When we last reported on the final season of Netflix’s smash hit series “Stranger Things,” production was targeting a start date of January 8, 2024. They met their target date; Netflix announced this morning that “Stranger Things 5” has officially begun production.

Netflix shared a behind the scenes image of the assembled cast accompanying the announcement, below.

“Stranger Things 5” will be the FINAL season of Netflix‘s hit series, and Netflix recently announced during their TUDUM event that Terminator icon Linda Hamilton will star.

The director behind last year’s Hulu hit Prey, Dan Trachtenberg (10 Cloverfield Lane) is headed to the Upside Down to direct an episode of “Stranger Things 5,” we also learned.

The Season 4 finale set the stage for a final season that will bring the action entirely back to Hawkins, with the rift between Hawkins and the Upside Down now completely opened up by the monster behind it all, Vecna. When can you expect Season 5 to premiere? Likely 2025.

Of course, just because the main series is coming to an end doesn’t mean future “Stranger Things” projects aren’t on the way. Could we be seeing spinoff shows in the future?

The Duffer Brothers tease, “There are still many more exciting stories to tell within the world of Stranger Things; new mysteries, new adventures, new unexpected heroes.”

Created by the Duffer Brothers, “Stranger Things” debuted in July 2016 and quickly became one of Netflix’s most popular television series ever with its fourth season alone amassing over 140.7 Million views globally. Rooted in 80’s nostalgia, it has sparked a resurgence of pop culture items from the decade with every new season, including Eggo waffles and New Coke. Most recently, the series breathed new life into Kate Bush’s track “Running Up That Hill” with the song soaring in streams on Spotify and entering the top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100 chart for the first time in its 38-year history. The series has also garnered over 70 awards worldwide including Emmys and the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series, and has been nominated for over 230 awards.

For starters, an animated series has already been confirmed. Stranger Things: The First Shadow live on stage in London’s West End along is also set to expand the universe, along with the untitled animated spinoff series.

STRANGER THINGS. (L to R) Noah Schnapp, Millie Bobby Brown, David Harbour, Winona Ryder, Cara Buono, Joe Keery, Amybeth McNulty, Charlie Heaton, Brett Gelman, Maya Hawke, Natalia Dyer, Jamie Campbell Bower, Priah Ferguson, Linda Hamilton, Gaten Matarazzo, Caleb McLaughlin, Ross Duffer, Matt Duffer, Finn Wolfhard, and Sadie Sink of STRANGER THINGS. Cr. Atsushi Nishijima/Netflix © 2024