Stranger Things star gives update on season 5 release date - and why it's taking so long

Stranger Things actress Maya Hawke has spoken out about why the 'cursed' fifth season of the hit sci-fi drama is taking so long.

The star plays Robin Buckley in the Duffer Brother's series, which debuted in 2016. Its most recent fourth season dropped in July 2022, meaning fans have already waited two years for its fifth and final instalment.

It stars Millie Bobby Brown as Eleven and follows a group of young friends who unravel a series of supernatural mysteries in 1980s Indiana. In January this year, it was confirmed that season five had finally gone into production.

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Since then, fans have been eager to find as many updates as possible as they patiently wait for more news. Maya recently appeared on You star Penn Badgley's Podcrushed podcast to tease more on what's to come.

She described the upcoming Stranger Things series as 'a little bit cursed' in the wake of the pandemic, and with the SAG-AFTRA strike starting just as production began for the final season.

But she explained: "Our showrunners, Matt and Ross [Duffer], take a lot of responsibility. They're very intense about the quality of the continued writing. It takes a long time to write each season, and it takes a long time to shoot them - we're basically making eight movies. The episodes are very long."

Maya confirmed that there will be eight episodes in the season and that it takes a year to shoot them all. This means fans will have to continue being patient, with a late 2025 release date looking to be the case - however this is yet to be confirmed.

In a chat with The Guardian, showrunner Matt Duffer said of the upcoming series: "It’s the biggest it’s ever been in terms of scale, but it has been really fun, because everyone’s back together in Hawkins: the boys and Eleven interacting more in line with how it was in season one.

"And, yes, there may be spin-offs, but the story of Eleven and Dustin and Lucas and Hopper, their stories are done here. That’s it."

All four seasons of Stranger Things are available to stream now on Netflix.