The Complete Stranger Things Timeline Explained

Now that the fifth and final season has concluded, the timeline of Stranger Things is quite complicated and requires careful attention. The series began in November 1983, and the story will end in 1987. Season 4 left off in the spring of 1986.

Throughout its seasons, Stranger Things hints at a rich history, starting with the town of Hawkins’ origins in the 1800s and continuing through the 1970s – the time when characters like Eleven were born. The trailer for season 5 starts to reveal some of this backstory, especially concerning Vecna, the show’s central villain.

Vecna’s scheme has been unfolding throughout the entire history of Stranger Things, and even events from the past played a part. Considering everything, here’s a clear and easy-to-follow timeline of everything that’s happened in the Netflix series.

Early Stranger Things Timeline

Before the terrifying events in Stranger Things – the Demogorgons, the Mind Flayer, and the creepy world of the Upside Down – a lot of things happened that set the story in motion.

1800s: The town of Hawkins is founded.
1923: The last person before Will Byers goes missing this year.
1940s: Victor Creel, Henry Creel’s father, is shown fighting in WWII, where he ordered the shelling of a civilian home in France.
1959: The Creels move into their dream house, but Henry/Vecna starts flexing his powers. He kills his family and frames his father for their deaths.
1961: The last person to die by suicide in Hawkins (according to Hopper in season 1) happens this year.
1964: In a season 4 monologue, Hopper mentions working with the chemical corps to spread Agent Orange in Vietnam.
1966: Steve Harrington is born.
1967: Nancy Wheeler, Jonathan Byers, Barb Holland, and Billy Hargrove are born.
1971: Dustin Henderson, Mike Wheeler, Will Byers, Lucas Sinclair, Sara Hopper, and Eleven are born.
1973: Joyce Byers begins working at Melvald’s General Store.
1979: Sara Hopper dies from cancer. Hopper’s marriage crumbles. He returns to his hometown of Hawkins and becomes the Chief of Police.

MKUltra & Hawkins National Laboratory

Season 2 of Stranger Things spent a lot of time exploring the history of Hawkins Lab and how the government created people with special abilities, like Eleven. This exploration eventually led Eleven to realize she wasn’t alone and that others with powers, such as Kali, existed.

1953: Project MKUltra is cleared by the U.S. government. Hawkins National Laboratory is among the many labs across the nation to begin experiments.
Early 1960s: Kali Prasad, still a baby, is stolen from her home in London.
1969: Dr. Martin Brenner arrives, with Kali, in Hawkins to begin his MKUltra experiments.
1969-1970: Kali escapes the lab with powers. Terry Ives participates in MKUltra experiments while unknowingly pregnant.
1971: Terry gives birth to Eleven and is taken by Brenner.
1973: The truth about MKUltra is revealed to the public and stopped.
1974: Terry infiltrates Hawkins Lab, looking for her daughter. She is taken into custody and forced to undergo ECT therapy, resulting in her permanent catatonic state.
1979: Vecna is released by Eleven and inflicts the Hawkins Lab Massacre. After this, Eleven banishes him to Dimension X.

Eleven Before Stranger Things

Eleven grew up inside Hawkins Lab, where she developed her abilities while being tested and used to monitor Soviet activity. These experiences ultimately led to her escape and her friendship with Mike and his group.

1980-1983: Brenner observes Eleven crush a Coca-Cola can with her telekinetic powers. She is also asked to kill a cat with her mind, but cannot do it. As two guards take her to solitary confinement, she kills them with her powers. After this event, Eleven is made to repeat specific words, and it’s discovered she can broadcast them through the Hawkins Lab speaker system with her mind. Eleven is put into a sensory deprivation tank to locate a Russian spy and broadcast what she hears in her mind. Here, she makes first contact with one of Stranger Things‘ Demogorgon monsters from Dimension X.
1983: Eleven is put back into the sensory deprivation tank. She touches the Demogorgon and unintentionally creates a copy of Hawkins in a blank dimension, later known as the Upside Down.

