List of Stranger Things episodes

Stranger Things is an American science fiction fantasy horror drama television series created by the Duffer Brothers that is streaming on Netflix. The brothers serve as showrunners and are executive producers along with Shawn Levy and Dan Cohen. The first season of the series was released on Netflix on July 15, 2016, with the second, third, and fourth seasons following in October 2017, July 2019, and May and July 2022, respectively.

As of July 1, 2022, 34 episodes of Stranger Things have been released, concluding the fourth season. In February 2022, Netflix renewed the series for a fifth and final season.

Series overview

Season		Episodes	Originally released
	1	8	July 15, 2016 (2016-07-15)
	2	9	October 27, 2017 (2017-10-27)
	3	8	July 4, 2019 (2019-07-04)
	4	9	TBA
	5	8	style="background: #ececec; color: #2C2C2C; vertical-align: middle; font-size: smaller; text-align: center; " class="table-na" | TBA

Episodes

Season 1 (2016)

Main article: Stranger Things (season 1)

No. overall	No. in season	Title	Directed by	Written by	Original release date
1	1	"Chapter One: The Vanishing of Will Byers"	The Duffer Brothers	The Duffer Brothers	July 15, 2016 (2016-07-15)
In November 1983 in Hawkins, Indiana, a scientist is attacked by an unseen creature at a U.S. government laboratory. 12-year-old Will Byers encounters the creature and mysteriously vanishes while cycling home from a Dungeons & Dragons session with his friends Mike Wheeler, Dustin Henderson and Lucas Sinclair. Will's single mother Joyce Byers reports his disappearance to the police chief Jim Hopper, who starts a search and assures Joyce that almost all missing children are quickly found. The lab's director Dr. Martin Brenner investigates an organic substance oozing from the lab's basement, claiming that "the girl" cannot have gone far. A nervous young girl wearing a hospital gown wanders into a local diner. The owner, Benny, learns from a tattoo of "011" on her arm that her name is Eleven. Brenner, monitoring the phone lines, sends agents to the diner after Benny calls social services. The agents kill Benny, but Eleven manages to escape using telekinetic abilities. Joyce's phone short circuits after receiving a mysterious phone call that she believes is from Will. While searching for Will in the woods, Mike, Dustin and Lucas come across Eleven.
2	2	"Chapter Two: The Weirdo on Maple Street"	The Duffer Brothers	The Duffer Brothers	July 15, 2016 (2016-07-15)
The boys bring Eleven to Mike's house, where they disagree on what to do. Mike formulates a plan for Eleven to pretend to be a runaway and seek help from his mother, Karen. Still, Eleven refuses, revealing that "bad men" are after her. Will's brother Jonathan visits his estranged father Lonnie in Indianapolis to search for Will, but Lonnie rebuffs him. Hopper's search party discovers a scrap of hospital gown near the lab. After recognizing Will in a photograph and demonstrating her telekinesis, Eleven convinces the boys to trust her as they believe she could find Will. Using the Dungeons & Dragons board, Eleven indicates that Will is on the "Upside Down" side of the board and is being hunted by the "Demogorgon" (the creature). Mike's sister Nancy and her friend Barbara 'Barb' Holland go to a party with Nancy's boyfriend Steve Harrington. Searching for Will near Steve's house, Jonathan secretly photographs the party. Joyce receives another call from Will, hears music playing from his stereo, and sees the creature coming through the wall. Left alone by the swimming pool, Barb is attacked by the Demogorgon and vanishes.
3	3	"Chapter Three: Holly, Jolly"	Shawn Levy	Jessica Mecklenburg	July 15, 2016 (2016-07-15)
Barb awakens in the Upside Down: a decaying, overgrown alternate dimension. She attempts to escape but is attacked by the Demogorgon. Joyce believes Will is communicating through pulses in light bulbs. Brenner allows Hopper to view doctored security footage from the night Will vanished, leading Hopper to investigate Brenner, discovering his involvement with Project MKUltra, a CIA experiment into the brainwashing potential of psychoactive drugs, and that a woman named Terry Ives alleged years earlier that Brenner took her daughter. Eleven recalls Brenner, whom she calls "Papa," punishing her for refusing to hurt a cat telekinetically. Steve destroys Jonathan's camera after discovering the photos from the party. Nancy later recovers a photo of Barb, realizing that she is missing. Returning to Steve's house to investigate, Nancy encounters the Demogorgon but manages to escape. Joyce paints an alphabetic board on her wall with Christmas lights, allowing Will to sign to her that he is "RIGHT HERE" and that she needs to "RUN." Believing Eleven knows where Will is, the boys ask her to lead them to him. Eleven leads them to Will's house, to their frustration. From there they follow emergency vehicles to a quarry, just as Will's apparent body is recovered from the water.
4	4	"Chapter Four: The Body"	Shawn Levy	Justin Doble	July 15, 2016 (2016-07-15)
Joyce refuses to believe that the body found at the quarry is Will's. Mike feels betrayed by Eleven until she proves that Will is still alive, channeling his voice through Mike's walkie-talkie. The boys theorize that Eleven could use a ham radio at their school to communicate with Will. Nancy notices a figure behind Barb in Jonathan's photo, which Jonathan realizes matches his mother's description of the Demogorgon. Nancy tells the police about Barb's disappearance. She later fights with Steve, who only cares about not getting in trouble with his father. Hopper has suspicions regarding the authenticity of the body found in the quarry when he learns that the usual coroner was sent home and confronts the state trooper who found it, beating the trooper until he admits he was ordered to lie. The boys sneak Eleven into their school to use the radio while Joyce hears Will's voice on her living room wall. Tearing away the wallpaper, she sees him. Eleven uses the radio to channel Will talking to his mother. Hopper goes to the morgue and finds that the body is a dummy and, suspecting that Brenner is responsible, breaks into the lab.
