“Stranger Things” S5 Plans To Go Even Bigger

The fourth season of “Stranger Things” was, in no uncertain terms, huge. Episodes pushed runtimes to their extremes, with two clocking in at 90 minutes each and a finale as long as a major feature film at nearly two-and-a-half hours.

There have been arguments over whether that was a good or bad thing as the extended runtimes have been criticised for messing with the show’s pacing, whereas others loved the deep dives the roomy episodes could afford to focus on side characters.

There’s also the obvious question as to whether this trend will continue with the upcoming fifth and final season. From the sounds of it, likely not.

Speaking to Total Film magazine, executive producer and director Shawn Levy says the new season is set to only expand on the fourth season as the material is incredibly cinematic:

“There’s no way to be contiguous with Season 4, and not, frankly, expand scale and depth. It’s major, major, cinematic storytelling that happens to be called a TV series. ‘Stranger Things 5’ is as big as any of the biggest movies that we see.”

Will that translate to budget too? The fourth season cost a pretty penny at $30 million per episode – far more than the $8 million per episode spent on the second season and one of the most expensive shows ever made.

The final run of “Stranger Things” is waiting to kick off filming once the Hollywood strikes end – most likely, it’ll resume filming in early 2024.