STRANGER THINGS: SEASON 5. (L to R) Noah Schnapp as Will Byers, Finn Wolfhard as Mike Wheeler, and Winona Ryder as Joyce Byers in Stranger Things: Season 5. Cr. COURTESY OF NETFLIX © 2025
The wait is almost over, and thanks to a fresh update from co-creator Ross Duffer, we now know exactly how much time we have left in Hawkins. Following the recent confirmation of the massive series finale runtime, Duffer took to Instagram to unveil the official lengths for the middle chapter of the final season—Volume 2.
While fans are still reeling from the events of Volume 1 (which dropped November 26), all eyes are now on the Christmas Day release of episodes 5, 6, and 7. Duffer’s post confirms that the final season isn’t slowing down, delivering three substantial hour-plus episodes leading into the movie-length finale.
Volume 2 & Finale Runtimes Revealed
According to Ross Duffer’s Instagram post, here is the official breakdown for the final batch of episodes:
- Episode 5: Shock Jock – 1 hr 8 mins
- Episode 6: Escape from Camazotz – 1 hr 15 mins
- Episode 7: The Bridge – 1 hr 6 mins
- Episode 8: The Rightside Up (Series Finale): 2 hrs 8 mins
As a reminder on the runtimes of prior episodes:
- Episode 1: The Crawl – 1 hour and 8 minutes
- Episode 2: The Vanishing of Holly Wheeler – 54 minutes
- Episode 3: The Turnbow Trap – 1 hour and 6 minutes
- Episode 4: Sorcerer – 1 hour and 23 minutes
These runtimes come around two weeks after Ross Duffer had confirmed all post-production work on volume 2 had completed, providing the following tease about what to expect from each:
““Shock Jock” picks up moments after the end of “Sorcerer”. Frank Darabont is back, but he flexes very different muscles on this one than he did on “Turnbow Trap”— it’s far darker, and far scarier.
“Escape from Camazotz” is Shawn Levy’s return to the director’s chair. It’s the biggest episode of the three— and the performances make us cry every time we watch it.
“The Bridge”… we co-directed this one with Shawn. Don’t want to say too much, but aside from the finale, it’s probably the most emotional chapter of the season.”
These runtimes confirm that Stranger Things is sticking to its “cinematic” promise. Episode 6, clocking in at 1 hour and 15 minutes, stands out as a particularly beefy installment for the mid-season block.
These runtimes also differ slightly from the fake ones that have been spread on social media in recent days, weeks, and months. Most of those counterfeit runtimes can be sourced directly from Netflix Updates and Netflix Fanatics, two social media pages operated by Gamurs Group from India and Australia.
With these runtimes, the remaining four episodes (5 through 8) total 5 hours and 37 minutes. The total runtime for all of season 5 is 10 hours and 8 minutes. That makes season 5 shorter than season 4 (13 hours and 2 minutes) but longer than season 3 (7 hours and 31 minutes). Those numbers are sourced from the minutes on the Netflix app.
Here’s the runtime for each season:
- Season 1: 406 minutes (6 hours and 46 minutes)
- Season 2: 471 minutes (7 hours and 51 minutes)
- Season 3: 451 minutes (7 hours and 31 minutes)
- Season 4: 782 minutes (13 hours and 2 minutes)
- Season 5: 608 minutes (10 hours and 8 minutes)
This brings the total runtime for all five seasons is 45 hours and 18 minutes.
Countdown to Stranger Things 5
Elsewhere in Stranger Things news, we got brand new first looks for Tales from ’85 due out in Spring 2026 with its first season. The Duffer Brothers also appeared last week on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, talking about the show’s finale season and what’s still to come.
Rating: TV-14