1983: Stranger Things Season 1

Custom Image by Yeider Chacon.

The first season of Stranger Things mainly revolves around the search for Will Byers after he goes missing, while also exploring the story of Eleven and the secrets of Hawkins Lab. The events of the season largely unfold over just one week, with a brief jump forward in time at the very end.

Sunday, November 6

The Demogorgon that was sent to the newly created Upside Down by Eleven escapes from Hawkins Lab into the real world.
Will Byers is taken to the Upside Down by the Demogorgon.
Homes in Hawkins experience power surges and outages.

Monday, November 7

Joyce Byers goes to the Hawkins police department and reports that Will is missing.
Brenner begins an investigation into Eleven’s and the Demogorgon’s escape.
Eleven shows up at Benny’s Burgers, and the cook, Hammond, calls Child Services. The call actually goes to Hawkins Lab, alerting Brenner and his team. They arrive at Benny’s Burgers and kill Hammond, but Eleven escapes.
Hopper’s team searches the woods and finds Will’s bike.
Joyce receives a strange phone call where she hears breathing, believing it to be Will.
That night, Mike, Lucas, and Dustin find Eleven in the woods as they search for Will.

Tuesday, November 8

The search party for Will turns up nothing.
Eleven recognizes Will in a photo at Mike’s house. She reveals her telekinetic powers to Mike, Lucas, and Dustin. She then tells them Will is “hiding” from the Demogorgon in the Upside Down and is stuck there.
Brenner’s team, posing as Hawkins Power & Light, finds clues about Will’s disappearance and the Demogorgon in the Byers’ shed.
That night, Nancy and Barb went to a party at Steve’s house. Barb is abducted, as she sits poolside, by the Demogorgon.
Joyce gets another phone call the same night with mysterious breathing and sees a monster push through the wallpaper.

Wednesday, November 9

Nancy discovers Barb is missing. She goes to Steve’s house to investigate and is scared by what she thinks is an animal. It’s revealed that Jonathan took pictures of Steve’s house the night Barb went missing, and Nancy teams up with him to figure out if the creature he photographed is what took her.
Hopper and officers Powell and Callahan learn more about Brenner and Hawkins Lab. They discovered he was involved with MKUltra.
Joyce hangs Christmas lights in her home. She successfully makes contact with Will. He tells her to R-U-N.
Will’s body is discovered at the quarry, devastating his friends and family.

Thursday, November 10

Eleven proves to Mike that Will isn’t dead by making contact with him over the radio. The boys bring her to their school so that she can use the AV Club’s ham radio to contact Will again.
A worker at Hawkins Lab enters the Upside Down with a security line attached. He is removed from the line and pulled further into the Upside Down.
Hopper figures out Will’s body is a dummy filled with cotton wool.
Joyce sees Will through an opening in her wall.
That night, Hopper breaks into the Hawkins Lab.

Friday, November 11

Will’s funeral is held.
Hopper finds evidence of the Upside Down in his house. He goes to Joyce and tells her she was right about Will.
Nancy and Jonathan go looking for the Demogorgon who kidnapped Barb.
Nancy enters the Upside Down through a portal in the woods.

