Netflix dropped the first five minutes of Stranger Things 5 on November 6. For such a short teaser, it twists the knife in ways fans weren’t prepared for.
The release of the final season will be split into three parts. The first four episodes will be available to stream on Netflix on November 26. The next three episodes will premiere on Christmas Day (December 25). The series finale will be available a week later on New Year’s Eve (December 31).
The Night Will Vanished Wasn’t Random
The teaser takes us back to November 6, 1983. We watch Will run for his life as he’s chased by a Demogorgon.
The Demogorgon chases him through the dark, eerie woods. Out of desperation, Will climbs up a tree, then leaps out in hope of reaching the one in front of him. Unfortunately, he falls to the ground where the Demogorgon drags his unconscious body.
Will is taken to the Upside Down’s version of the Hawkins Public Library, the same place Joyce and Hopper found hom in Season 1. There we see someone nobody expected to appear so soon into the season: Vecna, the main antagonist from season 4.
It’s the first time the show makes it clear that Vecna was always lurking beyond the shadows. With Will wrapped in vines, he attaches a vine to the boy’s mouth.
“At long last we can begin,” Vecna tells Will. “You and I, we are going to do such beautiful things together, William.”
This Changes Everything
This challenges everything we thought we knew about Will’s time in the Upside Down. He was the first of the Hawkins kids (not including Eleven) to meet Vecna. All this time the mutated sociopath has been pulling the strings the entire time.
Worse, it’s looking like Vecna is the one who forced some kind of psychic connection between himself and Will. That connection that allows Will to sense activity within the Upside Down hive mind and the Mind Flayer. He could even use it to see what the creature saw.
Fans assumed it was due to being possessed by the Mind Flayer in season 2. Maybe that was never the case?
Will Was Never a Random Victim
Will’s disappearance wasn’t a case of him being unlucky. He was targeted.
Vecna was using him for his plan to break the barrier between the Upside Down and Earth. Will was the unknowing spy that allowed Vecna to keep tabs on Eleven as he plotted his revenge.
The idea that Vecna could have let Will slip return to the real world paints the first four seasons in a chilling light.
The teaser makes it clear that Will is central to Vecna’s final plan. The real question is what exactly does Vecna have in store for Byers? It’ll be interesting to see what happens next. I just Will can make it out on the other side and in one piece.
