Stranger Things 5: The Big, Booming, Exploding Trailer Of Pain

We put our estimate on the big trailer for Stranger Things 5 showing up on November 6, a day Netflix has declared in the past to be “Stranger Things Day.” That, or Halloween. We weren’t expecting the day BEFORE Halloween; just some Thursday. How random. But here it is.

This is the first sneak peek where you can really see where the budget went! Lots of big explosions, Demos tearing soldiers apart, Upside Down thunderstorms, it’s a real tour-de-force of blue clouds and pink lightning. Sure hope our heroes can turn things around, cause wow, everyone looks miserable. Multiple actors are seen crying; no one looks like they have any hope left. And poor Will. Poor, poor Will.

This trailer’s release was accompanied by quotes from all the major actors in the series. Here’s what they had to say about the state of their characters going in, along with my thoughts:

“Eleven is in training mode. She’s in a warrior state, which is the first time you see Eleven like that at the beginning of a season. As for her mindset, all she is thinking about is protecting her friends. Her friends are her chosen family, so she will do whatever it takes to protect them and we’re going to see that.” – Millie Bobby Brown (Eleven)

It’s going to be interesting how, even with the advantage of superpowers, El manages to get around the high-security state of her hometown and have regular meet-ups with her allies (whom they would KNOW are her allies). It doesn’t feel like there’s much wiggle room here, especially with a Seal Team Six called the Wolf Pack roaming around looking for specifically her. There could be some “cheats” in the logic. Or maybe they’re just really bad at this.

“Dustin is kind of in a bit of a funk. I think everybody probably is considering the state that Hawkins is in, and it’s getting a little bit harder for the gang to keep all the pieces together. We’re all dealing with the day-to-day issues of what it is to try to keep everybody safe and figure out where Vecna is, while having a lot of unpacked baggage from the events in the previous season.” – Gaten Matarazzo (Dustin)

No kidding he’s funky. Dustin is usually the jolly one, but he looked mad and set upon even in the earlier trailers that hid how sad everyone else was. He formed a bond with Eddie Munson and the world served Eddie a turd sandwich, and as this season opens he’s still wearing the Hellfire Club shirt in Eddie’s memory — which gets him hassled by clueless jocks.

“It’s always been in the beginning of a season that everything is all good, but this is the first season we come into it and the stakes are the same as where we left off. We haven’t defeated Vecna and the problem is still there. We’re still trying to figure it out and we may not be able to figure it out, so you feel that burden on Lucas as well as everyone else on the show. Everyone is on edge and we’re all just trying to keep hope alive.” – Caleb McLaughlin (Lucas)

I take it Lucas isn’t doing anything specific this year.

“Will is back in Hawkins this season. He was out of Hawkins for the last season, so now we’re seeing the effects of him being back in that realm. We kind of hit the ground running right away this season, which is really exciting and not how we’ve started any other season. Everyone is all in one place and we all have the same objective.” – Noah Schnapp (Will)

You can feel there’s a lede Noah is burying here; there’s a Vecna In The Room he’s not addressing. The trailer’s climactic moment makes clear he and Henry are going to be roommates and there’s probably a spoiler-y reason why.

“We [ended] Season 4 in a tough place for Max. Her final moments were her in a hospital bed. Eleven was searching for her in the void and couldn’t find her, so Max is definitely not the way she once was. There’s still a small glimmer of hope, though, and her friends are hanging on to that.” – Sadie Sink (Max)

If it felt like Noah was hiding something, Sadie definitely is. She’s the biggest question mark of the upcoming season. When will she wake up and what will she wake up AS? There was one shot in the trailer of Lucas getting cornered in an elevator while a Demo lunged directly for her limp body but….Max is not bowing out in that messy a fashion. It’s the old “somebody else comes in at the last second” bit, but who?

“Mike is back in leadership mode, and he’s kind of taken it more upon himself to help plan out these missions, and he and the whole gang are devoted to finding Vecna and ending this.” – Finn Wolfhard (Mike)

OK, thanks, Finn. You sound like you’re eager to get back to a video game.

Ready or not, here it comes….Stranger Things 5 debuts half of itself on November 26 at 5 PM, followed by three more episodes on Christmas at 5 and then the finale on New Year’s Eve. PLEASE DON’T DIE EL.