Saturday, November 12

Joyce and Hopper find Terry Ives. Terry’s sister tells them about her involvement in MKUltra and Terry’s belief that she had a daughter.
Lucas discovers, with the help of his compass, that the gate to the Upside Down created by Eleven is at Hawkins Lab.
Eleven saves Mike and Dustin from bullies, and she tells them she is the reason Will is missing because she opened the gate.
Mike, Dustin, Lucas, Nancy, Jonathan, Joyce, and Hopper make a sensory deprivation tank at Hawkins Middle School so that Eleven can find Barb and Will. Eleven confirms Barb is dead, but Will is only weakened from being in the Upside Down for too long.
Nancy and Jonathan set traps for the Demogorgon. Steve shows up to talk, but Nancy and Jonathan recruit him to help them fight the monster.
Mike, Dustin, Will, and Eleven stay at Hawkins Middle for the Snow Ball. The Demogorgon appears, as does Brenner’s team. Eleven kills Brenner’s team. She pins the Demogorgon to the wall, says goodbye to the boys, and disappears as she kills the monster.
Hopper and Joyce infiltrate Hawkins Lab to retrieve Will. They find the gate, put on hazmat suits, and go into the Upside Down. They find Will and bring him back home.
Will wakes up in the hospital with his friends all around him.
Hopper is picked up by a government car.

Sunday, November 13 – Monday, December 12

Mike begins trying to contact Eleven, which extends into Stranger Things season 2.
Eleven makes it out of the Upside Down in Hawkins Middle School and begins hiding in the woods outside of town. She knocks a hunter unconscious using her telekinetic powers and steals his coat and hat for warmth.
Will coughs up an Upside Down slug in his bathroom.
Hopper is shown leaving Eggos in the woods.
Eleven finds Hopper and takes her back to his grandfather’s cabin in the woods to keep her safe.

1983-1984: Between Stranger Things Seasons 1 & 2

While nearly a year passes between the first and second seasons of Stranger Things, significant things happen during that time.

Dr. Owen takes over Hawkins’ Lab.
Hopper and Joyce start bringing Will to Dr. Owens to do tests and make sure the Upside Down hasn’t permanently hurt him.
A second entrance to the Upside Down gate is formed via a series of tunnels spreading underneath Hawkins.
Hopper and Eleven develop a father-daughter bond.
Hawkins Lab begins regular “burns” of the Upside Down gate to prevent it from spreading.
Barb’s parents hire Murray Bauman to find their daughter.
Joyce starts dating Bob Newby.
Billy Hargrove and Max Mayfield move to Hawkins.

1984: Stranger Things Season 2 (& Parts Of Season 3)

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Season 2 of Stranger Things is set in 1984, with some events in season 3 also taking place that year. Instead of a kidnapping, Will Byers is possessed by the Mind Flayer this time around. Everything that happens in these seasons is crucial to the overall story and builds towards a potentially deadly final battle in season 5.

Thursday, June 28 – Wednesday, October 31

The Russians attempt to open a gate to the Upside Down at one of their secret bases in Russia. The attempt fails, and the science team under Dr. Alexei is given one year to figure out how to successfully open it.
Kali and the gang she formed after escaping Hawkins Lab evade the police in Chicago after pulling off a robbery.
Mike, Dustin, Will, and Lucas go to the Hawkins Arcade. Will has another vision of the Upside Down, only this time with a tentacle-like creature lurking inside it.
Billy and Max have their first day at school.
Will has an appointment with Dr. Owens.
Hopper is alerted to crop degradation on multiple farms across Hawkins and investigates.
Will has another vision of the Upside Down.
Mike, Dustin, Will, and Lucas go trick-or-treating. Will has another vision. The boys discover him, and he tells them what has been going on, but asks that they don’t tell anyone.
Eleven waits for Hopper to celebrate Halloween, but he loses track of time.
Eleven telepathically tracks Mike and sees him trying to call her via radio.
Dustin returns home and finds a creature in his trash can.

Thursday, November 1

Hopper discovers a connection between the crop degradation and the Hawkins Lab. He demands that Owens and the lab investigate.
Dustin brings the creature, named Dart, to school. He shows the group. Dart escapes, and the kids spend the day looking for him.
Eleven leaves the cabin and the woods. She goes to Hawkins School and sees Mike from afar, laughing with Max.
Nancy and Jonathan arrange a meeting with Barb’s parents, but Hawkins Lab intercepts the call.
Will has another vision at school, in which the tentacle-creature attaches itself to his body.

