The length of the “Stranger Things” series finale has finally been revealed.
After much hemming and hawing over the runtime for the Netflix juggernaut’s last episode, the streamer announced today that the end of Eleven, Mike, Dustin, Lucas, Will, and the rest of Hawkins’ saga will be 2 hours and 5 minutes long. That’s quite a bit shorter than what many expected based on the ballooned runtimes for Season 4 back in 2022.
Episode 7 of Season 4, “The Massacre at Hawkins Lab,” ran 1 hour, 40 minutes. The Season 4 finale beat that, becoming the longest entry in the series at 2 hours, 19 minutes. Many fans assumed the series finale would also be the longest episode, with some online speculation putting it at a whopping 3 hours.
Two hours is still plenty long for a single TV episode, especially when others in the same season ran toward the hour-and-a-half mark. The length may feel more special because the finale will also be available on streaming and in select theaters on New Year’s Eve. This marks a victory the show’s creators, Matt and Ross Duffer, have long hoped for their series.
“We’re beyond excited that fans will have the chance to experience the final episode of ‘Stranger Things’ in theaters — it’s something we’ve dreamed about for years, and we’re so grateful to Ted, Bela, and everyone at Netflix for making it happen. Getting to see it on the big screen, with incredible sound, picture, and a room full of fans, feels like the perfect — dare we say bitchin’ — way to celebrate the end of this adventure,” the brothers said at Tudum.
The first four episodes of “Stranger Things” Season 5 are already available to stream. The next three episodes land on Christmas Day and the finale lands both on streaming and in theaters New Year’s Eve.
