Stranger Things season 4 hasn’t finished airing yet, with the final two episodes arriving in July to wrap things up for the scattered Hawkins gang.
Still, fans are already looking ahead to the sci-fi smash hit’s fifth and final season – the Duffer brothers have suggested it could feature a time jump to explain why the young protagonists don’t look so young anymore, and there are already rumblings of Stranger Things spin-offs to follow after this chapter of Hawkins history is closed.
One thing that likely won’t change is its release model. Despite Netflix experimenting with releasing seasons in two parts – including Stranger Things‘ current season – the streamer won’t be moving the series to a weekly release schedule.
Speaking on a panel on HRTS Presidents Luncheon (via Variety), Netflix boss Peter Friedlander said he thought it would be “disappointing” for fans if Stranger Things moved to a weekly episodic release – but should it?
“For the fans of Stranger Things, [binging] is how they’ve been watching that show, and I think to change that on them would be disappointing,” Friedlander said.
“To not give them exactly what they’ve been expecting — which is Stranger Things is a seasonal experience, they go through that with them — I think that it would be an abrupt change for the member.”
He added: “We fundamentally believe that we want to give our members the choice in how they view. And so giving them that option on these scripted series to watch as much as they want to watch when they watch it, is still fundamental to what we want to provide.
“And so when you see something like a batched season with Stranger Things, this is our attempt at making sure we can get shows out quicker to the members.”
The Netflix exec said that the current split still gave “multiple-episodic-viewing experiences” rather than a standalone episode release, which “honours our relationship with our members and what their expectations are”.
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It certainly sounds like Stranger Things season 5 will arrive if not all at once, in two big batches at least. But is that how fans would prefer to watch it?
Season 4’s episodes featured runtimes much longer than previous runs, with the upcoming final clocking in at two-and-a-half hours. Note that these longer run times haven’t stopped fans from breaking viewing records the weekend the season landed.
So, would you rather a binge session for the final, or would you prefer a weekly release instead? Vote below.
Stranger Things 4 part 1 is currently streaming on Netflix, with more coming on July 1st. Stranger Things seasons 1-3 are also available on Netflix.
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