Friday, November 2

Nancy and Jonathan are taken to Hawkins Lab. Dr. Owens warns them about searching for the truth about Barb’s disappearance.
Will shows the Mind Flayer to Joyce and Hopper through drawings. Will’s drawings also reveal the tunnel system running through Hawkins.
Eleven discovers the files on Terry Ives. She tries to contact Terry telepathically in the Void.
Dustin comes home to find that Dart has grown and has eaten his mom’s cat.
Hopper finds one of the tunnels in Will’s drawings and enters. He is knocked unconscious after being sprayed with spores.

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Saturday, November 3

Hawkins Lab discovers that soil samples react adversely to heat in the same way and theorizes that a hive mind is controlling all matter and creatures from the Upside Down.
Eleven goes to Terry’s home. Terry’s sister (Eleven’s aunt) tells Eleven about Terry and what happened. Eleven goes into the Void to see Terry and finds the memories of Terry’s attempt to get Eleven back.
Nancy and Jonathan find Murray Bauman and share a recording they took of Owens. Murray proposes publishing a report to close Hawkins Lab.
Bob and Will help provide information on how to find Hopper. Bob, Joyce, Mike, and Will find Hopper in the tunnel and free him.
At the same time, lab techs begin burning the tunnels. Will, connected to the Upside Down through the Mind Flayer, falls on the ground convulsing.
Will is rushed to the hospital.
That night, Eleven learns more about Kali’s existence and goes to find her.

Sunday, November 4

Will regains consciousness but only recognizes Joyce and Mike. Dr. Owens believes Will is infected with a virus connecting him to the Upside Down’s hive mind.
Demodogs, the fully grown versions of Dart that grew from the slugs Will puked up in season 1, appear at the junkyard. At the same time, Will, as the Mind Flayer, misdirects lab members into the tunnel, leading to a Demodog ambush.
Kali trains Eleven to hone her powers.
Eleven gets a vision of what is happening in Hawkins and returns home.
Demodogs invade the lab. Mike tells Joyce to sedate Will so he can “hide” from the Mind Flayer.
Steve, Max, Dustin, Lucas, Nancy, and Jonathan arrive at the lab to get Will, Joyce, Bob, and Mike. As they leave, Bob is killed by a Demodog, giving Will, Mike, Joyce, and everyone else enough time to escape.
Everyone returns to the Byers’ house. They build on the hive mind theory and figure they have to separate Will from the Mind Flayer to save him. In an exorcism-like process, Will (as himself) taps out a Morse code signal while the Mind Flayer speaks through him. Will’s message is “CLOSE GATE.”

Monday, November 5

The Mind Flayer is alerted to Will’s location at the Byers’ house. It sends a Demodog to the house, which the team kills.
Eleven returns, and a plan is formed: Hopper and Eleven will close the gate at the lab while Joyce, Jonathan, and Nancy will take Will to Hopper’s cabin and heat Will’s body, exorcising the Mind-Flayer out of him for good.
Mike, Dustin, Lucas, and Max hatch a plan to go to the tunnels and set them on fire, aided by Steve.
Joyce, Nancy, and Jonathan free Will from the Mind Flayer’s clutches, but not without a piece of its consciousness fleeing.
Mike, Dustin, Lucas, Max, and Steve are successful in burning the tunnels.
Eleven closes the gate to the Upside Down, seemingly ending the Mind Flayer threat.

Tuesday, November 6 – Saturday, December 15

Murray Bauman’s report on Hawkins Lab shuts it down for good.
Barb is given a real funeral.
Dr. Owen presents Hopper with a forged birth certificate for Eleven, making Eleven his daughter, Jane.
Mike, Dustin, Lucas, Will, Max, and Eleven attend the Snow Ball.
The Mind Flayer still watches over Hawkins Middle School from the Upside Down.

