Stranger Things has just dropped its first bit of season 5 news. As part of its “Stranger Things Day” celebration, Netflix unveiled the first title for the next season of its flagship show.
Stranger Things ended on a cliffhanger last season. For those that need a refresher, the season ended with Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown) once again defeating the threat from the Upside Down. After it was revealed that Vecna/Henry/One (Jamie Campbell-Bower) was actually the mastermind behind the Upside Down all along, the party opted to bait him into a trap which proved ill-fated for Max (Sadie Sink). It actually seemed to work, only for the final scene of the season 4 to reveal that the Upside Down had breached into Hawkins on a grander scale than it had ever done before.
A picture of the first episode script was tweeted out on the official Stranger Things account. It was revealed to be titled “Chapter One: The Crawl”, and it was written by the Duffer Brothers. No other plot details were revealed about the episode or season.
The title isn’t exactly the most expressive one, which adds to the secrecy of the season, but it does hint at one of the central aspects of the show: Dungeons & Dragons. A “dungeon crawl” refers to a long session in which a party goes through arduous adventures in order to level up and gather gear. Dungeons & Dragons is a central part of the show at this point, with each monster from the Upside Down being named after a creature from the RPG.
The title may refer to the party going through a metaphorical dungeon crawl in order to ready themselves for the final battle ahead. The Duffer Brothers have already intimated that the season will be faster-paced than the last, with the action kicking off the season straight away. With only eight episodes left, the party will have a lot of trials left before they’re finally able to claim victory over the Upside Down. Meanwhile, fans will have to wait for Stranger Things season 5 to see if Eddie Munson (Joseph Quinn) makes his unlikely return.
The season is shaping up to be a dangerous one for Hawkins. The possibility of a time skip also looms; rumors have suggested that a time skip may be possible to account for the ages of the younger cast members, who have aged six years over the course of the series, despite only three years having passed in-universe. This gives the characters plenty of time to prepare themselves, off-screen, for the final battle. And it gives plenty of time for the production to prepare everything without the actors looking significantly older by the time the next season drops - at least one Stranger Things season 4 scene took over 4 years to create.
Stranger Things is streaming on Netflix.