Ten years after viewers first visited the small town of Hawkins, Indiana, we're returning one last time for the highly anticipated, years-in-the-making Stranger Things season 5.
We've been waiting for this final season for awhile — more than three years, to be exact. In 2022, the Duffer brothers, creators of the series, said that Stranger Things season 5 would be the final chapter of the Stranger Things story. "Seven years ago, we planned out the complete story arc for Stranger Things," they wrote in a letter to fans. “At the time, we predicted the story would last four or five seasons. It proved too large to tell in four, but — as you'll soon see for yourselves — we are now hurtling toward our finale. Season 4 will be the penultimate season; season 5 will be the last.”
The show instantly became a cultural phenomenon with its first season and has introduced the Upside Down, Vecna, and the Demagorgon into our daily lexicon. It has also been a launchpad for young actors, many of whom were little kids during the first season and are now in their twenties. This season, there are a few new characters and actors joining the lineup, and many returning faces who will close out their characters' journeys in eight episodes.
While we don't know what's to come in season 5 — the first four episodes premiere on November 26, with the others dropping on Christmas Eve and New Year's Day — we do know that you'll want to keep the tissues handy. Multiple cast members have shared that they were in tears reading the final script, and even some Netflix execs got misty about it.
Ahead, learn more about the younger main cast of Stranger Things season five, including a few new faces showing up in Hawkins this season.
Millie Bobby Brown as Eleven
Millie Bobby Brown's character Eleven became a cultural icon almost instantly. (Remember all those Eleven-and-Eggo-waffles Halloween costumes?) Eleven, who has psychic powers like telekinesis, escaped the Hawkins National Laboratory and becomes friends with the Hawkins gang, eventually being adopted by Hopper and the Byers family and going by the name Jane. She joins the Byers family when they move to California, but comes back to Hawkins. Eleven loses her powers at one point, but regains them after dealing with her past trauma. At the end of season 4, she used her psychic powers to help resurrect Max, who had died while battling Vecna.
Brown, who was born in Spain, spent some of her childhood in England and moved to Florida when she was eight years old, played young Alice in Once Upon a Time in Wonderland and appeared in small roles on other TV shows like Grey's Anatomy before landing the role of Eleven. She's been nominated for multiple awards for her work as the young girl with superpowers, including two Emmy Awards.
Brown has channeled her Stranger Things success into a variety of projects, including Netflix's Enola Holmes movies and her own skincare, beauty, and lifestyle brand Florence by Mills. In 2024, she married Jake Bongiovi in Italy, with her Stranger Things costar Matthew Modine serving as officiant, and in 2025, the couple adopted a baby girl.
Finn Wolfhard as Mike Wheeler
Mike Wheeler, played by Finn Wolfhard, is a part of the core friendship consisting of Will, Dustin, and Lucas and considered the leader of their friend group, a.k.a. “the Party.” He and Eleven develop feelings for each other and in season 4, he helps the group find her after she's taken away by the Nina Project. His confession of love helps her find the strength to fight Vecna and save Max.
Wolfhard grew up in Vancouver, British Columbia, and had a few small roles before signing on as Mike in Stranger Things. Outside of his work as Mike, Wolfhard starred as Richie in the two-part film adaptation of Stephen King's It and as Boris in The Goldfinch, among other projects. In reflecting about the overnight success of Stranger Things, Wolfhard told People he wished he had gone “directly into therapy” to help him handle newfound fame. “I don't think I'd ever go back and do something over, but maybe I would go back to when the show first came out and blew up, and I would directly put myself into therapy,” the actor shared. “But it was so crazy and overnight, that there was not really any time to think about that.”
Wolfhard is also a musician, playing in the bands Calpurnia and the Audreys and releasing his solo album, Happy Birthday, in June 2025.
