Ten days remain until the next installment of the fifth and final season of Stranger Things, and Netflix has unveiled a new trailer for what it’s calling Volume 2. That segment will encompass episodes five through seven, with the season finale forming Vol. 3.
(Spoilers for Season 5, Vol. 1 ahead.)
Season 4 concluded with Vecna—the main antagonist—opening the gate that allowed the Upside Down to spill into Hawkins. S5, Vol. 1 includes a time jump, yet in some respects it came full circle, since those moments lined up with the third anniversary of Will’s initial disappearance in S1.
In Vol. 1, Hawkins is under military occupation and Vecna is targeting a new group of young children while posing in human form as “Mr. Whatsit” (a nod to A Wrinkle in Time). He abducted Holly Wheeler and brought her into the Upside Down, where she encountered Max, who remains in a coma but whose consciousness is hiding within one of Vecna’s old memories. Dustin struggled to process his grief over Eddie Munson’s loss in S4, creating a rift with Steve. The rest of the gang concentrated on stockpiling supplies and aiding Eleven and Hopper as they hunted Vecna in the Upside Down. Instead, they discovered Kali/Eight, Eleven’s psychic “sister,” being held in a military lab.
The situation reached a climax at the military base when Vecna’s demagorgons attacked to seize eleven more children, wiping out most of the soldiers in short order. The major reveal was that, due to his abduction by Vecna in S1, Will possesses his own supernatural abilities. He can access Vecna’s hive mind and harness those powers for himself. He employed his newly found powers to free his friends from the demagorgons.
