Is Stranger Things canceled? That’s what many fans of the show have been wondering ever since the fifth season was revealed to be the last. Netflix has a predilection for ending shows prematurely, so it makes sense to wonder if that’s why there won’t be a Stranger Things season six.
Did Netflix cancel Stranger Things season six?
The news that there won’t be a Stranger Things season six came just before Netflix issued a flurry of cancelations. Given how often the streaming service’s lineup changes, it’s not hard to get confused about the status of each series. Fortunately, that wasn’t the case here, and there’s no sixth season because that’s the way it was always planned.
The creators of the show, Matt and Ross Duffer, released a letter to fans on February 17, 2022 explaining why a season 6 of the show is not in the cards:
“Seven years ago, we planned out the complete story arc for ‘Strange Things.’ At the time, we predicted the story would last four to five seasons. It proved too large to tell in four, but — as you’ll see for yourselves — we are now hurtling toward our finale. Season 4 will be the penultimate season; Season 5 will be the last.”
That’s probably for the best, really. The kids on the show are quickly becoming adults. Millie Bobby Brown who plays Eleven is already 18 (and some of the “kid” actors are currently 19 and 20). A part of the problem stems from the Covid-19 pandemic having delayed the filming of the fourth season, which only finished in August 2021. With some TV magic, they’ll still look like they’re entering their first years of high school in season 4. But after that, unless there’s some kind of time skip, it may be tough to convince people that they’re not already in college.
That said, the Duffer Brothers say that there will likely be spinoffs that will take place in the Stranger Things universe. So while the story of Eleven and her D&D-playing friends may be over after the fifth season, the dark, twisted world of the Upside Down likely won’t be going anywhere; that is, unless the kids manage to destroy it somehow.
The creators of the show are also keeping to their original statement that they don’t want to hand the show off to someone else while the story for Stranger Things hasn’t been resolved yet. As for the supposed spinoffs, they’ll probably leave those for someone else.
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