“Stranger Things” Season 5 key art.
Netlfix
The Stranger Things Season 5 series finale is not only streaming on Netflix, but is also playing in theaters this week.
Created by Matt and Ross Duffer, Stranger Things Season 5, Volume 1 began the blockbuster sci-fi series’ final season with four episodes on Nov. 26, followed by Volume 2’s three episodes on Christmas Day.
The official synopsis for Stranger Things, Season 5 reads, “The fall of 1987. Hawkins is scarred by the opening of the Rifts, and our heroes are united by a single goal: find and kill Vecna (Jamie Campbell Bower). 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 (Millie Bobby Brown), forcing her back into hiding.
“As the anniversary of Will’s (Noah Schnapp) 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.”
For fans who want to opt to see the final episode of Stranger Things in grand fashion, Netflix is bringing the Season 5, Vol. 3 episode to the big screen on Wednesday, Dec. 31, at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT. That’s the same time the episode — which clocks in at 2 hours, 5 minutes — premieres on Netflix.
Since the Stranger Things series finale is only playing in 500 movie venues in the U.S. and Canada, Netflix has created a special theater-finder and ticketing site to help fans find out where the special event is playing in their area. The site can be accessed by clicking here.
The official title of the final episode in theaters is Stranger Things: The Finale. For fans who cannot make the first showings, theaters are running the episode again in later showings on New Year’s Eve and again throughout New Year’s Day on Thursday, Jan. 1.
The ‘Stranger Things’ Series Finale Will Also Be Shown In Some AMC Venues
Perhaps the most notable aspect of the release is that the finale will be playing in 200 showhouses in the AMC Theatres chain, domestically, since the world’s largest theater chain generally doesn’t exhibit Netflix films.
AMC and Netflix took a big step into partnering on more of the streaming platform’s biggest releases when the chain played a sing-along version of KPop Demon Hunters for two days in late August and again on Halloween weekend. Unfortunately, two big awards season releases that also played in theaters — Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein and Rian Johnson’s Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery — were excluded from AMC’s venues.
In addition to Millie Bobby Brown, Jamie Campbell Bower and Noah Schapp, Stranger Things 5, Volume 3 — which is titled Chapter Eight: The Rightside Up — also stars Winona Ryder (Joyce Byers), David Harbour (Jim Hopper), Finn Wolfhard (Mike Wheeler), Gaten Matarazzo (Dustin Henderson), Caleb McLaughlin (Lucas Sinclair), Sadie Sink (Max Mayfield), Natalia Dyer (Nancy Wheeler), Charlie Heaton (Jonathan Byers) and Joe Keery (Steve Harrington).
In addition, Stranger Things Season 5 also stars Maya Hawke (Robin Buckley), Priah Ferguson (Erica Sinclair), Brett Gelman (Murray), Cara Buono (Karen Wheeler), Amybeth McNulty (Vickie), Nell Fisher (Holly Wheeler), Jake Connelly (Derek Turnbow), Alex Breaux (Lt. Akers) and Linda Hamilton (Dr. Kay).
