By Shilyn Carheel

Stranger Things has been one of the most highly acclaimed shows of the decade. The notorious sci-fi horror show, known for using 80’s nostalgia, old horror influences, and the sci-fi genre to tell a new story, has generated a fandom that could compete with fandoms like Marvel and D.C. Recently, Stranger Things has turned its anticipated fandom upside down as the annual Stranger Things Day gave its fans a sneak peek of what is to come for their fifth and final season. Today, we will break down all news released on Stranger Things Day.  

Stranger Things Day, a yearly event hosted by Stranger Things and Netflix, is a fandom event that celebrates the show. Usually, unreleased content and new information about the show are released. With Season 5 coming soon, the 2024 Stranger Things Day gave a wholehearted release of what is in store for the season.  

The first piece of content released by Stranger Things was the names of the episodes of Stranger Things 5. Posted on Instagram by the official Stranger Things page, the episode titles hinted at some of the upcoming plots for the season. Here are the titles below.  

Episode One: “The Crawl,” | Episode Two: The Vanishing of _____,” | Episode Three: “The Turnbow Trap,” | Episode Four: “Sorcerer,” | Episode 5: “Shock Jock,” | Episode Six: “Escape from Camazotz,” | Episode Seven: “The Bridge” | Episode Eight: “The Right-side Up.” 

With this information, fans have pointed out some episode references from earlier seasons. In Season 5, Episode Eight, the title “The Right-side Up”, mirrors the pilot episode title of season one, “Chapter Eight: The Upside Down.” For years, fans have guessed what the final episode title of Stranger Things would be, and they seem to be satisfied with the final confirmation of the title of the finale episode.  

Fans have also pointed out that Season 5, episode 6, “Escape from Camazotz,” also uses the same terminology as Dungeons & Dragons, a notorious video game that the show references through names, events, and plot points. Many fans speculate that the term “Comazotz” from Dungeons and Dragons could allude to a storyline of one in the series. 

At the end of the episode title reveal post, it was also confirmed that Stranger Things 5 will have a 2025 release date, bringing us closer to seeing our favorite Demogorgon hunters.  

This is just one of the first surprises Stranger Things had for us. Later that day, Stranger Things unveiled numerous behind-the-scenes photos and stills of the series. In these, we see our favorite characters again, with new clothing, appearances, and scenes. These photos hint at new relationships, plotlines, and locations, and fans were quick to break them apart piece by piece. 

With Stranger Things Day ending, the last news released was a promo from Noah Schnapp (Will Byers) discussing Castle Byers, an essential setting in season one of Stranger Things. Fans believe that the return of Castle Byers alludes to the events of season one and Will Byers’ new focus. Collider has spoken with the writer of the show, The Duffer Brothers, about season 5 and Will Byers’s importance. The Duffer brothers said this about Will. ‘Will’s going to be a big part and focus [of season 5]…[We will start to see Will] come into his own,” Matt said. 

As Stranger Things Day came to a close, fans are excited to see what Strange Things we will see happen next as the beloved series phenomena comes to an end.