Netflix’s Stranger Things has been a cultural force ever since it debuted on the platform in 2016. Now, nearly a decade later, it has reached its endgame.
The final season has been released in three stages: the first half arrived in November, followed by the second on Christmas Day. The final instalment – a feature-length series finale running just a little more than two hours – will be released on New Year’s Eve.
One of Netflix's most popular series, season four of Stranger Things broke records and reached the Top 10 charts in all 93 countries tracked by the platform.
Anticipation is high for how the story will conclude, but the exact release timing depends on where viewers are in the world. Here’s how the finale will roll out across time zones.
Season five release across time zones
The Stranger Things series finale will be released at the same time around the globe. In the US, it will be at 8pm (Eastern Time) on December 31.
However, because of time zone differences, it will arrive on January 1 in most parts of the world, including the UAE, at 5am (Gulf Standard Time).
Here is when the show is expected to drop in other global time zones:
- 1am in the UK and Ghana (GMT)
- 2am in western and central Europe (CET, UTC+1) and Nigeria (WAT, UTC+1)
- 3am in Jordan, Lebanon and Egypt (UTC+2) as well as South Africa (UTC+2)
- 4am in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain as well as Kenya, Ethiopia and Tanzania (UTC+3)
- 5am in the UAE and Oman (GST, UTC+4)
- 6.30am in India and Sri Lanka (IST, UTC+5:30)
- 8am in Western Indonesia, 9am in Central Indonesia and 10am in Eastern Indonesia
- 9am in the Philippines, China, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore (UTC+8)
- 10am in Japan and South Korea (JST/KST, UTC+9)
- Noon in Sydney and Melbourne (AEDT, UTC+11)
- 2pm in New Zealand (NZDT, UTC+13)
What are the episodes titled?
Episode 1: The Crawl
Episode 2: The Vanishing of …
Episode 3: The Turnbow Trap
Episode 4: Sorcerer
Episode 5: Shock Jock
Episode 6: Escape from Camazotz
Episode 7: The Bridge
Episode 8: The Rightside Up
What has happened so far in season five of Stranger Things?
In the final season of Stranger Things, the story returns in the autumn 1987, with Hawkins under strict military quarantine as the rifts between the real world and the Upside Down continue to widen.
The military, led by Dr Kay (Linda Hamilton), intensifies its pursuit of Eleven, forcing her back into hiding as the town braces for what increasingly feels like an inevitable catastrophe. It's revealed that the Upside Down is actually a bridge or wormhole linking Earth to a darker and more hostile dimension known as The Abyss, from which Vecna is attempting to merge both worlds.
This season has placed particular focus on Will Byers, who finally embraces a new psychic ability that allows him to control the hive mind, helping him fight off Demogorgons and protect his friends.
Meanwhile, Max Mayfield awakens from her coma – revealed to be more of a psychic trance – after she and Holly Wheeler fight to escape a mind-prison within Vecna’s subconscious.
The core group reunites to launch “Operation Beanstalk”, a plan devised by Steve Harrington to use the Hawkins radio tower as an entry point into The Abyss during the merge.
Eleven is also reunited with her sister Kali, aka Eight, who warns that both of them may ultimately have to sacrifice themselves to finally destroy the Upside Down and prevent the government from using their blood to create future psychic weapons.
The penultimate episode ends on a cliffhanger: it is November 6, the anniversary of Will’s disappearance, and Vecna has gathered 12 kidnapped children within his mind to begin a ritual that could spell the end of Hawkins.
What have the Duffer Brothers said about a spin-off?
While this may be the end of Hawkins, it isn’t the end of the story. A spin-off is in development, reports Variety – one with new characters and a different era – though the creators have said little about how, or if, it connects to the main series.
But for fans eager to see how the story may continue, the show’s creators – the Duffer Brothers – told The National that the finale will offer a first glimpse at what comes next.
“There’s one small scene in the finale that gives a hint as to what the spin-off will be,” Ross Duffer said. “We’ll see if people pick up on it.”