5	5	"Chapter Five: The Flea and the Acrobat"	The Duffer Brothers	Alison Tatlock	July 15, 2016 (2016-07-15)
Hopper searches the lab, finding the substance in the basement, before being knocked out by the lab's guards. The boys ask their science teacher, Mr. Clarke, if it would be possible to travel between alternate dimensions, to which he answers that there could be a theoretical 'gate' between dimensions. Hopper awakens at his house and finds a hidden microphone, realizing that Joyce was right the whole time. The boys follow their compasses, hoping that a gate would disrupt the Earth's electromagnetic field. Eleven recalls memories of being placed in a sensory-deprivation tank to eavesdrop on a man speaking Russian telepathically; while listening, she came across the Demogorgon. Scared of reencountering the Demogorgon, Eleven redirects the compasses. Lucas misinterprets this as an act of treason, leading Mike and Lucas to fight and Eleven to telekinetically fling Lucas off Mike. While Dustin and Mike tend to the unconscious Lucas, Eleven runs off. Nancy and Jonathan formulate a plan to kill the Demogorgon. Searching in the woods, they encounter a wounded deer. Nancy follows it through a gate to the Upside Down, drawing its attention to her.
6	6	"Chapter Six: The Monster"	The Duffer Brothers	Jessie Nickson-Lopez	July 15, 2016 (2016-07-15)
Jonathan pulls Nancy back through the gate. That night, Nancy is afraid to be alone and asks Jonathan to stay in her bedroom. Steve, attempting to reconcile with Nancy, sees them together through her bedroom window and assumes they are dating. Joyce and Hopper track down Terry Ives, who is catatonic and tended to by her sister Becky. The latter explains that Terry was a Project MKUltra participant while unknowingly pregnant and believes Brenner kidnaped her daughter Jane at birth due to her supposed telekinetic and telepathic abilities. Nancy and Jonathan stockpile weapons to kill the Demogorgon, theorizing that it is attracted by blood. Steve gets into a fistfight with Jonathan after calling Nancy a slut. Eleven walks into a grocery store and shoplifts several boxes of Eggo waffles. Searching for Eleven, Mike and Dustin are ambushed by a group of bullies but are rescued by her, as she uses her powers to break one bully's arm after he attempts to kill Mike. Eleven collapses and recalls being asked by Brenner to contact the Demogorgon and, in her terror, inadvertently opening the gate. She tearfully admits to Mike that she is responsible for allowing the Demogorgon to enter this dimension. Lucas sees agents who have tracked down Eleven preparing to ambush Mike's house.
7	7	"Chapter Seven: The Bathtub"	The Duffer Brothers	Justin Doble	July 15, 2016 (2016-07-15)
Lucas warns Mike that agents are searching for Eleven. Mike, Dustin, and Eleven flee the house. Eleven telekinetically flips one of the agents' vans that blocks their path, and the kids escape. Lucas reconciles with Mike and Eleven, and the kids hide from the agents. Nancy and Jonathan reveal their knowledge of the Demogorgon to Joyce and Hopper. The group contacts the kids, and everyone meets at the Byers' house. Joyce and Hopper realize that Eleven is Jane Ives. The group asks Eleven to search for Will and Barb telepathically, but her earlier feats have weakened her. They break into the middle school and build a makeshift sensory-deprivation tank to amplify Eleven's powers. Eleven finds Barb dead and Will alive using her telepathy, hiding in the Upside Down version of his backyard fort. Realizing that the gate is in the basement of the lab, Hopper and Joyce break into the lab but are apprehended by security guards. Nancy and Jonathan head back to the Byers' house, planning to attract and kill the Demogorgon so it can't interfere with Joyce and Hopper. In the Upside Down, the Demogorgon breaks into Will's fort.
8	8	"Chapter Eight: The Upside Down"	The Duffer Brothers	Story by: Paul Dichter Teleplay by: The Duffer Brothers	July 15, 2016 (2016-07-15)
Hopper, haunted by the death of his daughter Sara from cancer years earlier, gives up Eleven's location to Brenner, who in exchange allows Hopper and Joyce to enter the Upside Down to rescue Will. Nancy and Jonathan cut their hands to attract the Demogorgon at the Byers' house. Steve arrives just as the Demogorgon appears, intending to apologize to Jonathan about their fight. Steve, Nancy, and Jonathan fight the Demogorgon and light it on fire, forcing it to retreat to the Upside Down. Meanwhile, Eleven and the boys hide in the middle school when Brenner and his agents arrive to kidnap Eleven; she kills most of them before collapsing from exhaustion. The Demogorgon appears and attacks Brenner, seemingly killing him. Hopper and Joyce find Will in the Upside Down, unconscious with a tendril down his throat, and revive him using CPR. The Demogorgon finds the kids, and Eleven disintegrates it but disappears. Will is hospitalized. One month later, Nancy is back together with Steve, and both are friends with Jonathan. Will coughs up a slug-like creature and has a vision of the Upside Down but hides this from his family.

