sold as the final one — but Hawkins is not. The prequel stage play The First Shadow has been running since 2023, and the animated Tales From ’85 is the franchise’s 2026 entry. Neither is required viewing for the 42 episodes above, and neither is on this page: the guide covers the main series only.
Stranger Things cast 20
- Millie Bobby BrownEleven / Jane Hopper
Winona RyderJoyce Byers
David HarbourJim Hopper- Finn WolfhardMike Wheeler
- Gaten MatarazzoDustin Henderson
- Caleb McLaughlinLucas Sinclair
Noah SchnappWill Byers
Natalia DyerNancy Wheeler
Charlie HeatonJonathan Byers
Joe KeerySteve Harrington- Sadie SinkMax Mayfield
Maya HawkeRobin Buckley
Priah FergusonErica Sinclair
Jamie Campbell BowerHenry Creel / Vecna
Brett GelmanMurray Bauman
Cara BuonoKaren Wheeler
Matthew ModineDr. Martin Brenner
Sean AstinBob Newby
Paul ReiserDr. Sam Owens
Dacre MontgomeryBilly Hargrove
- Creator
- Matt Duffer, Ross Duffer, Duffer Brothers
- Director
- Shawn Levy, Andrew Stanton, Matt Duffer, Ross Duffer
- Writer
- Ross Duffer, Matt Duffer
- Music
- Kyle Dixon, Michael Stein
- Studios
- 21 Laps Entertainment, Netflix
Photos via Wikimedia Commons. Winona Ryder: Harald Krichel, CC BY-SA 4.0; David Harbour: Gage Skidmore, CC BY-SA 3.0; Noah Schnapp: Kevin Paul, CC BY 4.0; Natalia Dyer: Gage Skidmore, CC BY-SA 3.0; Charlie Heaton: JoshPopov, CC BY-SA 4.0; Joe Keery: Gage Skidmore, CC BY-SA 3.0; Maya Hawke: Justin Higuchi, CC BY 4.0; Priah Ferguson: German Comic Con, CC BY 3.0; Jamie Campbell Bower: Kevin Paul, CC BY 4.0; Brett Gelman: Gage Skidmore, CC BY-SA 3.0; Cara Buono: Rob DiCaterino, CC BY 2.0; Matthew Modine: David Shankbone, CC BY 3.0; Sean Astin: Gage Skidmore, CC BY-SA 2.0; Paul Reiser: Gage Skidmore, CC BY-SA 3.0; Dacre Montgomery: iDominick, CC BY-SA 2.0.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Where can I watch Stranger Things?
Stranger Things streams on Netflix in the US (subscription), checked September 15, 2026.
How many episodes of Stranger Things are there?
42 episodes across 5 seasons: season 1 has 8, season 2 has 9, season 3 has 8, season 4 has 9, season 5 has 8.
When did Stranger Things premiere?
July 15, 2016.
Is Stranger Things finished?
All 42 episodes have aired; the last one was December 31, 2025.
In what order should I watch Stranger Things?
Release order is story order: seasons 1 to 5 in sequence. Season 5 came out in three drops – four episodes on November 26, 2025, three on December 25 and the finale on December 31.
