The return of “Core Five” for the final season on the new covers of Empire magazine
The fifth and final season of Netflix Stranger Things is coming this November and Empire Magazine has revealed a new look at the incredibly popular sci-fi horror series via its latest covers.
A plot Characters have come and gone in the previous four seasons, but this illustration highlights the five original characters of Mike Wheeler, Eleven, Dustin Henderson, Lucas Sinclair and Will Byers, aka “The Party.”
“Now we are in the final season, we have nothing to remember.” co-creator Matt Duffer narrates Empire. “We didn’t want to tie everything into a perfect bow, but I think we answer most of the questions and resolve each arc.” adds his brother Ross. “We intended to write a definitive ending to this story.”
There’s obviously a lot of pressure on everyone involved in the show to reach a satisfying conclusion, and Finn Wolfhard (Mike) admits that there was some worry that fans would give the show a final season. Game of Thrones treatment.
“I think everyone was pretty worried, honestly. The way Game of Thrones was torn apart in the last season, we were all heading towards that saying, ‘We hope this kind of thing doesn’t happen.’ But then we read the scripts. We knew it was something special. said the actor in an interview with Time Magazine.
This month’s subscriber cover sees Eleven and Vecna go head-to-head – literally – illustrated exclusively for Empire by Greg Ruth.
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– Empire (@empiremagazine) October 16, 2025
EXCLUSIVE 🚨#StrangerThings5 will bring “a definitive end” to the story, as the retro sci-fi adventure comes full circle in a blockbuster finale.
“Now we’re in the final season, we don’t have anything to remember,” Matt Duffer told Empire.
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– Empire (@empiremagazine) October 16, 2025
Stranger Things 5 features massive battles that “evoke the same feeling” as Game Of Thones’ Battle Of The Bastards, its creators tease.
“Episodes 4 and 8 are just monsters,” says Matt Duffer.
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– Empire (@empiremagazine) October 16, 2025
According to the official synopsis: “Fall 1987. Hawkins is marked by the opening of the Rifts, and our heroes are united by a single goal: to find and kill Vecna. But he has disappeared – his whereabouts and his plans are unknown. To complicate their mission, the government has placed the city under military quarantine and intensified its hunt for Eleven, forcing her into hiding.”
“As the anniversary of Will’s disappearance approaches, a heavy, familiar terror also grows. The final battle looms – and with it, a darkness more powerful and deadlier than anything they have faced before. To end this nightmare, they will need everyone – the entire group – to be united, one last time. “
In the season 4 finale, Eleven and her friends managed to defeat the evil entity known as Vecna, but at great cost. Eddie was killed (there has been speculation that he might return, but we don’t believe it), and Max was left blind, broken, and in a coma.
Vecna - who was ultimately revealed to be the deranged Henry Creel – was defeated, but it was only a temporary victory, as the final moments of the episode confirmed that the dark forces in the Upside-down are amassing for what will almost certainly be a massive final battle.
Are you up to date with Stranger Things? If so, what do you hope to see from this final season?