Season 2 (2017)

Main article: Stranger Things (season 2)

No. overall	No. in season	Title	Directed by	Written by	Original release date
9	1	"Chapter One: MADMAX"	The Duffer Brothers	The Duffer Brothers	October 27, 2017 (2017-10-27)
On October 28, 1984, a girl with the psychic power to make people see things and with a tattoo reading "008" on her arm is part of a criminal gang that manages to rob a bank and get away in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. In Hawkins, the town prepares for Halloween. Maxine "Max" Mayfield, a new girl at school, captures the boys' attention. Joyce is dating her old high school classmate Bob Newby, Hopper investigates a field of pumpkins mysteriously rotting, and conspiracy theorist Murray Bauman investigates people who sighted Eleven, believing her to be a Russian spy. Mike and Nancy deal with their respective losses of Eleven and Barb, and Will has been experiencing episodes of apparent hallucinations of the Upside Down and an enormous, tentacled shadow monster. Joyce and Hopper take Will to see the lab's new director Dr. Sam Owens, who has been giving Will routine medical exams ever since his return. Owens theorizes that Will's episodes are PTSD brought on by the anniversary of his disappearance. The gate in the lab's basement has been growing, worrying Owens. Nancy and Steve have dinner with Barb's parents, who still believe their daughter to be missing and who have hired Murray to find her. Hopper goes home to a cabin in the woods where he secretly lives with Eleven.
10	2	"Chapter Two: Trick or Treat, Freak"	The Duffer Brothers	The Duffer Brothers	October 27, 2017 (2017-10-27)
Flashbacks reveal that Eleven escaped from the Upside Down but was forced to hide from agents. In the present, it is Halloween. Eleven asks Hopper if she can go trick-or-treating, but Hopper insists that she needs to remain hidden until he can reach an agreement with Owens allowing her to live a normal life, frustrating the homebound Eleven. More pumpkin fields rot across town, and Hopper discovers an organic substance – similar to the substance in the lab – in the fields. Nancy wants to tell Barb's parents the truth about her death, but Steve says it is a bad idea, as the agents might come after them if they tell anyone the truth. Instead, they attend a Halloween party, where Nancy gets drunk and berates Steve for his lack of empathy for Barb's parents. Steve leaves and tells Jonathan to take Nancy home. The boys go trick-or-treating and are later joined by Max. Will has another episode during the night and tells Mike about his visions, leading Mike to admit that he is trying to contact Eleven. Eleven tries to contact Mike using her powers but is unsuccessful. Dustin returns home after trick-or-treating and finds a strange creature in his trash can.
11	3	"Chapter Three: The Pollywog"	Shawn Levy	Justin Doble	October 27, 2017 (2017-10-27)
Flashbacks reveal that Hopper found Eleven in the woods and agreed to take care of her in his grandfather's old hunting cabin if she agreed not to leave the cabin. In the present, Bob encourages Will to face his fears, not understanding the extent of Will's episodes. Nancy persuades Jonathan to help her tell Barb's parents the truth, and the pair arrange a meeting with Barb's mother in a public park the following day, fearing that Owens may be tapping the phone lines. The creature Dustin found in his trash can is a small, slug-like animal that he names D'Artagnan ("Dart"). He shows Dart to the other kids, and Will concludes that it is from the Upside Down, as it makes a noise similar to one Will heard in his hallucinations. Hopper accuses Owens of failing to keep the gate contained, becoming increasingly concerned about the pumpkin fields. Frustrated with being holed up, Eleven leaves to look for Mike; at the school, she sees him arguing with Max and mistakes it as flirting. Heartbroken, she leaves. Will suffers from another episode and follows Bob's advice to confront the shadow monster, but it possesses him.
12	4	"Chapter Four: Will the Wise"	Shawn Levy	Paul Dichter	October 27, 2017 (2017-10-27)
Joyce and the kids awaken an unconscious Will. Joyce takes Will home but finds him acting strangely, drawing scribbles on pages and demanding that the house be kept cold. Joyce calls Hopper, and together, they discover the scribbles line up. Hopper recognizes that the drawings represent vines, and he leaves. Nancy and Jonathan are caught by agents when they try to contact Barb's mother and are taken to the lab, where Owens shows them the portal to the Upside Down, admits Barb died in the Upside Down, and says that he wants to prevent foreign governments from learning of it. They are released, and it is revealed that Nancy secretly recorded Owens' admission. An infatuated Lucas tries to get closer to Max, but her violent older stepbrother Billy Hargrove intervenes. Upon returning to the cabin, Eleven argues with Hopper over her sneaking out, culminating in her destroying the cabin's windows in a fit of rage. While cleaning up the mess the following morning, she finds Hopper's research into her biological mother, Terry Ives, and tries to contact Terry with her powers. A horrified Dustin finds that Dart has broken out of its cage, has devoured his pet cat, and is an infant Demogorgon. Hopper digs into one of the pumpkin fields and finds a tunnel leading to the Upside Down.
13	5	"Chapter Five: Dig Dug"	Andrew Stanton	Jessie Nickson-Lopez	October 27, 2017 (2017-10-27)
Hopper becomes trapped in the tunnels and passes out. Mike sleeps over at the Byers' house to help Will recover. Will has a vision of Hopper, leading Joyce to recruit Bob's help to determine its meaning. Bob identifies the network as a map of Hawkins and the pumpkin field as the place Hopper was going. Nancy and Jonathan take the tape of Owens' admission to Murray, who realizes the public will not believe the unbelievable story and suggests watering it down to make it more palatable. Lucas reveals the truth of Will's disappearance to Max. Dustin traps Dart in his basement and enlists Steve's help to recapture it. Eleven tracks down Terry and Becky Ives. Terry and Eleven are able to communicate using their psychic powers, and Terry reveals to Eleven that she tried to rescue her at the lab and was subjected to a brain-damaging dose of shock therapy by Brenner. Eleven learns there was another girl trained like her. Joyce, Bob, Will, and Mike rescue Hopper, though scientists from the lab soon arrive and set the tunnels on fire. As this happens, Will collapses and begins convulsing and screaming in agony.