Noah Schnapp as Will Byers
Stranger Things begins with the disappearance of Will Byers, played by Noah Schnapp. Even though he eventually escapes the Upside Down thanks to his friends, his mom Joyce (Winona Ryder), and chief of police Jim Hopper (David Harbour), the supernatural stuff doesn't stop there. That's just the beginning! In season 4, Will is living in California with Joyce, his brother Jonathan, and his adopted sister Eleven/Jane, and joins his friends to help find Eleven at the Nina Project. Will is also dealing with his unrequited love for his good friend Mike, who is in love with Eleven. At the end of the season, Will returns to Hawkins.
Schnapp grew up in New York and got his big break as Charlie Brown in the animated The Peanuts Movie. He was cast as Will not long after and since then, has acted in a variety of projects, including Hubie Halloween and the thriller The Tutor. In 2022, Schnapp confirmed that Will is gay and came out himself not long after. “Once I did fully embrace that Will was gay, it was just an exponential speed towards accepting it for myself,” Schnapp told Variety. “I would be in a completely different place if I didn’t have Will to portray, and to embrace and help me accept myself. I think if I never played that character, I probably would still be closeted.”
Gaten Matarazzo as Dustin Henderson
Gaten Matarazzo plays Dustin, a good friend of Will, Mike, and Lucas. In season 4, he and his friends joined the Hellfire Club, where they played Dungeons & Dragons, and works closely with Eddie to help defeat Vecna, though Eddie is hurt in the process and eventually dies of his injuries. Though he crushed on Max at first, Dustin finds a girlfriend named Suzie in season 3.
Matarazzo pursued the performing arts from a young age, winning contests for his vocal skills, and was cast as Dustin after a few high-profile theater roles, including as Gavroche in Les Miserables. In between shooting seasons of Stranger Things, Matarazzo returned to the stage several times, including in Sweeney Todd, and did voice acting work in Angry Birds 2 and Lego Star Wars: Rebuild the Galaxy.
Caleb McLaughlin as Lucas Sinclair
Like his castmate Gaten Matarazzo, Caleb McLaughlin got his start on Broadway. The New York native played Simba in the Broadway production of The Lion King for several years in the early 2010s before being cast as Lucas in Stranger Things. He has also appeared in a handful of TV projects, including Law & Order: SVU and Blue Bloods, and played Ricky Bell in a miniseries about New Edition. In 2018, McLaughlin won Outstanding Performance by a Youth at the NAACP Image Awards for his work as Lucas. He's also acted alongside Idris Elba, LaKeith Stanfield, and more in various projects.
Lucas is another member of the core four, also known as “the Party,” which includes Mike, Will, and Dustin. When we last saw him in season four, he was keeping close watch over his love interest, Max Mayfield, while she lay in a coma.
Sadie Sink as Max Mayfield
Sadie Sink joined the crew in season two as Max, who moved to Hawkins from California. After gaining the interest of the group due to her gaming skills, she and Eleven become close friends, and she and Lucas have an on-again, off-again relationship.
When we last saw Max, she was listening to “Running Up That Hill” and trying to help her friends defeat Vecna, but the villain killed her and unleashed the curse; however, Eleven brought her back to life. At the end of season four, Max was still in a coma, clinging to life after being attacked by Vecna's curse.
Sink grew up in Texas and was interested in performing from a young age. In 2012, she starred as Annie on Broadway and had small roles on TV. She was cast as Max in 2016 and, while not filming Stranger Things, took on other projects, including in Taylor Swift's “All Too Well” short film. In early 2025, she earned a Best Actress in a Play Tony nomination for her role in the Broadway play John Proctor Is the Villain, about a group of teenage girls who begin to question everything they thought they knew after reading The Crucible.
Priah Ferguson as Erica Sinclair
Priah Ferguson plays Erica, Lucas's little sister. In earlier seasons, she was a typical “little sibling” character, but has since grown into part of the key Hawkins group, eventually joining the Hellfire Club because of her Dungeons & Dragons skills and bravery.
