As “Stranger Things” releases its final episodes, it closes a chapter of our generation’s childhood. Looking back is really a testament to how much we have changed alongside the kids from Hawkins. 

On Nov. 26, 2025, the first four episodes of “Stranger Things” Season 5 premiered. This fifth and final season was released nearly a decade after the show first hit screens, stole hearts, and kickstarted a global phenomenon that shaped and aged alongside an entire generation. For the past nine years, it is as if we have been growing up in Hawkins, Indiana, where the show takes place. Bittersweetly, this will all come to an end when the final episode releases this New Year’s Eve. 

Current Potomac Falls students were in elementary school when “Stranger Things” Season 1 premiered. Now, these students are finishing up their primary education and are about to head into the next chapters of life, just like the “Stranger Things” cast as their time in Hawkins comes to an end. Watching the series wind down feels like closing a global time capsule, and looking back on each season is like flipping through a generational scrapbook. 

Season 1 (2016)

“Stranger Things,” created and directed by the Duffer brothers, made its first appearance on Netflix on July 15, 2016. Almost immediately, a “‘Stranger Things’ summer” was underway. Without giving anything away, “Stranger Things” follows an ever-growing friend group in Hawkins, Indiana as they work to defend the town from supernatural forces (Demogorgons, a Mind Flayer, a humanoid Vecna, etc.) from an alternate dimension, the Upside Down. However, this is no ordinary group of kids; they are joined by Eleven, a girl with a mysterious past and telekinetic abilities. 

Viewers quickly fell in love with the show, with 8.2 million people watching the series within its first 16 days on Netflix. “Stranger Things” became the “have you seen this yet?” series. Everyone was watching it, and despite being young and afraid, we hopped on the bandwagon just to be a part of the experience. The nightmares of Demogorgons ended up being worth it, because we were officially part of a growing pop culture phenomenon, complete with a newfound love for Eggo waffles. 

Season 2 (2017)

A little over a year later, Season 2 of the series premiered. At this point, “Stranger Things” was globally beloved. The new season was all anyone could talk about, and it was at this time when the show really solidified its pop culture presence. Its influence was enhanced by TikTok, whose international platform was released right around the same time as “Stranger Things.” 

Eleven’s iconic pink dress, blonde wig, and bloody nose look was a top Halloween costume. The cast began appearing on talk shows such as the Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, where Millie Bobby Brown, actress of Eleven, delivered her legendary rap recap of Season 1 for new viewers, which people still have memorized today (when Season 5 came out, social media was flooded with renditions of “Let’s go back to Indiana circa 1983.”) Additionally, the first “Stranger Things” Funko Pops—collectible vinyl figures of characters from popular TV and movies—came out in 2017 alongside Season 2.

Season 3 (2019)

Season 3, which was released on the Fourth of July in 2019, was arguably the most significant season of the ones that had come out up to that point. Despite the fact that the world was on the brink of entering a new decade, Season 3 unleashed a wave of ‘80s nostalgia even though the majority of the show’s target audience had not been born before 2000. Everyone was yearning for a time in which they had not even lived, and this became apparent that summer as we spent our days pennyboarding, biking around with friends, making stops at the gas station for Slurpees, and overall trying to make the summer of 2019 feel like a scene straight out of the show. At this point, the whole world was obsessed with “Stranger Things”. Scoops Ahoy merch was all the rage, fan edits flooded social media, and ‘80s music was blasted on repeat. 

Season 4

Shortly after Season 3 made its mark on society, the world was struck with an even larger force: COVID-19. The pandemic shut down production of the fourth season, which had only begun filming in March 2020 when the show was temporarily suspended. Stranger Things 4 was supposed to come out in 2021, but its first and second volumes instead premiered on May 27 and July 1 in 2022, respectively.

In the three-year gap between seasons, we grew older than the characters who had once been years older than us. We also matured, because that’s what a pandemic forces a generation to do. A year of isolation, online learning, and uncertainty changed just about everything, but “Stranger Things” was a constant and a sort of anchor to the past before COVID. Watching helped to rebuild a sense of community that had seemingly been lost during the pandemic. The world became collectively obsessed with Eddie Munson, for example, and Hellfire Club tees were all the rage. Still, the fourth season was undeniably darker than ones prior, a reminder that the audience was growing up and changing. 

Now, the first half of the final season is here. It is strange to think about just how much has changed since we first watched the show, but many things have also remained the same. “Stranger Things” has always been a connective force, and it will always be a source of endless memories and a reminder of how far we have come.