The final season of Stranger Things is here, and there's only one thing fans need to know.

Within the first five minutes of Stranger Things Season 5, one thing is clear: this final saga is delving deeper into horror.

And it might just stick the landing.

The opening scene was shared widely by Netflix several weeks before the season dropped. A surprising move that sought to light the flames of fan discourse and spread theories like wildfire across the internet.

It worked, of course. But the scene achieved more than that, cementing Ross and Matt Duffer's vision for the final season of their indie-project-turned-global-sensation.

The opener brings us back to the abduction of Will Byers (Noah Schnapp) in Season 1 and details some of his most traumatising moments in the Upside Down. It's dark, uneasy and horrifying. It lays the groundwork for one of the most complex, highly anticipated television finales in history.

After all, every ending has a beginning. We're just finally going to witness it.

Image: Netflix.

But let me take us back for a moment: when we last saw the Hawkins gang, it was 1986 and a portal to The Upside Down had ripped through town and exposed all ordinary civilians to the 'other' world. Though only our core group and the US Government (oh, and the Russians, I suppose) know the truth of the matter — how dark, twisted, and scary this situation really is.

Season 5 picks up in 1987 with the town under severe quarantine and military surveillance. Beneath the surface, experiments and exploration are conducted by ill-equipped government forces in The Upside Down as the search for Vecna (Jamie Campbell Bower) continues.

Meanwhile, our gang of — at this stage — a whopping 15 main characters are also trying to uncover what happened to Vecna at the end of Season 4 when they quite literally set him ablaze and hit him with multiple rounds of bullets from a shotgun wielded by Nancy (Natalia Dyer).

They've been sneaking into The Upside Down in carefully curated "crawls" that are organised via code on Steve (Joe Keery) and Robin's (Maya Hawke) radio show. Yes, even in a government quarantine, these two will find a way to be co-workers. All the while, Hopper (David Harbour) and Joyce (Winona Ryder) have been working with Eleven (played by the incredible Millie Bobby Brown) to regain control of her powers.

It's been 500 or so days, as Robin declares early in the first episode, and Vecna is yet to rear his ugly head. But, Vecna declared it was only "the beginning of the end" before disappearing. And in the final moments of that season, Will made it clear he could feel his connection to Vecna intensely — suggesting their tether is stronger than ever.

It's all been leading to this.

Image: Netflix.

Through a cleverly executed web of three simultaneous storylines in Season 4, we came to understand Vecna was also known as both Henry Creel and 001.

That he had been a sadistic child born with powers, who murdered his own family. That he was used by Dr. Brenner (Matthew Modine) and other scientists in a lab in order to create more children with superpowers (like Eleven). After 001 tricked Eleven into helping him use his powers to kill everyone in the facility, she used her own to send him into another dimension where he transformed into the monstrous Vecna — who controls all the other monsters and terrors in The Upside Down.

What remains to be seen and promises to be explored in Season 5 is why this story started with the abduction of Will Byers. And what Vecna's plans have been all along.

With eight lengthy episodes, the new season has the weight of the world's expectations upon it. It's a fact the Duffer brothers had to contend with while carefully crafting this final story — one they hadn't originally planned.

"We tried very much to answer everything," Matt Duffer said in a recent interview, revealing the brothers had mapped out their grand plans for the show "some time around Season 2" when they realised how much of a success it was (and just how far they could take it). The ending has been a decade in the making for fans. Not everyone will be pleased.

But one of the show's lead stars, Charlie Heaton, tells Mamamia he felt "really satisfied" by the show's ending and the final storyline for his character, Jonathan Byers.

"I just feel really satisfied with how they managed to close it. It's such a hard thing to do, closing a story, landing that closure and it being satisfying is so difficult and I really do think that they've achieved that. Individually [for my character] and then as a collective," he told us.

It's a sentiment echoed by Natalia Dyer, who said she felt "proud" of what the Duffers were able to achieve in stringing together this last season.

"I'm proud of these characters and how far they've come, both in the context of the show and I'm so proud of the people making it, of the Duffers. I'm proud to have been a part of it all," she said.

Having received Part One early in order to interview the cast, I've been quietly mulling over my opinions on this final season for weeks. And now I can say without a doubt that in my mind, this is compelling television that's leading somewhere remarkable in Part Two.

Image: Netflix.

Along with the overarching terror of Vecna's plot to take over Hawkins, Stranger Things is most obviously a coming of age tale. We've watched the young main characters — and the actors who play them — grow up over the past decade. They're basically adults now and the tone has severely shifted from what once was.

We've seen them experience the romantic breadth of young love, the bonds of friendship that can't be broken, and the thrill of good defeating evil. We've seen them shattered beyond measure by unfair personal loss and great sacrifice. Across the eight episodes that remain, there is still so much ground to cover.

Will's romantic interest in his best friend, Mike (Finn Wolfhard), has long been teased. Fans are waiting for answers about what happened to Max (Sadie Sink). Lucas (Caleb McLaughlin) and Dustin (Gaten Mazzaratto) are struggling in the depths of their traumatic experiences over the last few seasons. And, of course, we don't know how Eleven and Vecna's bonds will transform as we approach the finale.

It's a complex web of main characters, unfinished storylines, and high hopes. But the Duffer brothers have given us space and time to delve deeper into the Upside Down. In Part One, each episode is above 50 minutes (with the fourth being a major 90-minute event). And the result is a compelling four-episode arc that sets us up perfectly (and terrifyingly) for what's to come.

The consistently strong pacing of such intense, interwoven threads is not an easy ask — the new season will struggle to please everyone as it flits between the huge plot points, all of which stride onto the screen demanding attention. It's been picked upon by critics already, but in my opinion, the grand scale is all adding to the growing sense of dread, excitement and anticipation for the next part.

I've told you the show's horror leanings will stun fans, but its heart and (very occasional) humour will keep you grounded in the root purpose of this series.

Amid the darkness, the show has been accused of losing some of its early magic. It's understandable why some fans dropped off as the show developed beyond an '80s-inspired indie drama — the vast difference between the first and final season's scale can not be overstated.

Season 5 is an impressive feat of practical and special effects, with a near limitless CGI budget (I'm guessing) that pulls you right back into the world you may have forgotten since 2022. And you simply can't beat the wit behind some of this season's most entertaining needle-drop moments (shout out to the use of the poppy Upside Down by Diana Ross).

But for those of us who've enjoyed the journey, there is one thing fans need to know. This season is brimming with potential based on Part One. If you've found yourself wondering whether this will live up to the expectation, if you've forgotten why you were even so obsessed with this show to begin with, Season 5 of Stranger Things will reel you right back in.

Now we just need to see if they can pull it off.

Stranger Things, Season 5: Part One is now streaming on Netflix. Part Two drops on Christmas Day. The Finale drops on New Year's Eve.

Feature Image: Netflix.