10 Things We're Going To Miss When Stranger Things Finally Ends

Netflix’s Stranger Things has consistently ranked among the most successful and beloved shows of the past few years, and the impending conclusion to the series has many audiences reflecting on the project’s long-lasting legacy. The show constantly pushed boundaries and defied expectations with its high-stakes, high-reward storytelling as the writers dove deeper and deeper into this fascinating world of fantasy and horror. With some of Stranger Things’ best episodes, the show completely revolutionized how audiences interact with episodic television.

Stranger Things’ fifth season will officially be its last, and the show will surely go out in the most explosive way possible. The cliffhanger ending of Stranger Things season 4 set up plenty of exciting and dangerous ideas for the characters to tackle in the upcoming episodes, which should hopefully lead to a satisfying and fulfilling conclusion that audiences can be happy with. The absence of Stranger Things will leave a massive hole in the world of streaming television, but the changes that it’s made to the entire landscape will be felt for a long time.

10 Seeing The Stranger Things Cast As Young Kids

The Cast Were Very Young When The Show Started

One of the most endearing features of Stranger Things’ earlier seasons was the young cast, which the show has tried to cling onto ever since. It’s the core aspect of the show that sets it apart from the competition: despite the dark themes, evident horror, and creepy atmosphere, the show managed to maintain a family-friendly tone thanks to the young cast. They’re the beating heart of the show, and those first seasons did a great job of exploiting their youth to make the stakes of the story even more tangible.

Related

Stranger Things Season 5’s Checklist: 10 Things That Need To Happen Before The Show Ends

With Stranger Things ending with its fifth season, there are a couple of things that need to happen for the show to have a satisfying ending.

While the cast are older now, their characters are still much younger than they appear. It’s likely that Stranger Things season 5 will include a time jump to account for all the aging that’s happened off-screen, and audiences will have to say goodbye to these younger versions of the characters forever. It’s not common for a show with such young actors to find success with adults too, but Stranger Things broke the mold with its unique blend of horror and comedy.

9 Stranger Things’ Catchy Theme Song

The Synth-Pop Theme Has Become Iconic

The ‘80s aesthetic is a core element of Stranger Things, and this manifests most strongly in the catchy, synth-pop theme song that plays at the beginning of each episode. Music plays a huge role in the show, setting the scene from the first note with its clear nostalgia for the ‘80s. But despite the upbeat nature of the music, there’s also a very tense undertone that keeps the audience on their toes – the notes are low and ominous, which makes for an interesting contrast from the outset.

And it’s not just the title music that’s memorable in Stranger Things: the show has plenty of other tunes that became recurring motifs throughout the seasons, harking back to earlier episodes and intentionally reminding audiences of things that have already happened. The show knows exactly how to use music to its own benefit, not just for creating atmosphere and tension, but also for connecting certain scenes and characters through unique notes. Stranger Things’ best characters all have their own pieces of music associated with them, which gives them another dimension of narrative complexity.

8 The Nostalgic ‘80s Vibe

The Time Setting Is Hugely Important To The Show

Stranger Things is entrenched in the ‘80s – in fact, the show was partially responsible for a huge resurgence in ‘80s style that popped up in the late 2010s. Audiences were wearing Stranger Things costumes for Halloween, certain ‘80s pop songs were making their way back up the charts, and the impact of Stranger Things’ aesthetic was felt in plenty of other films and TV shows. The ‘80s were suddenly cool again, and much of that came down to Stranger Things’ success.

While it’s true that Stranger Things has some excellent writing and outstanding performances, the show undeniably wouldn’t have been as successful as it’s become without its dedication to the ‘80s vibe. The uncanny blend of neon colors, poppy music, and bright fashion with dark, macabre elements of horror is exactly what makes Stranger Things stand out, and very few projects have managed to capture that in the years since.

7 The Excellent Chemistry Of The Stranger Things Cast

The Actors Grew Up Together

The key to any long-running TV show is the chemistry between the cast – if the actors don’t get along behind the scenes, it’s hard to make their characters get along on-screen. Luckily, Stranger Things didn’t have that problem. The Stranger Things cast members have all been repeatedly vocal about the off-screen friendships, many of which have been going on since the very beginning of the show. These young actors have grown up together, working the same job throughout their entire teenage years – it’s no wonder they feel such a clear attachment to each other.

And this attachment really shines through in the show. You can feel the affection that these actors have for each other, and it makes their on-screen friendships feel incredibly real and authentic. Despite certain disagreements and short-lived rivalries, these characters all care for each other deeply, and this is what allows the emotional core of the show to thrive.

6 Stranger Things’ Expensive Practical Effects

The Show Undeniably Looks Excellent

Stranger Things has been an enormous commercial success, and this has allowed Netflix to spend record-breaking amounts of money on the project. The show’s budget is one of the highest ever recorded on the streaming service, and much of this goes towards the practical (and special) effects. Even those who aren’t interested in the show can admit that it looks incredible, with characters like Vecna, the Demogorgons, and the Mind Flayer barely standing out from the real-life figures.