Ferguson, who was born in Atlanta and joined the Stranger Things cast in 2017, told Teen Vogue that it's been interesting stepping back into Erica's much-younger shoes after a long break between seasons. “It was awkward. Me being 18 and on social media, I'm showing I'm 18, and then I'm on set playing a 14-year-old,” she explained. “In the costumes, I'm kind of like, ‘Man, this feels strange.’ It was an odd feeling for me to tap into the 14-year-old [mentality], because Erica on the show plays [as] 13.”
Ferguson said the ending was “emotional,” but she's looking forward to what's next. “I feel like I was coming into a whole new chapter of my life. Now this will all be great memories from my childhood,” she explained, adding that she handed out roses to everyone on set on the last day of filming. She's currently at work filming Samo Lives, about the artist Jean-Michel Basquiat; Ferguson plays his younger sister.
Nell Fisher as Holly Wheeler
New to the cast this season is Nell Fisher, who is taking over the role of Mike's little sister Holly from twin actors Anniston and Tinsley Price. Holly will have an expanded role this season, so we'll be seeing her more frequently than in the past.
Fisher is from London and appeared in a few projects prior to joining Stranger Things, including a role in the Evil Dead film franchise. “Going into [Stranger Things] was pretty daunting,” she told Cherry the Geek TV at the season five premiere. “These are people who have been working together for 10 years. But my second day of filming, there was a big scene with a lot of the cast, but everyone was so welcoming."
Jake Connelly as Derek Turnbow
Another new face is Jake Connelly, who plays Holly's classmate Derek Turnbow, a member of the Turnbow realty family who is apparently a bit of a bully.
Stranger Things is Connelly's first big project. “So excited and honored to be in Hawkins and to join the awesome cast,” Connelly wrote on Instagram in July 2024.
Natalia Dyer as Nancy Wheeler
Natalia Dyer plays Mike's older sister Nancy, who was an integral part of the plot to kill Vecna at the end of season four.
Dyer grew up in Nashville and acted as a child, including a role in Hannah Montana: the Movie. Though Stranger Things was her breakout role, she has also appeared in a handful of horror movies. Dyer has been dating costar Charlie Heaton for most of the show's run; Heaton plays Nancy's boyfriend Jonathan.
Charlie Heaton as Jonathan Byers
British actor Charlie Heaton plays Will's brother Jonathan. The two brothers are close and the Byers family eventually grows to include Eleven. In season 4, Jonathan is living with his family in California and dealing with his evolving relationship with his girlfriend, Nancy Wheeler, as well as the fact that Vecna is trying to destroy Hawkins.
Heaton grew up in Leeds and moved to London as a teenager, where he worked as a musician before being cast in Stranger Things. He has acted in a few movies, including 2017's Marrowbone and 2020's Marvel movie The New Mutants. He and Natalia Dyer are dating IRL.
Joe Keery as Steve Harrington
Joe Keery stars as Steve Harrington. In season 1, he's dating Nancy Wheeler, but they split in season two. Steve quickly becomes part of the action throughout the series and becomes good friends with Dustin, as well as Robin Buckley. In season 4, it's revealed that Steve continues to carry a torch for Nancy. He, Nancy, and Robin work together to defeat Vecna.
Harrington was born in Massachusetts and studied acting at DePaul University in Chicago. He's a musician too, and has played with bands and released solo music. In addition to his work on Stranger Things, Keery has been featured in the critically acclaimed TV series Fargo and the documentary The American Revolution.
Maya Hawke as Robin Buckley
Maya Hawke joined the cast in season 3 as Steve's Stargate Mall coworker Robin Buckley. She and Steve become friends and Robin eventually joins the group. She helps Steve, Nancy, and Max fight Vecna at the end of season four. When she's not battling a vicious villain, she's crushing on her classmate Vickie.
Hawke is the daughter of movie stars Ethan Hawke and Uma Thurman. Before taking on the role of Robin, she played Jo March in 2017's Little Women on the BBC. Hawke has also starred in Netflix's Do Revenge with Riverdale actor Camila Mendes, Wes Anderson's Asteroid City, Bradley Cooper's Maestro, and Pixar's Inside Out 2, where she voiced Anxiety.
