Maya Hawke Says Final 'Stranger Things' Season Is 'Basically 8 Movies,' Explains Why Show Seems 'Cursed'

When it comes to Stranger Things, good things come to those who wait.

Maya Hawke revealed on Podcrushed that the fifth and final season of the Netflix series will consist of eight "very long," cinematic episodes.

"We're making basically eight movies," Hawke said.

Season 4 breached this territory in 2022 after an unusually long three-year wait. Netflix dropped seven episodes averaging 79 minutes in length, waited a month, and concluded the season with one 88-minute episode and another that ran nearly two and a half hours.

"The show has been a little bit cursed. The pandemic happened right as we were starting Season 4, the strike happened right as we were starting this season," the 25-year-old explained. "And our showrunners, Matt and Ross, are really—take a lot of responsibility. They have an amazing team of writers, but they’re very involved. And they write a lot and they're very intense and serious about the quality of the continued writing, and so it takes a long time to write each season, and it takes a long time to shoot them."

Production ended up starting in January 2024.

Hawke said it will take about a year to complete filming, which is already underway.