1985: Stranger Things Season 3

Season 3 of Stranger Things feels different from previous seasons. It’s set during the summer and introduces the Russians as the main villains—a first for the show. The action also stays mostly within the town of Hawkins, rather than focusing on the alternate dimension. This season centers around unraveling a secret plot, and a lot unfolds within just one week.

Friday, June 28 – Saturday, June 29

A power outage sweeps through Hawkins, affecting the newly-built Starcourt Mall.
Strange things begin happening at Brimborn Steel Works, located on the edge of town, including tons of rats flocking to the building.
Billy is dragged to Brimborn, where the piece of the Mind Flayer that escaped Will possesses Billy and the rats.
Nancy begins investigating the strange rat sightings the next day.
Dustin’s long-range communication machine intercepts a Russian communication.

Sunday, June 30

Joyce notices her fridge magnets aren’t sticking, and later researches this.
Nancy and Jonathan see a rat caught by Mrs. Driscoll acting erratically.
Dustin visits Steve at Scoops Ahoy, an ice cream store in the mall, and tells him about the Russian message.
Robin, Steve’s co-worker, overhears Steve and Dustin’s conversation and offers to help, as she is good at languages. Robin manages to crack the code by the end of their shift.
Hopper notices a strange man leaving Mayor Kline’s office.
Eleven and Max spend a day together at the mall after Mike, whom she is currently dating, ditches her. The girls accidentally run into Lucas, Mike, and Will at the mall. Eleven is angry and dumps Mike.
That night, Robin, Steve, and Dustin leave Starcourt Mall. Steve makes the connection that the bit of music heard in the Russianmessage is the same as a kid’s ride in the mall. This leads the trio to conclude the message was recorded inside the mall.
That same night, Billy kidnaps his co-worker from the pool, Heather Holloway. He drags her back to Brimborn to turn her into a drone of the Mind Flayer.
Eleven and Max have a sleepover. The girls use Eleven’s powers to go into the Void to spy on people they know. Eleven spies on Billy and sees his car and him crouched over Heather. Billy stands up, looks right at Eleven, and disappears.

Monday, July 1

Joyce tells Hopper about the magnets, theorizing that Hawkins Lab has something to do with it.
Max and Eleven go to the Hargrove house, eventually realizing Heather is in trouble after an investigation.
Robin figures out that the Russian code refers to different locations within the Starcourt Mall.
That night, Joyce and Hopper go to Hawkins Lab, where Hopper is attacked by Russian soldier Grigori, the same mysterious man Hopper saw at Mayor Kline’s office.
Joyce gets a look at Grigori and his motorcycle’s license plate as he flees the scene.
Max and Eleven find Heather alive, but she and Billy are acting strangely.
Billy and Heather drug Heather’s parents before taking them to the Brimborn basement, where the Mind Flayer turns them into his drones as well.
After work, Robin and Steve bring Dustin up to the roof of the mall near the loading bays and discover armed guards keeping watch.
Nancy and Jonathan go back to Driscoll’s home, where they find her acting strangely and eating fertilizer. They call the police, who rush Driscoll to the hospital.

Tuesday, July 2

Hopper and Joyce got to Town Hall to confront Kline about Grigori. Kline reveals the man, Grigori, works for a group of Russians who want to buy land, including the Starcourt Mall and old farms near the Hawkins power plant.
Hopper and Joyce resolve to track the Russians. That night, they find someone named Alexei working in the basement of the Hess farmhouse, taking him hostage before fleeing.
Will reveals to his friends that he can feel the Mind Flayer is present and may not have left when Eleven closed the gate. Eleven tells the group she and Max think something is wrong with Billy, and he might be the new Mind Flayer host.
The group performs a heat test to see if Billy is possessed by luring Billy into the sauna at the community pool and trapping him. Billy shows signs that he is possessed, and the kids fight him off.
Nancy goes to see Driscoll at the hospital at the same time as the kids performing the sauna test. Nancy observes Driscoll shaking and shouting with black veins popping out of her body.
Robin tells Steve and Dustin that she thinks going through the air ducts will help them get into the loading bay, and they can figure out what the Russians are doing. They enlist Lucas’ younger sister, Erica.
Erica goes through the ducts and opens the door. The foursome finds an unusual substance in one of the boxes. The group is trapped in the room, which turns into an elevator and descends.

