Stranger Things season 5 trailer, time jump, episode runtimes and everything else you need to know

However, it’s still possible for more cast members to be added. Fans are still rooting for a love interest for Maya Hawke’s character Robin—but she’s not feeling too excited about it. ICYMI: season four ended with Hawke’s character, Robin Buckley, finally making a move on her crush, Hawkins High’s resident clarinetist Vickie over PB&J sandwiches. Though nothing was made explicit, the Duffer Bros were probably laying the ground for a blossoming romance in the final season of the show, meaning Robin could officially get a girlfriend soon. However, there is a small caveat: Hawke is not entirely sold.

“I feel mixed about it,” the actor told Yahoo! Entertainment in June 2023 about the possibility of having an on-screen GF for Robin. “I feel like there’s that’s both a great thing, and I also love characters where their love life is not the centre of their existence.”

Instead of focusing on Robin’s purely romantic life, Hawke would love to keep spotlighting and centring friendship as part of her character’s arc, particularly her relationship with Joe Keery’s Steve Harrington. “That friendship with Steve is so special,” Hawke admitted. “Friendships have been carrying me through my life, and I think they’re really important, and they deserve their time.”

How will Stranger Things end?

Prior to filming the season, the Duffer Brothers said they were not entirely sure what this last season would look like, but they knew for sure how it would end. “It’s like that lighthouse blinking in the distance… while a lot of season 5 is actually pretty blurry, the last 30 minutes of it are pretty clear in our heads,” said Ross. “So if we can make the journey entertaining, I think that we have an end that will hopefully satisfy. You can’t satisfy everyone, but the hope is that it’s something that feels right for this story.”

The creative duo previously told The Wrap that top dogs at Netflix shed real tears once they shared their ideas for the arc of season 5. “I saw executives crying who I’ve never seen cry before, and it was wild,” they shared. And they are not the only ones who cried.

“The end of this episode when we were reading it—just us reading it—about halfway through, people started crying,” David Harbour (Hopper) shared. “Then about the last 20 minutes, it was just uncontrollably crying, waves of different people. Noah Schnapp being my favourite.”