Netflix reveals Stranger Things season 4 release dates, final season plans

After disappearing for nearly three years, Stranger Things is finally coming back for its fourth season. Season 4 will be broken into two separate volumes, with the first arriving on May 27 and the second coming out on July 1, the show’s creators announced Thursday. The announcement also included a few more tidbits about the show, including the fact that the fifth season will be the last one in the series ... but it won’t be the last story in the Stranger Things universe.

All these announcements came directly from Matt Duffer and Ross Duffer, the creators of Stranger Things, in an open letter to fans. Season 4 includes “nine scripts” and is the biggest and longest season in the show’s history so far, which is part of why the Duffers decided to split it in half, they said. One thing the letter didn’t mention is exactly how many episodes will be in each volume of the season.

The Duffers also let fans know that their plan was always to finish up the story of Eleven and the town of Hawkins, Indiana, in four or five seasons, which they assure fans will make perfect sense once they see season 4.

Finally, the Duffers teased that while the season 5 finale will mark the end of one Stranger Things story, it won’t be the end of the larger universe.

“There are still many more exciting stories to tell within the world of Stranger Things; new mysteries, new adventures, new unexpected heroes,” the Duffer brothers said.

While no plans have been announced yet, it certainly seems like this means that Stranger Things spinoffs could be on their way to Netflix in the near future. But first, we’ll have to see how things turn out in Hawkins (or Russia).