Popverse's top stories

• Welcome to 2026! Here's how Popverse will continue to be your pop culture tour guide & bestie
• Even though he was the Punisher, people still remember Thomas Jane for his cameo on Arrested Development
• Star Wars will return in 2027 with a Stranger Things inspired makeover, teases Starfighter director

Mild spoilers for Stranger Things season 5 follow.

All that waiting is over, Stranger Things fan, so now what? After the show's season 5 finale aired on New Year's Eve 2025, that's been the question on more than a few lips and an absolute plethora of googles. We already know that the Duffer Brothers and Netflix are working on both an animated in-betweequel (Tales form '85) and a Stranger Things spinoff, but what would it take to return to Hawkins, IN? Or more importantly, what would it take to return to its much-beloved residents?

Matt Duffer has an answer.

Half of the creative team behind Netflix's sci-fi mega-hit joined his brother Ross on Josh Horowitz's Happy Sad Confused podcast for what was, in a way, a series postmortem. Click the link above to hear the Brothers Duff share some behind-the-scenes thoughts on the ending, but if you want to hear them look toward a potential future, head to about the 48:35 mark. 

Just be aware - the future they're talking about isn't just potential... it's far, far off.

"We spent 10 years of our lives on this," said Duffer when asked about the potential of seeing a return to Hawkins in the Stranger Things future, "and it’s a coming of age story. And if it’s not a coming of age story, what is it?"

Point taken, Matt. Of the many things that the Stranger Things gang did over the course of nine years, probably the biggest thing was "came of age." (Well, that and "had nosebleeds.") 

"The only way it could work is," Duffer continued, "We’d have to wait a really long time until our cast is so old that they would have kids that are around 12 year old. Like, you know, like the Goonies spin-off. That is the only version that could possibly work."

Like I said - far, far off. We left most of Hawkins' young assembly between the ages of, what, 17-25? Even if the adult versions of the older characters (thin about that beach toast) had kids early, it would still be a decade or so before they have kids that are the same age as their little siblings were when the show started.

Still, I guess hoping is half the battle, right?

Stranger Things is streaming (in full) on Netflix now.

As we all collectively wait for Stranger Things season 5, here's the keys to getting ready:

• How to watch Stranger Things in chronological or release order
• Getting to know the Stranger Things season 5 cast
• There needs to be more death in Stranger Things, says co-star Gaten Matarazzo
• The Stranger Things time jump between season 4 and 5 has been confirmed by Netflix - and it raises some serious questions
• "They land the plane," David Harbour describes the Stranger Things finale, which he calls its "best episode"