Wednesday, July 3

Eleven tracks Hopper and Joyce in the Void, realizing they have taken Alexia to Murray’s home in Illinois. They need him to translate for Alexei, so they can find out why the Russians are in Hawkins.
Alexei reveals the Russians want to open the Upside Down gate.
Nancy and Jonathan team up with the kids, realizing that all Hawkins’ ill residents are infected by the Mind Flayer. Mike theorizes that the Mind Flayer’s human drones are eating chemicals to help them transform into something new.
The Mind Flayer sends two drones to kill Nancy and Jonathan. The drones melt and form into an Upside Down monster that attacks Nancy, before Eleven kills it.
Dustin, Erica, Robin, and Steve make it to Russian HQ. They see the scientists trying to open the gate to the Upside Down.

Thursday, July 4

Grigori meets Kline at the Hawkins Funfair grounds to demand that Kline find a way to lure Hopper and Joyce to the fair that night.
Hopper calls the FBI and demands that Dr. Owens come to help them fight the Russians.
Robin and Steve are taken prisoner by the Russians as Erica and Dustin escape into the air ducts.
Nancy, Jonathan, and the kids go back to Hopper’s cabin. Eleven goes into the Void. She sees Billy, who tells Eleven the Upside Down creatures are going to conquer Hawkins. Billy also tells Eleven he will be tracking her, as will every other Upside Down creature.
Billy directs the newer, bigger Upside Down monster comprised of the Mind Flayer’s drones to go attack Eleven at Hopper’s cabin. The group escapes and heads for Starcourt.
Dustin and Erica save Robin and Steve, and they all make it back to Starcourt Mall.
Hopper, Joyce, and Murray manage to evade Grigori after being lured to the funfair by Kline and escape. They pick up Dustin’s distress signal and head to Starcourt.
A plan forms: The adults will close the gate in the Russian lab under Starcourt while Erica and Dustin guide them down. Eleven, with the help of Max and Mike, will stop Billy. Nancy, Jonathan, Robin, Steve, Lucas, Max, and Will plan to attack the Upside Down monster when it arrives at the mall.
The adults get to the lab. Hopper has to fight Grigori and ends up close to the machine that is opening the Upside Down gate. Joyce is forced to shut the machine off and risk Hopper’s life. The machine explodes, and Hopper seemingly dies.
Eleven gets through to Billy and frees him from the Mind Flayer. Billy sacrifices himself to save Eleven and Max before the closed gate kills the Mind Flayer’s physical monster.
Dr. Owens and the U.S. military arrive at Starcourt and immediately get to work.
Eleven realizes Hopper didn’t make it back. Joyce makes her a part of the Byers family.

July – October, 1985

Kline is arrested and ousted as mayor of Hawkins.
A prison in Kamchatka, Russia, is revealed to house an American prisoner and a Demogorgon. It is unclear how the Russians got hold of them.
Steve and Robin get new jobs at Hawkins Family Video.
Eleven now lives with the Byers family, still without her powers after the Mind Flayer’s attack.
Max, Lucas, Dustin, Mike, and Nancy help the Byers pack up their house. The Byers family moves away from Hawkins.

1986: Stranger Things Season 4

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Season 4 of Stranger Things picks up five months after the events of season 3. This season connects everything from the previous three seasons and also reveals new information, like the history of Vecna, that happened long before the first season. Like past seasons, the events of season 4 unfold over about a week.

