Netflix briefly crashed as fans tuned in to the highly anticipated premiere of Stranger Things Season 5.
The first four episodes of the sci-fi horror show’s final season went live at 5 p.m. PT, but many fans were suddenly locked out of the platform.
Soon after the season premiered and the streaming platform hit with a crash, the fans flooded the social media as one wrote, "NETFLIX FIX YOURSELF RIGHT NOW BRO, IVE BEEN WAITING THREE YEARS.”
"OH MY GOD NETFLIX PLS FIX YOURSELF I WANNA WATCH," another commented.
Following a brief crash, a Netflix representative told PEOPLE, "Some members briefly experienced an issue streaming on TV devices, but service recovered for all accounts within five minutes.”
Prior to this, Stranger Things co-creator Ross Duffer of the Duffer Brothers took the Instagram Stories post to share that "Netflix increased bandwidth by 30 percent to avoid a crash."
In November 2024, Netflix’s first Stranger Things Season 5 teaser revealed the story will take place in fall 1987—a smaller time jump than fans expected, following Season 4’s spring 1986 setting three years ago.
The show's epic final season showed the face off against the mysterious Upside Down for one last time.
Gaten Matarazzo, Caleb McLaughlin, Millie Bobby Brown, Finn Wolfhard, Noah Schnapp, Sadie Sink, Joe Keery, Natalia Dyer, Charlie Heaton, Winona Ryder, David Harbour, and more reprised their roles.
The Season 5 premiere runs 1 hour 8 minutes, with subsequent episodes ranging from 54 minutes to 1 hour 23 minutes.
Episodes 5–7 will drop on December 25, and the series finale on December 31.
