The wait for new episodes may go on, but Netflix is still happy to celebrate the fifth anniversary of Stranger Things, the in-house phenomenon that arguably put the platform’s lineup of original content on the map. House of Cards may have been the first streaming drama to score serious awards season glory, but it was the eerie adventures in Hawkins that saw Netflix finally deliver a show that seized the zeitgeist and captured the imagination of audiences around the world.
Stranger Things is now viewed as arguably the biggest show on any streaming service, and definitely Netflix’s marquee property, even though we haven’t seen any new content in almost 25 months. Season 4 has been delayed significantly by the effects of the Coronavirus pandemic, to the extent that star Finn Wolfhard admitted we might not even be getting to see what Eleven and the rest of the gang get up to until next summer.
Three years is an age in the world of television to wait between seasons, so there’s an air of frustration that Netflix are celebrating the milestone anniversary when the series has been dormant for over 40% of that time, but you can check out the congratulatory social media post below anyway.
Looking at the massive viewership numbers racked up by the first three seasons, number four has a very real chance at becoming the most-watched run of episodes in the show’s history, and it would even be a little surprising if records didn’t tumble at the feet of Stranger Things. After all, the customer base only continues to grow, and absence definitely makes the heart grow fonder, so let’s hope that we’re not blowing out the candles on the sixth anniversary without anything to show for it.