14	6	"Chapter Six: The Spy"	Andrew Stanton	Kate Trefry	October 27, 2017 (2017-10-27)
Will is rushed to the lab, demonstrating memory loss. Owens theorizes that the shadow monster is a virus that has spread to Will's brain and is controlling him and that the creatures from the Upside Down share a hive mind and therefore damaging the tunnels will be lethal to the now-infected Will. Nancy and Jonathan spend the night at Murray's, who forces them to admit their feelings for each other. The following morning, the trio sent copies of the tape of Owens' admission to the numerous newspapers around the country. Nancy and Jonathan discover Will's drawings upon returning to the Byers' house. Lucas and Max regroup with Dustin and Steve, and the group attempt to lure Dart to a junkyard. Max apologizes for being hostile to Lucas, explaining that Billy's violence results from his father remarrying Max's mother. Dart arrives at the group's horror, flanked by a pack of adolescent monsters. The group is cornered until the pack unexpectedly runs away. Will discovers a location that the monster prevents him from seeing. Unaware that the monster is manipulating Will, Owens sends a team to investigate. The team is attacked by the adolescent monsters, who make their way into the lab.
15	7	"Chapter Seven: The Lost Sister"	Rebecca Thomas	Justin Doble	October 27, 2017 (2017-10-27)
Eleven travels to Chicago, Illinois, and finds the other girl from Terry's memories, named Kali. Realizing they have similar tattoos and were both experimented on by Brenner, Eleven and Kali consider themselves sisters. Kali can project images into people's minds and lives among a street gang that seeks revenge on Brenner. Eleven reveals that Brenner is dead, so the gang decides to kill the man who tortured Terry instead. Kali helps Eleven hone her abilities by demonstrating that channeling her anger is the key to strengthening her powers. After Eleven uses her powers to find the gang's target, named Ray, the gang travels to Ray's apartment to kill him. Eleven begins to choke Ray with her powers, leading him to claim that Brenner is still alive desperately. Eleven refuses to kill Ray after seeing a photo of his two young daughters, who are discovered at that same moment to be contacting the police, and refuses to allow Kali to kill him. The gang flees to their hideout, and Kali insists Eleven either stay and avenge her mother or return to Hawkins. Eleven has a vision of Mike and Hopper's plight at the lab and decides to return while Kali and her gang escape from the police.
16	8	"Chapter Eight: The Mind Flayer"	The Duffer Brothers	The Duffer Brothers	October 27, 2017 (2017-10-27)
The pack of creatures attacks the lab, killing most of the scientists. Realizing that Will is a spy for the monster, Mike convinces Joyce to sedate Will to prevent the creatures from tracking them. Mike, Joyce, Hopper, Bob, and Owens take Will's unconscious body to the lab's security room to barricade themselves from the creatures. The lab's power goes out, and Bob volunteers to reset the breakers and allow the group to escape. Bob's mission succeeds, allowing Mike, Joyce, Hopper, and Will to escape. Doctor Owens then stays behind to guide Bob to the way out. However, the monsters attack and maul him to death in front of Joyce, leaving her devastated. The survivors are rescued by Nancy, Jonathan, Steve, Dustin, Lucas, and Max and return to the Byers' house. Desperate to seek revenge on the shadow monster, who Dustin realizes is equivalent to the 'Mind Flayer' in Dungeons & Dragons, the group theorizes that the Mind Flayer wishes to spread into this universe and that killing it will kill all the creatures connected to it – including Will. Using Morse code, they are able to communicate with the real Will, who instructs them to "CLOSE GATE." The Mind Flayer finds their location and sends the creatures after them. As the creatures close in, one suddenly crashes through the window and lands on the floor, dead. The door then unlocks itself, and Eleven walks in, having dispatched the other creatures.
17	9	"Chapter Nine: The Gate"	The Duffer Brothers	The Duffer Brothers	October 27, 2017 (2017-10-27)
After a brief reunion, Eleven, and the group devise a plan to close the gate without killing Will. Hopper and Eleven head to the lab to close the portal (on the way to seeing Dr. Owens, who has been attacked and injured upon attempting to escape), while Jonathan, Nancy, and Joyce purge the virus from Will by overheating him in Hopper's cabin. To prevent the creatures from attacking Hopper and Eleven, Mike, Dustin, Lucas, Max, and Steve plan to enter the tunnels to lure the pack. Billy arrives at the Byers' house, having been instructed to find Max by his father, and gets into a fight with Steve. Max manages to sedate him, and the group enters the tunnels to enact their plan. Nancy manages to release Will from the Mind Flayer's grasp by branding him with a poker. Despite the Mind Flayer's attempts to thwart her, Eleven unleashes her anger, successfully closes the gate, and kills the creatures. One month later, Nancy's tape has exposed the lab, leading to its closure. Barb receives a funeral, and Owens, who survived his injuries, forges a birth certificate for Eleven, naming her Jane Hopper. Mike, Eleven, Dustin, Will, Lucas, and Max attend their school's winter dance where Lucas and Max dance and kiss as well as Mike and Eleven, while Dustin dances with Nancy after being turned down by a girl. Later, the Mind Flayer is still alive in the Upside Down, towering over the school and watching the group.