Many of Stranger Things’ best antagonists have been partly (or entirely) created using practical effects, which is a marked difference from the CGI monsters that audiences are used to seeing in many Hollywood blockbusters. The threats feel much more real and tangible thanks to the effort that’s put into these costumes and props, immediately separating Stranger Things from most other horror properties.

5 The Feature-Length Episodes of Stranger Things’ Later Seasons

Season 4’s Episodes Reached 90 Minutes In Length

Stranger Things was innovative in so many ways: from the visual effects to the unique blending of genres, the show was constantly breaking tradition and forging its own path. And in the later seasons of the show, Stranger Things made another big change that’s since caught on with other prestigious TV shows: feature-length episodes. Most of the stories in Stranger Things’ fourth season were pushing 90 minutes, which is an obvious consequence of the streaming age.

These kinds of episode lengths never would have been possible in the age of cable television, but Netflix decided to take a calculated risk with Stranger Things and it quickly paid off. The episodes were able to tell more self-contained, complex stories that gradually built up the story rather than rushing head-first toward the explosive finales. This slower pace was divisive at first, but proved fruitful when Stranger Things season 4 was among the show’s most-watched seasons.

4 Stranger Things’ Bingeable Storytelling

The Show Was Among The First To Push For Same-Day Release

Although it’s much more common today for streaming shows to drop every single episode at once, rather than week-by-week, Stranger Things was arguably the pioneer of this format. Weekly episodes were still the norm in 2016, when the first season was released, but the show decided to change things up in order to market itself as a “bingeable” series. This turned out to be a massive success, as the show essentially blew up overnight. Everybody was talking about it, and this wouldn’t have been possible with a more traditional release format.

In the years since Stranger Things’ success, many other shows have decided to follow suit. This release format has become normal on most streaming services, with plenty of shows releasing overnight and benefiting from a stronger (albeit shorter) period of success and discussion. This is something that Stranger Things has essentially mastered, including plenty of exciting cliffhangers between seasons to keep the audience talking about it for months after release.

3 The Long-Running Mysteries

Stranger Things Keeps Certain Details Secret From The Audience

Another reason that Stranger Things has managed to become so successful over the years is thanks to its long-running mysteries that spread across seasons. While each season manages to tell a self-contained story that resolves in the finale and keeps audiences satisfied, there are several questions and mysteries that don’t wrap themselves up so neatly. This is something that TV shows have been doing for a long time, but Stranger Things has some excellent examples.

From the mystery behind Henry Creel’s/Vecna’s identity to the genesis of the Upside-Down, there are certain questions that fans had to wait a long, long time to finally get the answers to. This kept viewers coming back time after time, and ensured that Stranger Things remained relevant long after the overnight success of the first season.

2 Stranger Things’ Many Well-Rounded Villains

The Show Has Plenty Of Iconic Antagonists

Although Stranger Things’ fourth season revealed Vecna as the mastermind behind all the chaos that’s been happening in Hawkins, it took a long time for Eleven and her friends to figure out which of the show’s many villains was actually in charge. Each season managed to raise the stakes even higher than the last, introducing more powerful villains that landed higher and higher up the chain of command.

With any long-running show, it’s important that each season is bigger and bolder than the last – and that’s always been true with Stranger Things. The characters manage to get themselves into increasingly dangerous situations with more powerful villains, but this never reduces the impact of the villains that came before. The Demogorgon may not be as powerful as Vecna or the Mind Flayer, but they’re frightening all the same.

1 Stranger Things’ Immense Pop Culture Relevance

Everybody Is Talking About Netflix’s Huge Hit

Stranger Things has proven itself to be one of Netflix’s biggest-ever shows, and it’s this pop culture relevance that audiences are going to miss the most about the show. For a long time, it felt like everybody in the world was watching it – it was something to discuss with colleagues, theorize about with friends, and recommend to those very few who weren’t already hooked.

While Netflix has no shortage of great shows that can fill the void left behind by Stranger Things, that void will be felt nevertheless. It was among the first shows to really take off in the streaming age, gathering a huge fan base and cementing its place in the pop culture zeitgeist forever. This isn’t easily achieved, and it’s hard to imagine that Netflix will find its ‘next’ Stranger Things quite so easily.

Stranger Things

The Stranger Things franchise is a cultural phenomenon that blends supernatural horror with nostalgic 1980s references. Created by the Duffer Brothers, the series follows the residents of Hawkins, Indiana, as they face the terrifying realities of a parallel dimension known as the Upside Down. Since its debut in 2016, Stranger Things has become one of Netflix’s most popular and critically acclaimed series, spawning multiple spin-offs and expansions, including an animated series and a stage play.

Created by

Matt Duffer , Ross Duffer

First Episode Air Date

July 15, 2016

Character(s)

Eleven , Mike Wheeler , Jim Hopper , Joyce Byers , Will Byers , Dustin Henderson , Lucas Sinclair , Max Mayfield , Steve Harrington , Robin Buckley , Vecna

Video Game(s)

Stranger Things: 1984