It’s an exciting week for all the Stranger Things fans. We’ve finally got our first real look at the final season thanks to an epic teaser. However, there are still some crucial details that remain unknown, especially the Season 5 runtime.

The teaser was launched on Jul 16 and has been incredibly well received. In just 2 days, it has reached over 129 million views across all platforms, which shows the anticipation among the general public. It’s not surprising, as it is the final chapter to a terrific series.

Are Stranger Things 5 Episode Runtimes Leaked?

Last year on Stranger Things Day, the makers revealed the episode titles for season 5. Interestingly, the titles were new and identical to a previously leaked list that surfaced months earlier. However, the official run times of episodes were still under wraps.

Just yesterday, a list claiming to reveal the episode duration went viral online. It had a watermark, “Property of Netflix” in the background. Since the earlier leak turned out to be accurate, it caught the attention of fans.

The list suggested that each episode have an extended runtime of over 2 hours, with the finale lasting more than 3 hours. It would make the final episode the longest in television history.

Viral Runtime List Was Fake—Here’s the Truth

Upon investigation, the list turned out to be fake. A Stranger Things fan account (formerly Twitter) reached out to the original poster, who failed to provide any credible source. The details were found to be directly copied from ChatGPT. The watermark was added to make the leak authentic.

The list got so much attention that even Ross Duffer chimed in. He debunked the list in an Instagram story, saying that it is not even close to the original runtime.

Stranger Things 5 Will Be Shorter Than Season 4

In reality, the Duffer Brothers have hinted that season 5 could be shorter than the previous season. Though they did tease that the finale would be over 2.5 hours. On Happy Sad Confused podcast, Duffer said;

“The only reason we don’t expect to be as long is in season 4, if you look at it, it’s almost a two-hour ramp-up before our kids really get drawn into a supernatural mystery. You get to know them, you get to see them in their lives, they’re struggling with adapting to high school and so forth, Steve’s trying to find a date, all of that. None of that is obviously going to be occurring [in season 5].

Actor Finn Wolfhard also claimed in an interview told Collider that not every episode will feel like a movie.

“Not every episode is like a full-blown movie, but there are definitely some episodes this year that the runtime is definitely film-length. But there are some episodes that are still 40/45 minutes.”

As of now, the official runtimes remain unconfirmed. Based on past seasons, we can expect Netflix to reveal them close to the release date.

In the meantime, fans can enjoy the newly released teaser and start crafting their wildest theories. You can also track the live countdown to Stranger Things 5.