Sunday, March 16 – Friday, March 21

A popular student named Chrissy is contacted via vision by a mysterious entity, later known as Vecna.
Mike receives a letter from Eleven, which embellishes her life in Lenora Hills, California, omitting details of her being bullied at school.
A pep rally at Hawkins High sees bully Jason Carver talking about the strange deaths that have occurred over the years.
Joyce gets a disturbing package from Russia containing a Russian doll, which contains a note revealing that Hopper is alive, revealing him as the American prisoner in Kamchatka from season 3’s ending.
Eddie Munson and the Hellfire Club, a D&D organization, are introduced, with the Hawkins kids being a part of it.
Chrissy asks Eddie for drugs, and they go to his trailer. Inside, she has another hallucination before floating to the ceiling and having her bones broken by Vecna.

Saturday, March 22

Chrissy’s body is found, leaving Eddie the main suspect.
Mike travels to California during spring break to hang out with Eleven and Will.
Max believes Chrissy’s murder has something to do with the Upside Down, so she enlists Steve, Dustin, and Robin to help her find Eddie.
Joyce, with the help of Murray, calls the number on the note that revealed Hopper’s fate, and is told to go to Alaska if she wants to find him.
Nancy goes to Eddie’s trailer to investigate Chrissy’s murder for the newspaper. Nancy talks to Eddie’s uncle, where she learns about Victor Creel.
Max, Dustin, Steve, and Robin find Eddie in a cabin by Lover’s Lake.
Nancy’s co-worker, Fred Benson, is killed by Vecna.

Sunday, March 23

Eleven is contacted by Sam Owens to join the Nina Project, which will restore her powers.
The police find Fred’s body, and Nancy is informed about Vecna by Max, Dustin, Steve, and Robin.
Hopper discovers that Joyce and Murray are coming to save him.
Nancy and Robin research Victor Creel to find out that his whole family was killed, and he blamed it on a demon.
Max, Dustin, and Steve break into Hawkins High and find out that Fred and Chrissy both sought help for headaches, nightmares, and nosebleeds.
Max becomes the next victim of Vecna’s visions.
Mike, Will, and Jonathan are met by Federal agents, who inform them that Eleven is in the hands of Owens and Brenner to take part in the Nina Project. In addition, they tell them of the new evil that is attempting to take over Hawkins.
Max tells the rest of the gang about Fred and Chrissy’s symptoms, revealing that she is suffering from the same thing.

Monday, March 24

Steve, Lucas, and Dustin do more research on the Creel murders, trying to connect the incident to Vecna and the Upside Down.
Nancy and Robin visit Victor Creel at the Pennhurst Mental Hospital, where he reveals that music can free someone from Vecna’s curse by grounding them in reality.
Mike, Jonathan, and Will sneak away from the Federal Agents to try and find Eleven at Hawkins Lab.
Joyce and Murray meet Yuri, a smuggler, with the requested ransom money. However, he betrays them and tries to hand them over to the Russian government.
Hopper manages to escape the prison but is recaptured.
Max is placed under Vecna’s curse while visiting Billy’s grave, but is saved by Dustin, Lucas, and Steve when they play her favorite song.
Mike, Will, and Jonathan are told by the dying Agent Harmon that they can find Eleven using a specific number he gives them.

Tuesday, March 25

Eddie, Robin, Steve, and Nancy go to the lake, where they find a portal to the Upside Down and go through it.
Joyce and Murray sneak their way into the Russian prison that’s holding Hopper while he fights a Demogorgon.
Eleven is brought to an old missile silo for the Nina Project, where she finds out that Dr. Brenner survived the events of Stranger Things season 1. She proceeds to relive her memories of her time at Hawkins Lab.
Patrick McKinney is the next to be cursed by Vecna at Chrissy’s funeral, later dying in the same way as the others.
After calling the number provided to them by Harmon, Mike, Will, and Jonathan realize they are calling a computer and decide to enlist the help of Suzie, Dustin’s girlfriend.
In the Upside Down, Eddie, Robin, Steve, and Nancy break into the Creel house, then traverse their way through the rest of the alternate dimension version of Hawkins, trying to find a way back out through Eddie’s trailer, but not before Nancy is captured.
Eleven regains her powers but decides to continue with the Nina Project to access her repressed memories.