Season 3 (2019)

Main article: Stranger Things (season 3)

No. overall	No. in season	Title	Directed by	Written by	Original release date
18	1	"Chapter One: Suzie, Do You Copy?"	The Duffer Brothers	The Duffer Brothers	July 4, 2019 (2019-07-04)
In June 1984, Soviet scientists attempt to force open a new gate to the Upside Down. One year later in Hawkins, the popularity of the new Starcourt Mall has forced many local businesses to close, angering townspeople. Mike and Eleven have begun a romantic relationship, much to Hopper's chagrin; he later threatens Mike into agreeing not to see her. Dustin returns from summer camp and sets up a radio tower to contact his new girlfriend, Suzie, where his friends ditch him but instead intercept a Russian transmission. Will privately senses that the Mind Flayer may still be alive. Rats congregate in a mill and explode into an organic mass. On his way to a sexual encounter with Mrs. Wheeler, Billy is run off the road by an unseen creature and dragged inside the mill.
19	2	"Chapter Two: The Mall Rats"	The Duffer Brothers	The Duffer Brothers	July 4, 2019 (2019-07-04)
Billy escapes the mill after the creature induces a vision of the Upside Down, where he meets a doppelgänger. Tormented by further visions and voices, Billy is guided by the creature into kidnapping his fellow lifeguard Heather Holloway and bringing her to the creature. Nancy and Jonathan, working as interns at the Hawkins Post, investigate the home of Mrs. Driscoll, an elderly woman concerned about rabid rats eating her fertilizer, and overlooks one of the rats exploding. Max and Eleven bond while shopping at Starcourt to distract themselves from Mike and Lucas; Eleven breaks up with Mike after lying to her to avoid seeing her after Hopper threatens him. Joyce investigates a strange loss of magnetism among objects at her home and workplace, accidentally standing Hopper up for a date. Dustin reunites with Steve, who works at the mall's ice cream parlor with Robin, a former classmate; the three translate the Russian radio message and determine that it must be a code.
20	3	"Chapter Three: The Case of the Missing Lifeguard"	Shawn Levy	William Bridges	July 4, 2019 (2019-07-04)
Eleven uses her powers to spy on Mike and later Billy, who senses her presence. She and Max discover that Billy has gone missing. Nancy and Jonathan find reports of missing fertilizer and strange behavior among rats across town and discover Mrs. Driscoll herself eating fertilizer in her home. Will fights with Lucas and Mike while they are upset over Eleven and Max. Robin decodes the Russian communication, pointing to a shipment arriving at Starcourt that night; she, Steve, and Dustin spot armed Russian soldiers making the delivery. Joyce convinces Hopper that the demagnetization stems from an electromagnetic device at the abandoned Hawkins Lab; when they investigate, Hopper is attacked by Grigori, a Russian soldier. Max and Eleven track down Billy and Heather at the home of Heather's parents; after they leave, Billy and Heather subdue her parents, which Will senses, realizing the Mind Flayer is alive.
21	4	"Chapter Four: The Sauna Test"	Shawn Levy	Kate Trefry	July 4, 2019 (2019-07-04)
Billy and Heather bring her parents to the mill, where they are possessed by the Mind Flayer (now a physical creature composed of flesh from the rats). Hopper recalls Grigori meeting with town mayor Larry Kline; he and Joyce force Kline to reveal that Starcourt Mall is a Russian front buying abandoned properties across Hawkins. At Starcourt, Dustin, Steve, and Robin, alongside Lucas' sister Erica discover that the mall's loading dock is an elevator, which traps them beneath the mall. Nancy and Jonathan are fired by their boss (Heather's father) for harassing Mrs. Driscoll; Nancy visits Mrs. Driscoll at the hospital out of suspicion and watches her become possessed by the Mind Flayer. Will reveals his connection with the Mind Flayer to Mike, Lucas, Eleven, and Max, speculating that it has possessed Billy. They devise a plan to trap Billy in the pool's sauna to confirm he is possessed, but Billy escapes and nearly kills them until Eleven subdues him. Billy returns to the mill, where dozens of townspeople have since been possessed by the Mind Flayer.
22	5	"Chapter Five: The Flayed"	Uta Briesewitz	Paul Dichter	July 4, 2019 (2019-07-04)
