What happened at the end of Stranger Things season 4? Your ultimate refresher

Warning: spoilers ahead for Stranger Things season 4, ahead of season 5.

Can you feel goosebumps on the back of your neck? A chill in the air? The creepy chiming of a grandfather clock?

Stranger Things season 5 is finally being released from this week, bringing the finale of the Netflix phenomenon starring Millie Bobby Brown, Noah Schnapp, and David Harbour to fans across the world.

Before we venture back to Hawkins to find out the latest evil plot that Vecna (Jamie Campbell Bower) is concocting, we need to first go back to the last few episodes, to remind ourselves what happened at the end of season four.

Strap in, brochachos – it’s going to be one hell of a ride.

When is Stranger Things season 5 released and at what time?

It’s been a long time coming, but the fifth and final season of Stranger Things is finally coming this week.

Well, the first part of it is.

Stranger Things season five volume one, which consists of four episodes, is dropping on Thursday, November 27, in the UK from 1am on Netflix.

Volume two will be arriving on Boxing Day in the UK, Friday, November 26, which will feature three more episodes.

Then at last, the final ever episode of Stranger Things – which is believed to boast a feature-length run time of two hours – will arrive on New Year’s Day in the UK for volume three.

What happened at the end of Stranger Things season 4 and who dies?

At the end of Stranger Things season four, Vecna – who was born Henry Creel – finally manages to achieve an aim that he’s been cooking up for a very long time, creating a rip between Hawkins and the Upside Down.

Vecna does this by carrying out four brutal murders, each of which creates a gate into the Upside Down. When linked together, the gates cause the ground to literally rip apart, bridging the gap between Hawkins and an otherworldly dimension.

Henry’s targets are all people whom he’s deemed vulnerable, including cheerleader Chrissy (Grace Van Dien), student journalist Fred (Logan Riley Bruner), and basketball jock Patrick (Myles Truitt).

We’ll never be able to erase the searing sight of their gruesome deaths from our minds.

Max (Sadie Sink), his fourth victim, manages to escape his telepathic clutches earlier in the season thanks to her friends using her favourite song, Kate Bush’s Running Up That Hill, to create a window in the Upside Down that she can escape through when she runs for her life.

Cue Running Up That Hill becoming a survival anthem for the ages, almost four decades after it was originally released.

Later on, the gang sets up a trap to try and ensnare Vecna, which involves using Max as bait.

Having previously been ashamed of himself for running from Chrissy’s murder, Hellfire Club leader Eddie (Joseph Quinn) decides to stand up to evil in the Upside Down by creating a diversion during the trap, distracting the monstrous Demobats in the Upside Down.

Sadly, this results in the devastating death of the electric guitar hero, who quickly became a fan-favourite character after his season four introduction.

During the trap to catch Vecna, Max’s cassette tape that’s playing Running Up That Hill is broken during a fight between Lucas and Jason (Mason Dye), Chrissy’s grieving but downright wicked boyfriend.

When this happens, it seems as though Vecna might finally manage to kill Max. She levitates in the air once again, her bones breaking, her eyes unseeing, and she is technically killed, causing a fourth and final gate to tear open.

However, this isn’t the end for Mad Max. Using her newly restored superhuman abilities, Eleven manages to bring Max back to life, albeit in a comatose state, and Vecna is sent back into the Upside Down.

While his fate is unknown to the protagonists, fans know that he’s still lurking in the shadows.

By the end of season four, the gang is all reunited in Hawkins. Joyce (Winona Ryder) and Hopper (David) are back from Russia – where the former police sheriff had been imprisoned while presumed dead – and are finally an item, having confessed their feelings for one another.

Jonathan (Charlie Heaton), Will (Noah) and Eleven have returned from California with Mike (Finn Wolfhard) in tow, after the Byers and Eleven relocated there at the end of season three.

Meanwhile, everyone else in the suburban Indiana town is waiting to find out what repercussions Vecna’s actions will have on their lives.

What will happen in Stranger Things season 5?

Following the events of Stranger Things season four, ‘nothing in Hawkins is normal anymore’, co-creator Matt Duffer revealed.

Teasing what fans can expect from season five, he shared: ‘Their movement is restricted, and there are Big Brother cameras everywhere. So not only are they active — their everyday, normal lives are anything but.’

His brother and filmmaking partner Ross Duffer referenced a 25-page ‘mythology document’ that they wrote for Netflix about Stranger Things  when season one was released nine years ago.

‘The last remaining questions that are answered in that document, we’ve punted a couple of those to have some big reveals in season five,’ he said. 

‘And that’s really going to affect what season five is about.’

Speaking to Metro, Matt revealed that the final episode of Stranger Things was ‘hard to film’ on a ‘sheer, gut-punch emotional level’.

‘It had the most logistically challenging things we’ve ever put on camera, and also the dramatic portion of it was really hard, because it’s saying goodbye to these characters that we came up with 10 years ago, and more than that, the actors who played them,’ he recalled.

‘As you’re reaching the end of filming, you’re going, “This is the last close-up of Dustin. This is the last close-up of Eleven,” or whatnot. It was harder than I thought it was going to be. We knew it was going to be hard, but it was even harder than we thought.’

Ross emphasised to Metro how the ‘intensity’ of Stranger Things has increased since season one, stating: ‘In terms of horror, that really ups the ante this year.’

Who will be in Stranger Things season 5?

The majority of the cast will be back for Stranger Things season five.

To see out the final chapter of the story created by the Duffer Brothers, Millie is back as the superpowered Eleven, also known as El or Jane.

The gang is reunited – Noah as Will, Finn as Mike, Caleb McLaughlin as Lucas, and Gaten Matarazzo as Dustin – while the older kids are also part of the team – Natalie Dyer as Nancy, Joe Keery as Steve, Charlie as Jonathan, and Maya Hawke as Robin.

Winona Ryder returns as Joyce, with David as Hopper, while Brett Gelman returns as their ally Murray.

Priah Ferguson reprises her role as Lucas’ tenacious younger sister Erica, now a firm part of the crew, while Jamie remains as the fearsome Vecna.

Cara Buono is back as the Wheelers’ mother, Karen, alongside Joe Chrest as their father, Ted, while Sherman Augustus also returns as the merciless military man Lieutenant Colonel Jack Sullivan.

There are also some new notable additions to the cast, including Terminator legend Linda Hamilton as Dr Kay, and Nell Fisher as the newly recast Holly Wheeler, the youngest child of the family.

Stranger Things season 5 volume 1 premieres on Thursday November 27 on Netflix.

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