Few series better illustrate the dissociation between popularity and prestige than the fifth season of ‘Stranger Things’. The numbers are overwhelming: the closing of the saga accumulated 105.7 million views on Netflixconsolidating itself as the ninth most viewed English series in the entire history of the platform. However, the critical reception and even some increasingly disappointed fans With the conclusion they leave the franchise in an uncomfortable no man’s land that, for the moment, refuses (very much) to die.
Audience bomb. The numbers are impressive: the conclusion of the last season propelled Netflix to its best viewership on a New Year’s Day. Furthermore, in an unprecedented experiment, the platform released the final two-hour episode in theaters and raised $25 million at the box office in just 48 hours. It was a very limited distribution of only 600 rooms, in a period of 36 hours and without traditional ticket sales (20 dollars in food and drink were purchased that gave the right to a seat), due to the actors’ royalty contracts: the collection was entirely for the theaters of the chain that had exclusive distribution, AMC.
And critical disappointment. On Rotten TomatoesFor example, the audience score has suffered an unprecedented drop in the franchise: from 96% for the first season in 2016 to the current 54% for the fifth, after 90% for the second, 86% for the third and 89% for the fourth. It’s a forty-point drop that reflects more than just viewer fatigue. TIME He explained it in an article about the phenomenon: in 2016 the series was an irresistible nostalgic toy. Nine years later, it’s a content factory. Nine years ago it redefined streaming and entertainment; Now he is another victim of Hollywood franchise machinery.
Why didn’t you like it? The criticism of the fifth season is not limited to the disappointment of the fans. It has been said that the series has failed to delve into its characters as they grew. In the technical sectionit has been commented that it is a sloppy production, in the worst Netflix style: excessive lighting, abuse of background blur, obvious color schemes… The aforementioned TIME article also alluded to its pace, with an excess of exposition and verbalization, since this season is the conclusion of a decadent trend for the series that started in season 4.
Critical point. The episode in which all these tensions crystallized It was the penultimate of the series, whose IMDb score plummeted to 5.4 out of 10, becoming the lowest rated episode of the entire franchise, and the only one below 7.8, when most episodes range between 8.6 and 9.2. The episode accumulated more than 96,000 ratings, double that of the rest of the season’s episodes, which is why it is suspected of a campaign of review bombing due to its central scene; In any case, some of the criticism pointed to legitimate writing and pacing problems.
The unstoppable franchise. If the quality has dropped, why does Netflix insist on milking the series? The answer lies in analysis as this parrot which speaks of more than a billion dollars in revenue since 2020, that is, not counting the first three seasons. To this we must add more than two million new subscribers directly attributable to the franchise. And above all, something intangible: the series consolidated the current model of streaming and gave Netflix executives confidence that they could launch franchises capable of competing with rivals like Marvel.
What does it grow with? The company has designed an expansion plan that will keep the Hawkins universe alive for years. The first major spin-off was a play (‘Stranger Things: The First Shadow’), which premiered in London’s West End in 2023 and jumped to Broadway in 2025, exploring the origins of Vecna and the first experiments of Project Indigo. ‘Tales from ’85’, an animated series set in the winter between the second and third seasons, is planned for 2026. The main characters (Once, Hopper, Mike, Dustin, Lucas, Will, Max) will return in an animated version, which will allow you to touch with your fingertips that impossible treasure that is that children never age.
Beyond animation, Netflix is developing an as yet untitled live-action spin-off that will rethink the series from scratch: new characters, probably another decade, and without directly entering the Upside Down. It will work more as an anthology connected to the mythology and tone of the original than as a typical sequel. To this we must add the comics, which Norma Editorial has published in Spain since 2018, immersive experiences in Abu Dhabi and Mexico City, collaborations with Fortnite and extensive merchandising. And although the Duffers have an exclusive contract with Paramount, they will maintain creative supervision of everything related to the series.
The underlying problem. With the conclusion of ‘Stranger Things’, Netflix is at a strategic crossroads. There is currently no original production on the platform that is so attractive and, above all, so generationally transversal, something in which ‘The Squid Game’, ‘Wednesday’ or ‘The Bridgertons’ fail. As El País points out, one of the reasons why Netflix has shown interest in acquiring Warner It is precisely because of the need to access a catalog of expandable properties in the style of DC, Harry Potter or ‘Game of Thrones’. The machine does not stop or wait for anyone.
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