Netflix briefly crashes as Stranger Things 5 launches and thousands report outages

Dubai: So, Stranger Things happened. Netflix users found themselves scratching their heads and letting out frustrating breaths on Thursday morning just as the streaming giant rolled out the highly anticipated fifth and final season of Stranger Things.

Problems started cropping up around 7.40pm Eastern Time, barely 20 minutes before the new episodes were meant to go live at 8pm. DownDetector logged a sudden surge in complaints, with reports peaking at nearly 16,000 cases from frustrated viewers who'd cleared their evening specifically for the return to Hawkins.

Social media quickly lit up with annoyed fans. With fans echoing the sentiment of thousands who found themselves staring at error screens instead of the Upside Down.

The streaming service addressed the issue via email to Reuters, saying "some members briefly experienced an issue streaming on TV devices, but service recovered for all accounts within five minutes." Despite the quick fix, the timing couldn't have been worse for what Netflix lists as its third most popular English-language series worldwide.

Netflix is staggering the final season across three drops. The first four episodes landed on November 26, with runtime between 54 minutes and 1 hour 23 minutes each. Three more episodes are set to arrive on Christmas Day, and the series finale will cap things off on New Year's Eve.

For fans who'd been waiting years for this conclusion, even a five-minute delay felt like an eternity. But once service was restored, viewers finally got their chance to dive back into Hawkins' widening shadows one last time.