Stranger Things Season 5 Will Include A Little Something From Each Of The Previous Seasons

Longtime fans of Netflix's "Stranger Things" will know that the series has undergone some pretty significant tonal shifts throughout its first four seasons. Season 1 leaned heavily into the nostalgia of 1980s horror films and coming-of-age stories, focusing on the rescue of Will Byers (Noah Schnapp) from the mysterious dimension known as the Upside Down. Season 2 vastly expanded the scale of the series, by introducing a massive new monster from the Upside Down known as the Mind Flayer, as well as uncovering a government conspiracy deep in the heart of Hawkins, Indiana. Season 3 saw the series turning into a full-blown action thriller, as our protagonists infiltrate and destroy a secret Russian lab beneath Hawkins' Starcourt Mall, and are forced to battle the Mind Flayer after it crosses into their dimension.

This tonal whiplash continues into Season 4, in which the series dives deep into the supernatural horror of the Upside Down. Indeed, much of this season plays out like an installment in the "Nightmare on Elm Street" franchise, as a mysterious figure named Vecna (Jamie Campbell Bower) begins psychically murdering teenagers across Hawkins. Even series co-creators Matt and Ross Duffer have addressed the extreme tonal shifts within "Stranger Things" — and have said that the tone of the upcoming fifth season will incorporate a little something from each of those previous seasons.

During a recent panel at FYC, showrunners and series co-creators Matt and Ross Duffer explained that the tonal shifts between each season of "Stranger Things" were completely intentional, and that the fifth season will borrow aspects of each previous season (via Variety).

"Five, the way we see it, is kind of a culmination of all the seasons, so it's sort of got a little bit from each," Ross Duffer said. "Whereas before each season was so distinctly... [Season] 3 is our big summer blockbuster season with big monsters, and [Season] 4 was the psychological horror. I think that what we're trying to do is go back to the beginning a little bit, in sort of the tone of 1."

Duffer's comments make it clear that each previous season of "Stranger Things" followed a distinct tone that juxtaposed it to the other seasons — and that the final season will attempt to establish a balance between all of these different tones by incorporating elements from every single season. Perhaps the most interesting part of Duffer's statement is his assurance that the fifth season will especially be returning to the feel of Season 1, though he later added that Season 5 will still follow the massive scale we've come to expect from Seasons 3 and 4.

Although it's currently unclear exactly which elements from prior seasons will make their way into "Stranger Things" Season 5, it's obvious that this climactic finale will include a little something for fans of every season.