Hopper and Joyce search one of the abandoned properties, discovering a hidden laboratory. Grigori arrives to kill them, and they narrowly escape with a hostage – a Russian scientist named Alexei – in tow. Dustin, Steve, Robin, and Erica arrive in a Russian lab underneath Starcourt and hide from Russian soldiers unloading crates from the elevator. Attempting to find a communications room, the group discovers a large testing area where scientists try to force open a portal to the Upside Down. As Alexei does not speak English, Hopper and Joyce take him to Murray – the only Russian speaker they know – to translate. Grigori tries to follow them but loses the trail. Nancy and Jonathan regroup with Will, Mike, Lucas, Eleven, and Max and then theorize that Billy and Driscoll are both possessed by the Mind Flayer, who uses them to "flay" (possess) people to create an army. The group decides to visit Driscoll at the hospital to learn more but finds her gone. They are attacked by Tom and Bruce, who are now of the Flayed that dissolve into a single organic mass resembling the Mind Flayer after Nancy and Jonathan kill them.
23	6	"Chapter Six: E Pluribus Unum"	Uta Briesewitz	Curtis Gwinn	July 4, 2019 (2019-07-04)
Eleven, who had just then reconciled with Mike, uses her powers to incapacitate the Mind Flayer, forcing it to flee to the mill. In the Russian lab beneath Starcourt, Steve and Robin are captured, drugged, and interrogated, but Dustin and Erica manage to rescue them. With Murray translating, Hopper and Joyce hold Alexei hostage, forcing him to reveal that the Russians are attempting to access the Upside Down and that they are opening a portal beneath Starcourt. Hopper calls Owens to warn the U.S. Government of the threat, but Joyce insists they return to Hawkins immediately, fearing that their kids may be involved. Grigori corners Kline at Hawkins' Independence Day fair, demanding he step up efforts to find Hopper. Mike inadvertently admits his love for Eleven. To find the Mind Flayer, Eleven uses her powers in an attempt to psychically communicate with Billy, learning of his troubled childhood and finding the Flayer at the mill. Billy senses Eleven's presence, giving the Mind Flayer access to her location, and reveals that the Mind Flayer plans to kill her in revenge for her closing the gate. The Flayed converge on the mill, dissolving into an organic mass and merging with the Mind Flayer.
24	7	"Chapter Seven: The Bite"	The Duffer Brothers	The Duffer Brothers	July 4, 2019 (2019-07-04)
Eleven and the others determine the Mind Flayer is coming for her since she was the one who previously closed the gate. Will senses the Mind Flayer approaching, and it attacks them before they flee, wounding Eleven. Dustin and Erica drag a drugged Steve and Robin to the movie theater in Starcourt. Eleven's group breaks into a supermarket to help treat her wounds and gather more supplies. Dustin contacts them over a walkie-talkie to try and explain their situation before he loses battery power. Eleven uses her powers to find Dustin, and the group takes off for the mall. Steve admits that he has feelings for Robin, but she comes out to him as a lesbian. Hopper's group makes their way to the fairgrounds in Hawkins to find the children where they are spotted by Kline, who alerts the Russians. Grigori fatally shoots Alexei in front of Murray. Murray, Hopper, and Joyce evade several Soviet agents and learn the agents are looking for the children at the mall. Eleven's group arrives at the mall in time to stop the Russians from shooting Dustin's group. Eleven collapses in front of the children, her wound pulsing.
25	8	"Chapter Eight: The Battle of Starcourt"	The Duffer Brothers	The Duffer Brothers	July 4, 2019 (2019-07-04)
Eleven rids herself of the piece of the Mind Flayer embedded in her wound, rendering her powerless. Hopper's group arrives, and plans are made to take Eleven's group to safety. At the same time, Hopper, Joyce, and Murray destroy the machine, with Dustin and Erica navigating them from his radio tower. Billy and the Mind Flayer trap Eleven's group at the mall. The others attack the Mind Flayer with fireworks as Eleven frees Billy from its control. Billy sacrifices himself to protect Eleven, Mike, and Max. Hopper fights and kills Grigori, getting trapped with the machine in the process. Out of time, Joyce is forced to trigger an explosion, closing the gate, with Hopper seemingly being disintegrated in the process. The Mind Flayer dies as Dr. Owens arrives with military forces. Three months later, the deaths are covered up, Starcourt is destroyed, and a disgraced Kline is arrested. The Byers family and a still-powerless Eleven prepare to move out of Hawkins. Mike and Eleven confess their love for each other and make plans to meet at Thanksgiving. In Kamchatka, Russian guards are instructed to feed a prisoner, but "not the American," to a captive Demogorgon.

