The <em>Stranger Things</em> Season 5 Trailer Unleashes Vecna on Hawkins

It started in Hawkins, Indiana, late one night in 1983. After a night of Dungeons & Dragons, some kids went home from Mike Wheeler's (Finn Wolfhard) house. But one of them, Will Byers (Noah Schnapp) wound up in a strange place. Very strange. A place that seemed... upside down. Nothing was the same ever since.

At long last, the trailer for the fifth and final season of Netflix's Stranger Things is here. While its rapid-fire images minus context are as illegible as Mike's Dungeon Master notes, it's not hard to grasp the severity of the imminent finale. Beginning with a radio's audio decibels reaching dangerous levels—it goes to 100!—the trailer offers quick glimpses of the season before teasing Vecna, as he steps from the Upside Down and into the "real" world.

Here's what else we can deduce from the trailer: It's 1987, a year after the events of Stranger Things season 4. Hawkins has an even more pronounced military presence, with a portal to the Upside Down strictly guarded. All the characters are scattered, with Max (Sadie Sink) still in a coma from her unforgettable encounter with Vecna. Meanwhile, some Hawkins citizens have mistakenly learned that Eddie Munson (Joseph Quinn) was involved with the disaster somehow, as his tombstone is now vandalized with "BURN IN HELL" in red paint.

You can watch the trailer below.

The main characters spend part of the trailer holed up in WSQK, a rock radio station. They seem to have a plan to fight Vecna—or at least weaken him—by using the station's broadcasting equipment. Remember that Vecna has a weakness towards loud sounds and, quite famously, emotionally resonant music, as blasting Kate Bush was how Max escaped the monster. Be prepared for season 5 to drop another sick needle drop, even if nothing will beat Eddie's guitar solo of Metallica's "Master of Puppets."

(By the way: Fans have kept tabs on this Twitter/X account for WSQK. The account has spent the last year and a half posting cryptic messages, some of it fragments of conversation between the show's characters. There is no word if this account is affiliated with the production of Stranger Things in any official way. But if it is, this kind of viral marketing makes you miss a bygone era of the internet, doesn't it?)

There's simply a lot going on in the trailer: More Demogorgon monsters, gigantic explosions, blinking lights, and tons of panicked faces and weighted glances between characters with moist eyes. We also glimpse Linda Hamilton, who will play a major role as a new character named Dr. Kay. But don't expect Dr. Kay to be all lab coats and stethoscopes and scientific jargon; her quick appearances have her looking not unlike her badass Sarah Connor of the Terminator franchise.

A key moment happens later in the trailer, with Jim Hopper (David Harbour) telling Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown), "We need you to fight one last time," before Eleven dunks herself in another tub. That's when another breathless montage kicks off until it ends with Vecna appearing behind a wall of flesh and says in a chilling tone, "Found you."

Bear in mind that there is still so much context missing that it's hard to tell what, precisely, is going on, other than our beloved characters steeling themselves for the fight of their lives. But whatever is happening, it's enough to make the hairs on Will's neck stand up. To think it all started with his disappearance one night, a long time ago.