These 4 Stranger Things episodes you need to rewatch before Season 5: Start your prep

Stranger Things Season 5 is almost here, and if you were hoping to rewatch all 34 episodes before the Hawkins gang returns… good luck. Unless you’ve secretly discovered time travel, that’s not happening. Thankfully, the Duffer Brothers just dropped a cheat sheet for busy humans who simply don’t have 30+ hours to spare.

Matt and Ross Duffer have officially revealed the four key episodes fans must revisit to be fully armed for Season 5 Volume 1. In a chat with The Hollywood Reporter, the co-creators of Netflix’s sci-fi sensation called out the chapters that lay the groundwork for the final showdown:

• Season 2 Episode 4 – “Will the Wise”

• Season 2 Episode 6 – “The Spy”

• Season 4 Episode 7 – “The Massacre at Hawkins Lab”

• Season 4 Episode 9 – “The Piggyback”

According to Matt Duffer, Season 2 is where the show’s mythology truly took shape: “That’s where we started to really plant the seeds for the mythology…” He also confirmed Season 4’s heavy relevance, especially “Massacre at Hawkins Lab.”

Ross Duffer backed it up, explaining that Season 4 Episode 7 began unraveling the Upside Down’s mysteries, including the twisted origins of Henry/Vecna and Eleven — pieces that drive Season 5. He added that the final chapter loops back to the earliest days of the series: “We really wanted this to be circular and to come full circle.”

So yes, Will Byers, the Upside Down, and Eleven’s trauma are back at the centre — and the first five minutes Netflix recently released confirms it by rewinding straight to November 12, 1983, when Will vanished in Season 1.

If you need a reminder: The Piggyback ends with the Hawkins squad waging a four-way war on Vecna across dimensions, while Eleven mind-dives into Max to fight him. Massive stakes. Massive chaos.

The cast lineup for the final season includes Millie Bobby Brown, Finn Wolfhard, Gaten Matarazzo, Caleb McLaughlin, Sadie Sink, Winona Ryder, David Harbour, Joe Keery, and more favourites who’ve aged along with our trauma.

Season 5 delivers eight episodes — The Crawl, The Vanishing of…, The Turnbow Trap, Sorcerer, Shock Jock, Escape from Camazotz, The Bridge, and The Rightside Up. And yes, this is actually the end.

Grab your Eggos. Cancel your plans. Start your four-episode warm-up now.