‘Stranger Things’ Season 5: Everything We Know About the 2-Hour Series Finale

Stranger Things season 5 is almost over—and we’re not sure we’re ready to say goodbye.

In the summer of 2016, Netflix quietly unveiled it’s 1980s-set sci-fi series, Stranger Things. Fast-forward a few months, and it was a pop culture phenomenon: Everyone watched it, and it seemed that three out of five people at every Halloween party was dressed up as a Stranger Things character. We’ll never look at Eggo waffles the same!

It’s been 10 years since Millie Bobby Brown and co. first graced our screens as Eleven and her motley crew of world-saving misfits. In just a couple of days, the saga is about to come to a close with the two-hour season finale of the fifth and final season. (At least, until we get a spin-off, of course.) Here’s everything we know about the two-hour Stranger Things series finale.

Firstly, how many episodes of Stranger Things season 5 are there?

The season will end with eight total episodes, including a two-hour and eight minute series finale. Here are all the episode titles, as well as the run times, per Forbes.

• Episode 1: “The Crawl” (1 hour, 8 minutes)
• Episode 2: “The Vanishing of…” (54 minutes)
• Episode 3: “The Turnbow Trap” (1 hour, 6 minutes)
• Episode 4: “Sorcerer” (1 hour, 23 minutes)
• Episode 5: “Shock Jock” (1 hour and 8 minutes)
• Episode 6: “Escape From Camazotz” (1 hour and 15 minutes)
• Episode 7: “The Bridge” (1 hour and 6 minutes)
• Episode 8: “The Rightside Up” (2 hours and 8 minutes)

That’s right, the series finale is pretty much a feature-length film, though it’s still shorter than the season four finale.

When does the Stranger Things 5 finale come out?

Netflix was certainly in the holiday spirit this year. The first four episodes dropped on Thanksgiving, while the next three episodes aired on Christmas. In keeping with the festive theme, the series finale will be released on New Years Day.

To be more precise, Netflix is dropping episode eight on December 31 at 5 pm PT/8 pm ET. You will also be able to view the finale in more than 500 theaters at that same time, with screenings being held through New Years Day. Click here for your local listings.

“We’re beyond excited that fans will have the chance to experience the final episode of Stranger Things in theaters — it’s something we’ve dreamed about for years, and we’re so grateful to Ted, Bela, and everyone at Netflix for making it happen,” Matt and Ross Duffer told Tudum. “Getting to see it on the big screen, with incredible sound, picture, and a room full of fans, feels like the perfect — dare we say bitchin’ — way to celebrate the end of this adventure.”

What happened in Stranger Things 5, Volume 2 that I need to know?

You can read the full rundown of volume two here, but here are the most important parts (volume two spoilers beyond this point, obviously):

• Nancy (Natalia Dyer) and Jonathan (Charlie Heaton) broke up, but the group doesn’t know (nor did some of the fans who watched the scene). This probably won’t have a huge impact on the finale, but we’re likely going to get a reaction from Steve (Joe Keery) at some point.
• The Upside Down is not a mirror dimension, but actually a wormhole/bridge to a separate dystopian world, The Abyss, which breeds all the Demogorgons and Demodogs. Vecna’s (Jamie Campbell Bower) lair is also in the Abyss, which exists directly above Dr. Brenner’s lab in the Upside Down.
• So, to clarify there are four places we are dealing with: Hawkins, The Upside Down, The Abyss, and the world within Vecna’s mind that the kids are imagining while they’re being held captive in the Abyss. His plan is to use them to fortify his powers and merge the two worlds together.
• While Max (Sadie Sink) was able to get back to her body in volume two, Holly Wheeler (Nell Fisher) remained in the Abyss and was dragged back to Vecna’s mind palace with the rest of her classmates. She’s then thrown down the imaginary stairs by said classmates.
• Will (Noah Schnapp) came out as gay, telling the entire group that he doesn’t “like girls.” He felt it was important to open up to his friends and family in order to stop Vecna from weaponizing his fear and shame, which has been used against him in the past.
• The group breaks into the Upside Down, killing a bunch of soldiers in the process. It’s time to execute The Plan.

What’s the group’s plan to kill Vecna and save the world?

As Steve suggests, the group planned to enter the Upside Down and wait for Vecna to push the worlds close enough together for the town’s radio tower to poke through to the Abyss. Then, they are going to climb up and rescue the kids.

Meanwhile, Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown) and her sister Kali (Linnea Berthelsen) are going to fight Vecna inside his own mind from the bath inside Dr. Brenner’s lab in the Upside Down. Once they’ve succeeded, the group will leave a bomb in the Upside Down, blowing up the connection between Hawkins and the Abyss.

Who will die in the Stranger Things 5 finale?

Though Nancy and Jonathan came close, there has yet to be a shocking death like the ones we’re used to the show delivering (RIP, Barb, Bob, Billy, and Eddie). While fans are terrified heading into the season five finale—and the show has already laid the groundwork for at least four potential deaths:

• Eleven: In episode seven, Kali privately suggests she and Eleven stay in the Upside Down when the bomb goes off to stop the government from using their blood for more experiments.
• Kali: Not only has she suggested sacrificing herself, but Hopper (David Harbour) told Joyce Byers (Winona Ryder) that he plans to kill her if he suspects she’s up to anything nefarious.
• Steve: The Duffer brothers have not been shy about their initial plans to kill Steve in season one, and he’s not off the chopping block yet. “I don’t know,” Matt recently told The Hollywood Reporter of Steve’s fate. “I can’t say. It would be the next logical step. He keeps getting beaten up more and more. The only way we could take it further is death.”
• Dustin (Gaten Matarazzo): Dustin and Steve made a “you die, I die” pact in episode seven.

But don’t get too nervous. “It’s not Game of Thrones…There’s not going to be a Red Wedding situation,” Matt Duffer told THR. “I think some things happen in the finale that are very surprising, but we’re not trying to shock or upset anyone. I hope by the time people get to the end of the finale that it just feels like there’s something inevitable about what happens, and that it doesn’t feel painful but feels satisfying. We’ll see.”

Was any footage cut from Stranger Things season 5?

After the release of volume two, a faction of disappointed fans began speculating that important scenes had been cut from the final, resulting in a Change.com petition requesting the release of the “unseen footage.” As of December 29, the petition has over 330,000 signatures.

On December 28, Randy Havens—who plays the show’s affable science teacher Mr. Clarke—took to his Instagram Story to shut down those rumors. “There’s no secret Snyder cut of the show,” he wrote in all caps, per NBC News. “Please don’t believe everything some random [expletive] tells you on the internet.”

It seems Stranger Things fans will just have to make due with the two-hour footage airing on New Years Eve!

This post may be updated.