Stranger Things’ final season is here: 3 reasons why the hit series will always be a core memory

As the fifth and final season of Stranger Things rolls out on Netflix, CNA Lifestyle revisits the reasons that the series steeped in Americana-style nostalgia has been well-loved since 2016.

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Nine years ago, when a little show called Stranger Things premiered on Netflix, few expected it to become a global sensation almost overnight.

Yet for many viewers, the science fiction series with a touch of horror ticked all the boxes of binge-worthy television that felt both unique and evergreen at once.

The show takes place in the 1980s, set in the fictional small town of Hawkins, Indiana – and seemed to arrive at the perfect moment in our nostalgia-obsessed culture. 

Nearly a decade and four seasons later, Stranger Things has proven to be the little show that could. Revisiting it now feels like an instant return to a core memory – and in many ways, the show has become one itself.

The first four episodes from the fifth and final season hit Netflix Singapore on Nov 27, the next three will air on Dec 26, and the finale on Jan 1.

BUT FIRST, A (VERY BRIEF) RECAP…  

The series kicks off with the mystery of a young boy, Will Byers, vanishing. 

Following his disappearance, the town uncovers a mystery involving secret experiments, terrifying supernatural forces and a strange girl, Eleven).

Will eventually returns, but the town of Hawkins is never quite the same again. Evil lurks under the surface, and repeatedly reappears, if only as a way to reiterate to audiences that strong friendship overcomes fear – a central theme that has carried the series.

In Season 4, audiences finally learnt that Vecna, the terrifying mastermind behind the years of horror plaguing Hawkins, was a troubled child with psychic powers, Henry Creel. 

He had been twisted by the experiments of the mysterious research scientist and former government agent, Dr Martin Brenner, and banished into an alternate dimension by Eleven. 

And that’s just the tip of the iceberg. We recommend watching Seasons 1 to 4 again, before starting on Season 5.

With Stranger Things coming to a close, CNA Lifestyle looks at three reasons why love for the pop culture phenomenon began in 2016 – and will probably carry on long after the series ends.

1. Stranger Things uses the supernatural to talk about the human

Stranger Things has always been about facing monsters – perhaps less evidently, the ones within too. 

But horror, from my observation, has a way of evoking the most basic human emotions by reminding us of our mortality.

“What’s very interesting about the show is that it’s a real portrait of how humans are. There's a lot of insecurity, a lot of fear, a lot of excitement, a lot of love. And it is expressed in a fun way in this world the Duffers built with the Upside Down,” said actor Caleb McLaughlin, who plays Lucas Sinclair, in Netflix’s press notes. 

“The supernatural world offers an escape, where it’s like, oh, it’s not real, but we’re still able to connect with people on a human level.”

Speaking to CNA Lifestyle earlier in November over Zoom, some of the cast also reflected on the mostly metaphorical monster that they felt their character had to confront throughout the series. 

“The fear that if the people you loved really knew you, then they wouldn't love you,” quipped Maya Hawke. 

She was introduced in Season 3 as Robin Buckley, the best friend and co-worker of Steve Harrington, played by Joe Keery.

Steve was initially characterised by his arrogance and jock-like demeanour, but endeared himself to audiences as a brave and loyal character as he evolved. 

The monster he had to confront? One that’s deeply relatable: “Maybe seeking approval from other people,” suggested Keery. 

Equally relatable was the monster that Nancy Wheeler confronted, it seems. 

Actress Natalia Dyer opined that her character, whose storyline began with the investigation of her friend Barb’s disappearance, had to deal with “a lot of other people telling you things, like what you can't do”, she said.

“I think there's some believing in yourself, your story, your gut, your intuition, and what you know to be right.”

2. Stranger Things takes the ups and downs of youth seriously

It’s not often that television and movies represent the trials and triumphs of adolescence. But the series seems to have nailed the nuances of this formative and vulnerable period with characters who are not just multidimensional, but unafraid to embrace their contradictions.

Speaking to CNA Lifestyle, Charlie Heaton said Jonathan Byers, his character, probably felt “pretty invisible” in Season 1 – certainly a common feeling in adolescence.

It took Nancy losing her best friend Barbs and Jonathan losing his brother Will to create a bond between the two characters.

“(Nancy) made him feel seen,” Heaton said over Zoom. “That's a pretty big monster to get over, you know, feeling comfortable (in a) social situation.”

Said creator and director Matt Duffer in Netflix’s press notes: “We wanted to recapture some of the spirit of Season 1, and so much of that season revolved around kids.” 

The way into that was to make Holly – Mike and Nancy Wheeler’s younger sister – a major character in Season 5.

Then they surrounded Holly with friends of her own, who were given their own character arc. 

“Derek started out as kind of a generic bully character, but then we found this kid, Jake Connelly, who we felt was very special. He was just so charming and hilarious that we started to gradually increase the size of his role throughout the season,” said Duffer.

“So, not unlike Steve Harrington, Derek started out as a stereotypical bully, but grew into something much more compelling, all thanks to Jake.”

Pointing to what he believed was a big reason for the show’s continued success, Keery added that the creators – Matt Duffer and Ross Duffer, professionally known as the Duffer Brothers – had taken a genre that was “known for one thing”, as well as “certain types of character tropes and arcs”, and turned it on its head.

“I know for my own character (Steve), they did that, and I think that’s why it resonated with people,” he told CNA Lifestyle over Zoom. 

“It's a show about both feeling like outcasts or excluded, and all sorts of different people feeling that way – and how through that, you can come together.”

3. Stranger Things makes deeply relatable characters

It seems that no matter where or when someone is introduced to Stranger Things, there is usually one character that they instantly resonate with. 

For actress Sadie Sink, the more people she meets who are fans of the show, the more she realises that “they always have a certain character who represents them when they were a kid or who they are now”, she said in Netflix’s press notes. 

“There's always someone who resonates with them, and I think that's what people always look for in a TV show.”

Sink plays Max Mayfield – a character introduced in Season 2 who navigates her own grief and trauma after the death of her stepbrother and a bully in the show Billy Hargrove, played by actor Dacre Montgomery.

Echoing the sentiment, Millie Bobby Brown said in Netflix’s press notes that every character is “flawed and yet beautiful and incredibly complex and difficult”.

“And if that speaks to people watching at home with their families or friends, that’s incredibly influential, maybe more than any of us might know,” said the actress behind the series’ central figure, the psychokinesis- and telepathy-wielding Eleven.

Separately, Brown told CNA Lifestyle over Zoom that she hopes audiences would remember Eleven as a “superhero”. 

Judging by the reception over the past nine years, there’s a high chance we will.

“I see it now in young people – just seeing a six- or seven-year-old dress up as Eleven and want to have superpowers and feel super powerful and empowered means the world to me,” Brown said.

“So if I can give young people a sense of strength, then that is what I want El to be known for.”

In the same Zoom interview, actor Noah Schnapp added that many people, including himself, tend to associate his character Will Byers – the boy who vanished in Season 1 – with a sense of fear or weakness.

But Schnapp hopes that people can see Will  “for his strength through that”, he said. “He’s overcome so much and pushed through that fear stronger than ever.” 

And as Stranger Things wraps up its decade-long pop culture domination, that’s a lesson worth remembering. Even, or perhaps especially, off screen.

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