When ‘Stranger Things’ season 4 hit Netflix, one of the first things that jumped out at you was the length of the season. Not in terms of episode count, as the season, released in two parts, had 9 episodes in total, on par with the previous ones. But the length of those episodes surpassed the 90-minute mark and the season finale clocked in at 2 hours and 20 minutes.
Faster, more to the point
However the Duffer brothers have said that this will not be the case for the fifth and final season of the series. Speaking with Collider’s Steve Weintraub, they revealed that while the season will continue to be longer than the first ones, his intention is to keep it closer to ten hours.
Matt Duffer elaborated, saying:
“We thought Season 4 was going to be eight episodes, and they were going to be normal length. So if you had interviewed us before four, that’s what I would have said. I think we’re aiming for eight again. We don’t want them to be 13 hours. We’re aiming for 10+ hours or something. I think it’s going to be longer than Season 1 because we have a lot to finish, but I don’t think it’s going to be as long as Season 4.”
Based on that, Ross Duffer said that a general structural change in history would explain the difference at runtime, and added:
“This season, for example, it was two hours before our characters realized that the monster was killing people in Hawkins. Now they know what the threat is, and that will help speed it up.”