Final season of one of Netflix’s biggest TV shows ever ‘cost almost $500,000,000’

Stranger Things’ final season is reportedly set to cost more to make than Marvel blockbuster Avengers: Endgame.

Netflix’s wildly popular sci-fi series is coming to an end later this year with its fifth instalment following the explosive end of series 4.

Season 5 will release in three parts – four episodes (Volume One) on November 26, 2025, followed by three episodes (Volume Two) on December 25, and then one final episode (Volume Three) on December 31.

And it sounds like it could be the most dramatic and extravagant yet, with a budget far surpassing its previous seasons and some of the world’s biggest films.

According to Dexerto, the final season of Stranger Things has cost $460million (£345m) to make, averaging at around $50 to $60m (£37.5m to £45m) per episode.

This places it above the most popular film in Marvel’s Avengers series, which cost $356m (£266m) to make.

Currently, the most expensive TV show ever made is Prime Video’s The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, at $465m (£348m).

It is set to cost Netflix more than $200m (£149m) more than season 2, which reportedly had a budget of roughly $270m (£202m).

It has also been reported that the episodes in season 5 will be feature-length, running between 90 and 120 minutes, as opposed to the standard 45-minute to 60-minute episodes.

The news garnered a mixed reaction from fans, with some excited to be getting plenty of time in the Upside Down before the show ends, while others lamented how much of a ‘commitment’ each episode will be.

‘Nobody asked for this. Hurry tf up,’ MusicMan22 wrote on X, while Samworkman added ‘Never has a show appreciated the viewer’s time less.’

PFGaming said: ‘The Duffer brothers need to get out of TV and into movies. This is NOT okay for television between the duration of the episodes and the duration of time between seasons.’

Many said that because of the time between season – with season 4 airing in 2022 – they ‘no longer cared how the show ends.’

Alex J asked: ‘Can they do a 90-120 minute episode that just recaps the previous seasons of the show. It’s been like 10 years. I have absolutely no clue what happened last. I don’t even remember what the show is about.’

While the Duffer brothers are keeping tight-lipped about the final season’s plot and what to expect, the show did release a brief teaser trailer earlier this year.

This gave viewers their first look at all the major players, including Millie Bobby Brown as Eleven, Winona Ryder as Joyce, Maya Hawke as Robin, and Natalia Dyer as Nancy.

As the trailer continues, we’re also treated to a glimpse of Noah Schnapp as Will Byers, Finn Wolfhard as Mike Wheeler, Caleb McLaughlin as Lucas and Sadie Sink as the ill-fated Max, who is still in a coma after the events of last season.

Season 4 ended with Vecna seriously injured but alive after his faceoff with Eleven, and the town of Hawkins torn in two after the gate to the Upside Down was opened.

Stranger Things season five will return to Netflix in November 2025. The first four seasons are now available to stream.

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