What happened last on 'Stranger Things'? Everything you need to know before Season 5

This is read by an automated voice.Please report any issues or inconsistencies here.

Since “Stranger Things” last released new episodes in 2022, a lot has happened.The writers’ and actors’ guilds went on a historic strike, delaying production on the final season.

The Duffer Brothers, as the show’s creators Matt and Ross are known, developed a stage play set in the “Stranger Things” world that premiered on London’s West End and transferred to Broadway earlier this year.The star, Millie Bobby Brown, who was 12 when the show premiered, became a wife and mother.The time between the fourth and fifth seasons is long enough that many fans — save the ones who have been faithfully rewatching and carefully taking notes in preparation — may not remember what happened last.

And key context and developments from earlier seasons may be even fuzzier in our memories, like Eleven trying to recall what happened in the rainbow room.The only guide you need for holiday entertainment.Let’s refresh our memories together.“Stranger Things,” set in fictional Hawkins, Ind., (primarily) in the 1980s, follows a ragtag bunch of kids and a handful of trusted adults as they battle evil and supernatural forces in their small town.High school students Will (Noah Schnapp), Mike (Finn Wolfhard), Lucas (Caleb McLaughlin), Dustin (Gaten Matarazzo) and Max (Sadie Sink), along with older teens Nancy (Natalia Dyer), Jonathan (Charlie Heaton), Steve (Joe Keery) and Robin (Maya Hawke), work alongside Eleven (Brown), a girl with special psychokinetic abilities, to protect the town from a parallel dimension called the Upside Down with monsters, electrical storms and a Lovecraftian, other-worldly force.

Joining them in the fight is Joyce Byers (Winona Ryder), Will and Jonathan’s mom, police chief Jim Hopper (David Harbour) and a handful of other instrumental characters.Here’s a recap of the important storylines to remember, a refresher on where the series left off and everyth...