ATLANTA — It's hard to think of another series this summer that's dominated the conversation as much as "Stranger Things."
The Netflix series - that partially shoots here in Georgia - shattered streaming records when the first chunk of its fourth season dropped back in June, marking the biggest premiere ever for an English-language show on the service.
Over the July 4 weekend, the season's final two episodes (both the length of feature films) were available to watch. However, with the season finale ending on a cliffhanger (whoops, spoiler), many fans are eager to find out when they'll be able to return to the world of Hawkins and the Upside-Down.
As of now, though, there is no exact date from Netflix for when the series' fifth and final season will air.
In an interview with TVLine, series creator, the Duffer brothers stated they've not locked down the shooting dates for the next season. They noted that the original plan was simply to shoot seasons four and five simultaneously, but that ended up falling to the wayside due to the sheer length of this most recent batch of episodes.
Meanwhile, in an interview with GQ, star David Harbor mentioned that the series' final season would likely start filming sometime next year, as the Duffer brothers are still in the writing process.
So, does that mean the new season could squeeze in sometime next year? Eh, not quite. A series with as large a budget as "Stranger Things" often requires a lengthy post-production process, which can require months of work.
In the same interview, Harbor said - to his knowledge - summer 2024 seems to be the target date range.
“I think we’ll [shoot] next year. They’re finishing writing it this year, and they need to prep and stuff, so hopefully it’ll be this year,” he explained. “But I think that’s the plan. So it’d probably come out mid-2024, based on our track record.”
Talking with Collider, Ross Duffer also spoke about the writing process, noting, “We're going to take a little vacation in July." He added that the current plan is for the show's writer's room to start back up again in August.
Despite the second season premiering in the fall of 2017, "Stranger Things" has typically been a summer series for Netflix. The last few seasons have also had gap years in between.