Wednesday, March 26

Mike and the rest of the California group arrive at Suzie’s house, and she’s able to track the phone number to a location in Nevada.
In her memories from her childhood, Eleven befriends the orderly Henry Creel after witnessing him being tortured by the other staff.
Eleven takes the chip out of Henry Creel’s arm, which allows him to use his powers again, and he massacres the entirety of the Hawkins Lab staff and children.
Henry is revealed to be Vecna, whose backstory is also revealed to Nancy while she is stuck in the Upside Down.
After discovering Henry’s killing spree, Eleven banishes him to Dimension X, the homeworld of the Demogorgons, Mind Flayer particles, and Demodogs.
Nancy is given a vision by Vecna, in which Hawkins is taken over by the Upside Down, revealing his ultimate plan. Nancy later escapes.
Brenner explains to Eleven that she fell into a coma after banishing Vecna and repressed her memories.
Eleven breaks out of the missile silo, and she reunites with Mike, Will, and Jonathan, who traveled there after Suzie helped them.
Max, Lucas, and Erica go to the Creel house.
Hopper, Joyce, and Murray escape the Russian prison.

Thursday, March 27

Dustin, Nancy, Steve, Robin, Eddie, Lucas, and Erica develop a four-phase plan to kill Vecna, which involves using Max as bait, and Nancy, Steve, and Robin going into his lair.
Eleven and the rest of the California group get back to Hawkins, but first, they must build a sensory deprivation tank to assist Eleven in protecting Max’s mind and beating Vecna.
Joyce, Hopper, and Murray return to the prison to kill the Demogorgons there, powered by the Mind Flayer fragment the Russians had, to buy time for the kids and weaken Vecna.
Max is cursed again in her pursuit of Vecna, and Lucas desperately tries to wake her up. Her Walkman breaks, allowing Vecna’s hold on Max to strengthen.
Before Vecna can kill Max, he is thrown away by Eleven from her isolation tank, and the two have a mental battle.
Vecna reveals that he created the hive mind in Dimension X, controlling the Mind Flayer, its puppets, the Demogorgons, and the Demodogs from the start.
Eleven creating the Upside Down by touching the Demogorgon as a child allowed Vecna and his forces from Dimension X to invade the alternate version of Hawkins, and thus, begin the invasion of Hawkins itself.
Eleven breaks free of Vecna and weakens him, combined with the efforts of Joyce and Hopper at the prison and Nancy and Steve in the Upside Down.
Vecna is defeated, but not before killing Max, the fourth of his victims, allowing his permanent gates between the Upside Down and Hawkins to be formed.
Eleven uses her powers to revive Max, but she remains in a coma.

Saturday, March 29

Mike, Eleven, the rest of the California group, Hopper, and Joyce all make it back to Hawkins.
The entire Stranger Things cast witnesses Vecna’s invasion starting, as the gates to the Upside Down spew smoke and red fire into the air, as Will feels the presence of the Mind Flayer once again.

1987 – Stranger Things Season 5 Timeline

As a huge fan of Stranger Things, I’m already trying to keep all the details straight, and I know the final season is going to add a lot more to the mix! We’ll start getting new information when season 5 finally drops in November 2025. From what we’ve heard so far, the story will pick up about a year to a year and a half after the events of season 4.

Season 5 of Stranger Things will likely take place in 1987. We probably won’t see many more flashbacks filling in the show’s history, as season 4 already explained a lot of the key backstory – particularly the origins of Eleven and Vecna.

As the terrifying world of the Upside Down starts to fully impact Hawkins, expect even more surprises and unexpected events. The final season of Stranger Things will also reveal answers to long-standing questions and clarify the show’s complex timeline.

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