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Stranger Things Season 5 arrives as the final chapter, and the cast lineup plays like a reunion tour with a few new surprises added in. You’ll see all the core Hawkins survivors back for one last fight, from Eleven and Mike to Hopper, Joyce, Will and the rest of the crew.
The finale also introduces new characters who connect to the origins of the Upside Down and raise the stakes in ways earlier seasons only hinted at. Here's everything you need to know about your returning favourite characters and every fresh face you’ll meet before the story comes to its end.
Millie Bobby Brown as Eleven
Eleven enters Stranger Things Season Five as a kid shaped by trauma, power and the constant pull of the Upside Down. Taken from Terry Ives at birth, raised under Dr. Brenner’s experiments and pushed to her limits by Henry Creel, she battles monsters, closes gates, loses her abilities, gets them back and finds real family with Hopper, Mike and the party. She carries the weight of sending Henry into the Upside Down and knows their final clash is coming.
Millie Bobby Brown built Eleven’s mix of steel and softness after early roles in Intruders, Once Upon a Time in Wonderland and Grey’s Anatomy, later starring in Godzilla: King of the Monsters, the Enola Holmes series and The Electric State.
Noah Schnapp as Will Byers
Will Byers begins as the quiet heart of the group, the kid whose disappearance on November 6, 1983 forces his friends to discover the Upside Down. Even after he’s rescued, the Mind Flayer leaves a mark, using him as a spy in Stranger Things Season 2 and lingering through later seasons, especially when Vecna opens the Rifts. After time in California, Will returns to Hawkins in Season 5, sensing the darkness again and preparing for the final fight with the others.
Noah Schnapp, promoted to series regular in Season 2, also appeared in Bridge of Spies, voiced Charlie Brown in The Peanuts Movie and played Tommy in Hubie Halloween.
Finn Wolfhard as Mike Wheeler
Mike Wheeler has always been the steady centre of the party, the kid who takes charge whether he is hiding Eleven in his basement, fighting the Demogorgon or trying to hold the group together when the Mind Flayer targets Hawkins. His loyalty to Will, his messy, devoted relationship with Eleven and his role as Dungeon Master shape every season, and by Stranger Things Season 5 he is back in full leadership mode, determined to help the gang track down Vecna and end the chaos for good.
Finn Wolfhard made Mike his breakout role, later starring as Richie Tozier in It and It Chapter Two, playing Trevor in Ghostbusters: Afterlife and Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire, and voicing Candlewick in Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio.
Gaten Matarazzo as Dustin Henderson
Dustin Henderson has always been the brainy spark of the group, the kid who spots the Upside Down gate first, names monsters with Dungeons & Dragons logic and somehow turns a baby Demogorgon into a pet before realising it will kill him. His bond with Steve, his long distance romance with Suzie and his heartbreak over Eddie’s death shape his arc, and by Stranger Things Season 5 he is carrying heavy grief while still trying to keep Hawkins alive and hunt down Vecna.
Gaten Matarazzo made Dustin his signature role, later hosting Prank Encounters and voicing Sig Greebling in Lego Star Wars: Rebuild the Galaxy.
Caleb McLaughlin as Lucas Sinclair
Lucas Sinclair starts out cautious and protective, unsure of Eleven but fiercely loyal to Mike, Will and Dustin. By the time he joins the Hellfire Club and the basketball team, he is juggling two worlds while falling for Max Mayfield. He’s with her through both of Vecna’s attacks, fights off Jason Carver, and watches in horror as Max is brutally injured and left in a coma. In Stranger Things Season 5, Lucas carries that trauma, staying by her bedside and trying to hold on to hope.
Caleb McLaughlin built Lucas after early roles in Law & Order: Special Victims Unit and Shades of Blue, later appearing in The Book of Clarence, The Deliverance and Ultra City Smiths.
Sadie Sink as Max Mayfield
Max Mayfield rolls into Hawkins in Stranger Things Season 2 with a skateboard, a sharp streak of independence and enough Dig Dug skill to impress Lucas. Losing her stepbrother Billy in Season 3 leaves her shattered, which makes her the perfect target for Vecna in Season 4. She survives his attacks only because of Kate Bush’s Running Up That Hill,”but the fight leaves her blind, broken and trapped in a coma heading into Stranger Things Season 5, where her friends cling to whatever hope they can find.
Sadie Sink joined the show after American Odyssey and later starred in the Fear Street films, The Whale, O’Dessa and Taylor Swift’s All Too Well: The Short Film, with Spider-Man: Brand New Day ahead.
Natalia Dyer as Nancy Wheeler
Nancy Wheeler has fought the Upside Down since the night the Demogorgon took her best friend Barb, and every season since has only sharpened her instincts. She becomes a skilled fighter, an ace with firearms and a relentless investigator, taking on Hawkins Post corruption in Stranger Things Season 3 and leading the teenage crew through the Upside Down in Season 4, where she shoots Vecna and uncovers Henry Creel’s true identity. By Season 5, she is back in survival mode, working with the others to track Vecna before he strikes again.
Natalia Dyer joined the show after roles in Hannah Montana: The Movie and I Believe in Unicorns, later appearing in Velvet Buzzsaw, Based on a True Story, All Fun and Games and Chestnut.
Jamie Campbell Bower as Vecna
Vecna is the darkest force to ever crawl out of the Upside Down, born long before Hawkins knew monsters existed. Once Henry Creel, the first child taken under Dr. Brenner’s control, he grew up with terrifying psychic abilities and a growing hatred for humanity. Eleven shattered his implant, unintentionally unleashing him, and after she banished him to the Upside Down in 1979, he transformed into the creature orchestrating every horror from Will’s disappearance to the Season 4 murders. Though Nancy, Steve and Robin severely injure him, he escapes and tears open the Rifts across Hawkins.
Jamie Campbell Bower brings Vecna’s rage and tragedy to life after roles in Sweeney Todd, the Twilight Saga, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1, Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald, The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones, Camelot and Will.
More characters in Stranger Things Season Five
- Winona Ryder as Joyce Byers
- David Harbour as Jim Hopper
- Charlie Heaton as Jonathan Byers
- Joe Keery as Steve Harrington
- Maya Hawke as Robin Buckley
- Priah Ferguson as Erica Sinclair
- Brett Gelman as Murray Bauman
- Cara Buono as Karen Wheeler
- Amybeth McNulty as Vickie
- Nell Fisher as Holly Wheeler
- Jake Connelly as Derek
- Alex Breaux as Lt. Akers
- Linda Hamilton as Dr. Kay
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Stranger Things Season Five is rolling out like a holiday event. The story kicks off with four episodes on November 26, picks up again with three more on Christmas, and ends with a finale on New Year’s Eve. Each drop hits at 5 p.m. PST.
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