Netflix has released the first five minutes of Stranger Things Season 5, showing a crucial moment in the story that teases answers to one of the biggest questions fans had from Season 1.
The creators of Stranger Things, the Duffer Brothers, had already teased that Season 5 would finally answer questions surrounding the kidnapping of Will Byers, played by Noah Schnapp. Stranger Things began with the mysterious disappearance of Will, and Season 5 will finally answer why he was taken to the Upside Down in the first place. In the latest Season 5 trailer, we see evil monster Vecna (Jamie Campbell Bower) in full control over Will’s body. “You are going to help me… one… last… time,” it says.
For years fans have theorized about why Will was kidnapped, rather than simply killed like so many others. What happened to him when he was in the Upside Down, and to what end?
Warning! Spoilers for the first five minutes of Stranger Things Season 5 follow:
The first five minutes of Stranger Things Season 5 starts to answer those questions. We see a de-aged Will terrified in the Upside Down and running for his life from the Demogorgon. While Will puts up a valiant fight, he is eventually dragged to the lair of Vecna himself. It’s here that things get strange, as Vecna summons vines to prop Will up. Vecna then pumps some sort of substance through a tendril and into Will via his mouth. Will does not look like he’s enjoying the experience.
Clearly, whatever is inserted into Will is designed to take him over in some capacity and potentially become a part of the Upside Down itself. It’s all part of Vecna’s master plan, of course. “At long last,” Vecna says, menacingly. “We can begin. You and I, we are going to do such beautiful things together, William. Such beautiful things.”
November 12, 1983. Watch the first 5 minutes of Stranger Things 5 now. pic.twitter.com/F8S9y6Y2dV
— Netflix (@netflix) November 7, 2025
If you’ve watched Stranger Things you’ll know that Will’s mother Joyce (Winona Ryder) and Chief of Police Jim Hopper (David Harbour) eventually find Will and bring him back to our world, although he is much changed. In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Ross Duffer said that fans should go back to Season 2, Episode 6, called ‘The Spy,’ to help them understand what’s going on. This is, Ross said, “the most important episode,” and shows Will “working, in a way, for the Mind Flayer.”
In The Spy, Will is brought to Hawkins National Laboratory. At one point, a severed tendril from the tunnels is burnt, causing Will to experience pain. Will later points soldiers in the direction of a place the monster doesn’t want him to see, which turns out to be a trap. Will says “he made me do it” because “they upset him.” Will, it seems, is the spy.
Season 5 begins in the fall of 1987, near the anniversary of Will’s disappearance in the Upside Down. “So much of the season was built around the idea of coming full circle, answering many of the questions that were posed all the way back in Season 1,” Matt Duffer told EW. “I think the two biggest questions that we didn’t really answer in Season 1 that we do answer this season is ‘what is the Upside Down, truly?’ and ‘why was Will taken?’”
“We reveal really everything about the Upside Down, all of which was planned out in season 1,” Matt added. “It was fun to finally pull back the curtain on all of that.”
Here’s the official blurb on Stranger Things Season 5:
The fall of 1987. Hawkins is scarred by the opening of the Rifts, and our heroes are united by a single goal: find and kill Vecna. But he has vanished — his whereabouts and plans unknown. Complicating their mission, the government has placed the town under military quarantine and intensified its hunt for Eleven, forcing her back into hiding. As the anniversary of Will’s disappearance approaches, so does a heavy, familiar dread. The final battle is looming — and with it, a darkness more powerful and more deadly than anything they’ve faced before. To end this nightmare, they’ll need everyone — the full party — standing together, one last time.
Stranger Things Season 5 debuts on Netflix in three parts, with the first four episodes arriving for the Thanksgiving holiday on November 26. The next three episodes premiere on Christmas, and the series finale will debut on the streamer and in over 350 theaters nationwide on New Year’s Eve.
Stranger Things Season 5 release dates:
- VOL 1 – November 26, 5pm PT
- VOL 2 – Christmas, 5pm PT
- THE FINALE – New Year’s Eve, 5pm PT
Season 5 arrives over three years after the finale of Season 4. For more, check out the burning questions we still have from Stranger Things Season 4. Meanwhile, Millie Bobbie Brown and David Harbour have reunited for the Stranger Things Season 5 premiere, with Stranger Things and Deadpool & Wolverine director Shawn Levy addressing alleged bullying concerns.
Image credit: Netflix.
Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at [email protected] or confidentially at [email protected].
