Gear up, nerds. The final battle against Vecna is upon us. 

In the full new Stranger Things 5 trailer, the Hawkins crew are finally back together as they brace for their toughest challenge yet. With the town under military quarantine and Vecna unleashing fresh nightmares on our heroes, the stakes aren’t just raised — they’ve been turned Upside Down in this fifth and final season. 

“I think what's unique about this season is that it starts a little bit in chaos because our heroes ultimately lost at the end of Season 4,” series co-creator Ross Duffer tells Tudum. “We usually set up their normal life and how they’re going about school, and then we introduce the supernatural element. But in this case, this season is sprinting from the start.”

Series co-creator Matt Duffer added that the gang is “not experiencing normal life. Nothing in Hawkins is normal anymore.” On lockdown, “their movement is restricted, and there are Big Brother cameras everywhere. So not only are they active — their everyday, normal lives are anything but.”

“The action is next level, the visual effects are next level, but I'm also happy to say that the emotional center remains the same,” executive producer Shawn Levy, who also directed two episodes of Season 5, noted. “And part of the magic of this show is that even as we evolve, even as the storytelling becomes more epic, it's always anchored in these characters that we love.”

And you can get a sneak peek at a few of those characters you love from Season 5 in the new photos below. 

Stranger Things 5, which premieres with Volume 1 on Nov. 26, picks up in the fall of 1987. With Hawkins scarred by the opening of the Rifts at the end of Season 4, our heroes are united by a single goal: find and kill Vecna. 

“But [Vecna] has vanished — his whereabouts and plans unknown,” reads the official synopsis. “Complicating their mission, the government has placed the town under military quarantine and intensified its hunt for Eleven, forcing her back into hiding. As the anniversary of Will’s disappearance approaches, so does a heavy, familiar dread. The final battle is looming — and with it, a darkness more powerful and more deadly than anything they’ve faced before. To end this nightmare, they’ll need everyone — the full party — standing together, one last time.”

So where do we find the crew at the start of this new season? 

Millie Bobby Brown (Eleven): “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.”

Gaten Matarazzo (Dustin): “Dustin is 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 of the previous season.”

Caleb McLaughlin (Lucas): “It's always been at 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 may not be able to figure it out, so you feel that burden on Lucas as well as everyone else. Everyone is on edge, and we’re all just trying to keep hope alive.”

Noah Schnapp (Will): “Will is back in Hawkins this season. He was out of Hawkins 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.”

Sadie Sink (Max): “We [ended] Season 4 in a tough place for Max. Her final moments were of 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.”

Finn Wolfhard (Mike): “Mike is back in leadership mode, and he’s 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.”

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The cast of Stranger Things 5 includes: Winona Ryder (Joyce Byers), David Harbour (Jim Hopper), Millie Bobby Brown (Eleven), Finn Wolfhard (Mike Wheeler), Gaten Matarazzo (Dustin Henderson), Caleb McLaughlin (Lucas Sinclair), Noah Schnapp (Will Byers), Sadie Sink (Max Mayfield), Natalia Dyer (Nancy Wheeler), Charlie Heaton (Jonathan Byers), Joe Keery (Steve Harrington), Maya Hawke (Robin Buckley), Priah Ferguson (Erica Sinclair), Brett Gelman (Murray), Jamie Campbell Bower (Vecna), Cara Buono (Karen Wheeler), Amybeth McNulty (Vickie), Nell Fisher (Holly Wheeler), Jake Connelly (Derek Turnbow), Alex Breaux (Lt. Akers), and Linda Hamilton (Dr. Kay). 

Stranger Things 5 releases with the first four episodes on Nov. 26, followed by three episodes
on Christmas, and the finale episode
on New Year’s Eve. Find out when new episodes arrive in your part of the world here.