Season 4 (2022)

Main article: Stranger Things (season 4)

No. overall	No. in season	Title	Directed by	Written by	Original release date
Volume 1
26	1	"Chapter One: The Hellfire Club"	The Duffer Brothers	The Duffer Brothers	May 27, 2022 (2022-05-27)
In a flashback to 1979, Dr. Brenner is shown to be experimenting on several other children possessing supernatural abilities until a mysterious incident kills all of the children except Eleven. In 1986—nine months after the events at Starcourt Mall—Joyce, Will, Jonathan, and Eleven have moved to California, where Eleven struggles with the loss of her powers and is routinely bullied by other students. Joyce receives a porcelain doll in the mail, seemingly from Russia, and finds a hidden note stating that Hopper is alive. In Hawkins, Mike and Dustin have joined their high school's "Hellfire Club," a Dungeons & Dragons club led by the eccentric Eddie Munson. As a result, they miss seeing Lucas win the basketball team's championship game. Max, who has broken up with Lucas, struggles to grieve Billy's death. Chrissy Cunningham, a student on the cheerleading team, is haunted by visions of her family and a ticking grandfather clock. While buying drugs from Eddie, Chrissy is possessed and killed by a sentient, humanoid creature from her visions.
27	2	"Chapter Two: Vecna's Curse"	The Duffer Brothers	The Duffer Brothers	May 27, 2022 (2022-05-27)
Hopper is revealed to have survived the explosion underneath Starcourt Mall, where he was captured by Russian soldiers and sent to a prison camp in Kamchatka. Joyce and Murray call the phone number posted on the note she was sent and speak to "Enzo," whom they deduce is Hopper's prison guard that he likely bribed. Enzo has them deliver a $40,000 ransom to his contact in Alaska. Mike flies to California to visit Eleven, where he and Will witness her being bullied by her classmate Angela; Eleven retaliates by striking Angela in the face with a roller skate. Max tells Dustin she saw Eddie run away the night Chrissy died. Along with Robin and Steve, they locate the traumatized Eddie and explain to him the existence of the Upside Down. Eddie and Dustin identify the entity that killed Chrissy as Vecna. Nancy and her fellow student reporter Fred investigate Chrissy's death; Eddie's uncle tells Nancy he believes the killer is Victor Creel, a Hawkins resident who was institutionalized after allegedly murdering his family decades prior. Fred is lured into the woods by visions of a girl he accidentally killed before Vecna murders him.
28	3	"Chapter Three: The Monster and the Superhero"	Shawn Levy	Caitlin Schneiderhan	May 27, 2022 (2022-05-27)
Sam Owens is visited by the U.S. Army, who shows him photos of Chrissy's death, and believes Eleven is responsible. The police arrest Eleven for assaulting Angela, but she is taken by Owens, who explains that Hawkins is in grave danger and reveals that he has been working on a program that may be able to bring back Eleven's powers. Eleven agrees to participate. Joyce and Murray fly to Alaska. Hopper bribes a fellow inmate to break his shackles using a sledgehammer. Nancy and Robin go to the library to look up information about Victor Creel, where they discover that Creel blamed his family's murders on a demon, which they believe to be Vecna. Jason, the basketball team captain and Chrissy's boyfriend, leads the team to hunt for Eddie, believing him to have killed Chrissy; Lucas abandons them. Max recalls that Chrissy had visited the school counselor before being killed by Vecna. She steals Chrissy and Fred's files from the counselor's office and learns they suffered from PTSD symptoms similar to hers. Max then hears Vecna call her name and has a vision of a grandfather clock.
29	4	"Chapter Four: Dear Billy"	Shawn Levy	Paul Dichter	May 27, 2022 (2022-05-27)
Joyce and Murray deliver the ransom payment to Enzo's contact Yuri, but he drugs them, planning to turn them over to the Russians for a larger profit. Hopper escapes the prison camp but is soon recaptured. Jonathan, Mike, and Will prepare to sneak away from two of Owens' agents left to watch them, but armed soldiers attack their house. They escape with the help of Jonathan's friend Argyle, bringing an injured agent with them. Nancy and Robin interview Victor Creel at the Pennhurst psychiatric institution. Creel recounts his family being tormented and killed by supernatural forces while he was arrested for their deaths. Fearing Vecna is about to kill her, Max writes letters to her friends and family and asks to be taken to the cemetery to read her letter to Billy by his gravestone. She is soon possessed by Vecna and finds herself at his altar in the Upside Down. Steve, Dustin, and Lucas learn from Nancy and Robin that playing music can break Vecna's spell and play Max's favorite song, "Running Up That Hill," on a cassette tape. This opens a portal through which Max escapes Vecna's control, successfully avoiding death.
