The world’s leading streaming service, Netflix, has confirmed the fate of Stranger Things and Wednesday, two of its most successful and popular TV shows.
After a tumultuous production period in 2023 due to the combined WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes, a question mark was left around two of Netflix’s top shows. Stranger Things and Wednesday were each in production, the former for its fifth and final season and the latter for its sophomore outing last year, with audiences expecting at least one to hit the streamer in 2024.
However, as delays accumulated, a 2024 release was looking extremely unlikely, and now both of the shows’ fates have been revealed. Stranger Things and Wednesday will be released in 2025, with Netflix dropping key information about both supernatural teen-centric shows.
“To celebrate Nov. 6, 1983, [AKA] “Stranger Things Day” — the day Will Byers (Noah Schnapp) was abducted into the Upside Down — the streamer also released a video revealing the titles for the final eight episodes, which will conclude the supernatural story of Hawkins, Indiana,” wrote Variety.
Those episode titles of The Duffer Brothers’ record-breaking show include “The Crawl,” which fans already knew, as well as “The Vanishing of…,” “The Turnbow Trap,” “Sorcerer,” “Shock Jock,” “Escape From Camazotz,” “The Bridge,” and “The Rightside Up.” The final episode of the climactic season, “The Rightside Up,” is a direct homage to the finale of the first season, “The Upside Down.”
Stranger Things Season 5, or Stranger Things 5, is expected to follow the likes of Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown), Will (Schnapp), and Mike Wheeler (Finn Wolfhard) as they defend Hawkins from Vecna (Jamie Campbell Bower) and the encroaching Upside Down. Winona Ryder (Joyce Byers), David Harbour (Jim Hopper), and Sadie Sink (Max Mayfield) are also returning for the upcoming season.
When it comes to Wednesday Season 2, the Jenna Ortega-led Addams Family-themed series will also arrive on the streaming service in 2025. Tim Burton’s popular series still holds the record for the most hours viewed in a week for an English-language Netflix show, replacing Stranger Things upon its 2022 release. Squid Game holds the overall title.
Wednesday made a major splash when it was released in late 2022 and secured itself as one of Netflix’s most desirable franchises. Led by rising star Jenna Ortega, Wednesday followed the titular Wednesday Addams and her life at the Nevermoor Academy.
The second season of Tim Burton’s show will feature new faces such as Joanna Lumley, Haley Joel Osment, Christopher Lloyd, and Thandiwe Newton. Like Stranger Things, Wednesday Season 2 is expected to feature long episodes akin to movies.
“So looking into 2025, you’ve got new seasons of our biggest shows: Wednesday, Squid Games, Stranger Things, on top of new shows from Shonda Rhimes and Ryan Murphy, a new Knives Out film from Rian Johnson, Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein, even the return of Happy Gilmore,” Netflix’s third-quarter earnings report revealed. “So we could not be more excited about where we sit right now and where we’re heading.”
Related: Casting Call Confirms ‘Stranger Things’ Character Now Recast, Plot Updated
Netflix is currently the world’s most subscribed streaming service, with a total audience base of over 280 million. In the era of Disney+, Hulu, Max, and Paramount+, Netflix stands to retain its title as the industry leader, with three of its major shows—Stranger Things, Wednesday, and Squid Game—releasing next year.
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