‘Stranger Things 5 Volume 2’ Trailer: We’ve Been Wrong About the Upside Down

Netflix’s official trailer for Stranger Things 5 Volume 2 turns the world of the Upside Down upside down. “This whole time, everything we’ve ever assumed about the Upside Down has been dead wrong,” says Dustin, confirming this second part of the final season is going to knock our socks off.

New photos were released from Volume 2 along with the trailer.

Stranger Things 5 Volume 1 premiered on November 26, 2025 and Volume 2 debuts on Christmas Day at 5pm PT. The final episode will premiere on New Year’s Eve at 5pm PT, both on the streamer and in select theaters.

Season five stars Millie Bobby Brown as Eleven, Finn Wolfhard as Mike Wheeler, Gaten Matarazzo as Dustin Henderson, Caleb McLaughlin as Lucas Sinclair, Noah Schnapp as Will Byers, Winona Ryder as Joyce Byers, and David Harbour as Jim Hopper. Sadie Sink plays Max Mayfield, Natalia Dyer is Nancy Wheeler, Charlie Heaton is Jonathan Byers, Joe Keery is Steve Harrington, and Maya Hawke is Robin Buckley.

Rounding out the ensemble are Priah Ferguson as Erica Sinclair, Brett Gelman as Murray, Jamie Campbell Bower as Vecna, Cara Buono as Karen Wheeler, Amybeth McNulty as Vickie, Nell Fisher as Holly Wheeler, Jake Connelly as Derek Turnbow, Alex Breaux as Lt. Akers, and Linda Hamilton as Dr. Kay.

“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,” reads Netflix’s synopsis. “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.”

The Duffer Brothers created the series and serve as executive producers along with Shawn Levy and Dan Cohen.

Discussing Will’s epic twist at the end of Volume 1, co-creator, writer, and director Ross Duffer said, “We’ve always known that Will has a connection to Vecna and the Upside Down. In season two, we started to delve into it, but one of the earliest ideas in the new season is, ‘What if Will were able to harness this connection and use it against our villains?’ We also felt it very natural to re-center the story on Will. He was the kid who was taken in season one, so it felt right for the story to come full circle. If anyone [was] going to be the key to ending Vecna, it needed to be Will.”