30	5	"Chapter Five: The Nina Project"	Nimród Antal	Kate Trefry	May 27, 2022 (2022-05-27)
Owens takes Eleven to an abandoned ICBM silo in Nevada, where he and Dr. Brenner have developed a specialized isolation tank (dubbed "NINA") that allows Eleven to access memories of her time with other children at Hawkins Lab. Eleven attempts to escape and briefly regains her powers in the process, convincing her to continue with the experiment. In California, Owens' dying agent gives the boys a phone number for the NINA project that connects to a modem; Mike decides to enlist the aid of Dustin's girlfriend Suzie in Salt Lake City. Hopper is imprisoned alongside Antonov ("Enzo"). While being flown to Russia, Joyce and Murray subdue Yuri and crash-land in the wilderness. Max, Lucas, Steve, and Dustin regroup with Nancy and Robin and decide to investigate the Creel house; inside, they encounter flickering lights, which they trace to Vecna's movements in the Upside Down. Jason and his fellow players locate Eddie trying to escape in a boat while Jason and his teammate Patrick swim after him. Vecna kills Patrick in front of Jason and Eddie, causing the lights in the Creel house to burst.
31	6	"Chapter Six: The Dive"	Nimród Antal	Curtis Gwinn	May 27, 2022 (2022-05-27)
Eleven relives memories of befriending a lab orderly named "Peter Ballard," who warns her not to trust Brenner. She also recalls her ostracism by other test subjects, leading her to believe she was responsible for the lab massacre. Suzie helps Mike's group locate the NINA project's coordinates and joins them in their quest to find it. Hopper and the other inmates are given a large feast, which Hopper warns is to prepare them to be fed to the Demogorgon. He later manages to pickpocket a lighter, recalling that the Demogorgon's weakness is fire. Joyce and Murray force Yuri to take them to a nearby town where he stores his goods and decide to have Murray pose as Yuri to infiltrate the prison. Jason galvanizes Hawkins' residents at a town hall meeting against Eddie's supposed Satanic cult. Steve's group finds Eddie; Dustin notices his compass misbehaving and realizes there must be a new gate to the Upside Down nearby. They trace the gate to Lover's Lake, where Steve dives down to inspect it before being yanked into the Upside Down by a tendril and swarmed by bat-like creatures. Nancy, Robin, and Eddie dive down after him.
32	7	"Chapter Seven: The Massacre at Hawkins Lab"	The Duffer Brothers	The Duffer Brothers	May 27, 2022 (2022-05-27)
Joyce, Murray, and Yuri enter Kamchatka and witness Hopper, and his fellow prisoners, fight the Demogorgon. Hopper holds the creature back with a flaming spear while Murray and Joyce subdue the guards and open the prison doors, allowing Hopper and Antonov to escape. Joyce and Hopper reunite. Dustin, Lucas, and Erica theorize that Vecna has spawned a gate at the site of each murder, which they communicate to Steve's group in the Upside Down. Both parties reunite at the gate inside Eddie's trailer, where Chrissy died. Robin and Eddie safely exit while Vecna possesses Nancy; she discovers that he is Victor Creel's son Henry, who killed his mother and sister with his psychic powers before falling into a coma and being placed in Brenner's care. Henry became subject 001 in Brenner's experiments and later the orderly Peter that Eleven befriended. Eleven finally remembers Henry committing the lab massacre and trying to kill her when she refused to help him eradicate humanity; Eleven overpowered Henry and sent him to the Upside Down, where he became Vecna.
Volume 2
33	8	"Chapter Eight: Papa"	The Duffer Brothers	The Duffer Brothers	July 1, 2022 (2022-07-01)
34	9	"Chapter Nine: The Piggyback"	The Duffer Brothers	The Duffer Brothers	July 1, 2022 (2022-07-01)

Season 5

The fifth and final season was announced by Netflix in February 2022, and writing began in August of the same year. According to the Duffers, the season will likely not introduce new characters and will focus on the established ones. The season will consist of eight episodes, with principal photography expected to begin in 2023.

No. overall	No. in season	Title	Directed by	Written by	Original release date
35	1	"Chapter One: The Crawl"	TBA	The Duffer Brothers	TBA

External links

• Stranger Things on Netflix
• Stranger Things at IMDb