Stranger Things Recap: Everything You Need to Know Before Season 5

Netflix’s Stranger Things is returning for its fifth and final season this week, marking the end of a nine-year journey for the once-scrappy/now-ginormous ’80s sci-fi throwback. While the first season premiered in July 2016, the breaks between seasons have increased in length, meaning that it’s been three-and-a-half years since the release of Season 4 in the summer of 2022. And, as a result, your memory might be a little fuzzy about everything that’s happened up to this point. You might just need a recap.

The guide is designed to remind the reader of key points from the Duffer Brothers-created series up until Season 5. Not every plot beat is detailed — the idea is to offer up the basics, without getting bogged down in stuff like “what was up with those Chicago kids Eleven met in Season 2?” and “Wait, Paul Reiser played an evil doctor?” But from Demogorgons to Vecna to who all these characters, the below should hopefully help fans whose memories need a little assistance.

[Editor’s note: The following (obviously) contains spoilers through the Season 4 finale of Stranger Things, “Chapter Nine: The Piggyback.”]

So, remind me how this all began?

On November 6th, 1983, a group of 12-year-old boys living in Hawkins, Indiana played a rousing game of Dungeons & Dragons together. After the game was cut short by the mother of dungeon-master Mike Wheeler (Finn Wolfhard), the other boys left. Except one of them, Will Byers (Noah Schnapp) didn’t make it home, disappearing into the night.

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At the same time, an incident at a nearby research laboratory leads to the escape of “Eleven” (Millie Bobby Brown), a mysterious young girl with telekinetic powers, a “011” tattoo on her arm, and not much understanding of the outside world. While looking for Will, Mike, and the rest of the “party” — Dustin (Gaten Matarazzo) and Lucas (Caleb McLaughlin) — find Eleven in the woods, befriending her. Mike brings her home, believing that she might be able to help them find Will, because she recognized him in a photograph.

These kids don’t have a lot of parental supervision, huh?

Stranger Things (Netflix)

It was the ’80s! It’s true, though, that Will’s mom Joyce (Winona Ryder) does not realize Will’s missing until the next morning. Once she does, though, she’s both devastated and determined to find him again.

So the first season is mostly just about looking for Will?

Yep! At one point the police, led by Chief Jim Hopper (David Harbour), find a body they think belongs to Will and there’s a funeral, but his friends never give up — because Eleven has proven that she’s able to communicate with Will in the Upside Down, where he’s been trapped this whole time.

Speaking of Eleven, there’s a whole team from the lab, led by the vaguely evil scientist Dr. Martin Brenner (Matthew Modine), trying to find her. Oh, and there’s a Demogorgon running around kidnapping people and fucking shit up. That’s also going on.

The Demo-what now?

Eleven wasn’t the only one to break out of the lab on November 6th — a terrifying humanoid creature escaped from the Upside Down into our world, with a head like a mutant teeth-ed daisy. Once free, the Demogorgon kidnapped Will and dragged him into the Upside Down. “Demogorgon” isn’t its official name, by the way — the boys named it after the classic D&D monster that Will was battling in their game the night he disappeared. The Demogorgon is responsible for killing a bunch of folks in Season 1. #JusticeForBarb

Okay, you’ve mentioned it a few times now — what’s the Upside Down?

Stranger Things (Netflix)

The Upside Down is an alternate reality that exists parallel to our world, except everything looks weird and gross there. You enter and exit the Upside Down through “gates,” including the Mothergate, which is located at Hawkins National Laboratory. Was the Upside Down created by humans, or has it always existed? That may be a question answered by Season 5. Right now, all we know for sure is that the first time it was ever accessed was in 1979, when a younger Eleven sent Vecna there.

Who’s Vecna?

Oh boy, that’s complicated. Let’s get through the rest of Season 1 first.

Okay, how does Season 1 end?

Joyce and Hopper work together to rescue Will from the Upside Down, while Eleven faces off against the Demogorgon and they both vanish. The boys are happy to be reunited and gaming together again, though Will’s not quite the same — and of course they all miss Eleven.

But she shows back up in Season 2?

Damn right. At the beginning of Season 2, it’s revealed that after vanishing at the end of Season 1, Eleven once again ended up in the Upside Down. Upon returning to our world, she found refuge with Hopper, who’s determined to keep her safe from those evil scientists by hiding her in his home. Eleven goes on her own series of adventures in Season 2, but reunites with her friends in Hawkins by the end.

At some point we find out how Eleven got her powers, right?

Stranger Things (Netflix)

Yeah, Seasons 1 and 2 reveal that Eleven’s mother Terry (Aimee Mullins) was a test subject in the real-life secret CIA program Project MKUltra while pregnant, hence leading to Eleven’s enhanced abilities. (Fun fact: Eleven’s real name is Jane, though we’ll keep calling her Eleven here.) After her birth, Eleven was kidnapped by Dr. Brenner and grew up in the lab, subjected to tests meant to transform her into a perfect spy, able to eavesdrop on enemies of America remotely.