A Complete STRANGER THINGS Timeline To Refresh Your Brain

Get ready! Stranger Things season 5 is coming soon, and after a long wait, we’re excited to finally see how the story ends. With the show unfolding over nine years, it’s easy to forget all the details that have happened in Hawkins. So, to help you prepare for the finale, we’ve created a complete and detailed timeline to refresh your memory.

Predating Season One

1953 – Project MKUltra begins at Hawkins Lab
1959
- Henry Creel murders the Creel family and is taken into custody by Martin Brenner
- Police arrest Victor Creel for the murder of his wife and daughter
1969-1970 – Terry Ives (Eleven’s mother) participates in Project MKUltra experiments
1971 – Jane/Eleven is born with telekinetic abilities; Brenner takes her away for experimentation
1974 – Terry breaks into Hawkins Lab to rescue Jane, but Brenner captures and subjects her to electroconvulsive shocks
1978 – Kali escapes Hawkins Lab and hides in Chicago; she enacts her revenge by murdering previous employees
September 8, 1979 – Henry/001 massacres everyone but Brenner in Hawkins Lab
1979 – Eleven banishes Henry to the Upside Down, where he transforms into Vecna
1981 – Hopper’s daughter, Sarah, dies of cancer

Season One: Fall 1983

The first season introduces the story’s origins. We see Will go missing, meet the shaved-headed Eleven, and are first introduced to the terrifying Upside Down and the creatures that live there. At the same time, the secretive Hawkins Lab is fully operational, conducting its classified government research. Here’s a closer look at what happens.

Unknown time between 1980 and 1983
- Eleven participates in Hawkins Lab experiments
- Demonstrates her power by crushing a Coke can, killing two guards, and locating a Russian spy
Sunday, November 6, 1983
- Eleven opens the gate to the Upside Down and escapes Hawkins Lab
- The Demogorgon escapes Hawkins Lab
- Will Byers is abducted by the Demogorgon
Monday, November 7, 1983
- Joyce goes to the police, and a search for Will begins
- Benny Hammond is shot after feeding Eleven a hamburger
- Joyce starts receiving strange phone calls in which she hears only breathing
- Mike, Lucas, and Dustin meet Eleven for the first time
Tuesday, November 8, 1983
- Eleven recognizes Will and reveals her telekinetic abilities to the boys
- Nancy and Barb go to a party at Steve’s house, where Barb is taken by the Demogorgon
- Joyce continues hearing strange noises and sees the Demogorgon stretch out of the wall
Wednesday, November 9, 1983
- Nancy discovers Barb is missing and searches for her in the woods
- Will communicates to Joyce through Christmas lights
- Police find a body in the quarry, claimed to be Will’s
Thursday, November 10, 1983 – Hopper discovers Will’s body is a fake, while Eleven contacts Will through the AV Club ham radio
Friday, November 11, 1983
- A funeral is held for Will
- Nancy is sucked into the Upside Down after she and Jonathan encounter the Demogorgon
Saturday, November 12, 1983 – Sunday, November 13, 1983
- Joyce and Hopper learn about Terry Ives (Eleven’s mother) and Project MKUltra
- Lucas uses his compass to track down the gate at Hawkins Lab
- The crew evades the authorities and breaks into Hawkins Middle School to create a sensory deprivation tank for Eleven to track down Will and Barb (who is dead)
- Nancy, Jonathan, and Steve attack the Demogorgon at the Byers’ house
- Joyce and Hopper break into Hawkins Lab and rescue Will from the Upside Down
- Eleven defeats the Demogorgon and disappears in a cloud of ash
Saturday, December 24, 1983 – Will has a vision that he is still in the Upside Down

Season Two: Fall 1984

Nearly a year has passed since Will went missing and Eleven defeated the Demogorgon, but things aren’t better in Hawkins. The portal to the Upside Down remains open, and Eleven is still gone. To make matters worse, a new threat emerges: the Mind Flayer, a powerful creature that controls other beings and is now manipulating Will.

Sunday, November 13, 1983 – Eleven wakes up in the Upside Down and escapes through a temporary portal
Unknown time between seasons
- Hopper hides Eleven in his grandfather’s cabin in the woods, where she lives for 352 days
- Dr. Sam Owens takes over as director of Hawkins Lab as shady experiments continue
- Tunnels begin spreading underneath Hawkins as a second gate to the Upside Down forms
- Billy and Max move to Hawkins
Tuesday, October 30, 1984
- Hopper investigates the degradation of Hawkins’ crops
- Mr. and Mrs. Holland hire Murray Bauman to investigate Barb’s disappearance
- Will has his first vision of the Mind Flayer
Wednesday, October 31, 1984
- Will has another vision when the boys are out trick-or-treating
- Nancy and Steve have a falling out at Tina’s Halloween party
- Dustin finds a strange creature in the trash and names him Dart
Thursday, November 1, 1984
- Dustin brings Dart to Hawkins Middle School to show the group, but he escapes
- Hopper links the dying crops back to Hawkins Lab
- Eleven leaves the cabin to see Mike
Friday, November 2, 1984
- Nancy and Jonathan are taken to Hawkins Lab, where they secretly record Dr. Owens’ voice
- Will creates a series of drawings depicting the tunnels that spread underneath Hawkins; Bob later deduces it to be a map
- Dart grows larger and eats Dustin’s cat, Mews
Saturday, November 3, 1984
- Nancy and Jonathan visit Murray with the evidence to shut down Hawkins Lab
- Lucas tells Max the truth about last year
- Joyce enlists Bob’s help and rescues Hopper from the Upside Down tunnels
- Eleven discovers her backstory and hitches a ride to visit her mother
- Will collapses when lab workers torch the tunnels and is rushed to Hawkins Lab
Sunday, November 4, 1984
- Eleven visits Kali in Chicago; Kali teaches her how to channel her anger
- Lucas, Dustin, Steve, and Max are confronted by Demodogs while hunting Dart
- The Mind Flayer uses Will as a spy to massacre workers in the lab
- Demodogs invade Hawkins Lab and kill Bob Newby
- The rest of the group escapes to the Byers house, where they try to talk to Will
- Eleven reunites with everyone
Monday, November 5, 1984
- Mike, Lucas, Dustin, Max, and Steve burn the tunnels to distract the Demodogs
- Joyce, Jonathan, and Nancy expel the Mind Flayer from Will with heat
- Eleven uses her power to close the gate and stop the Mind Flayer
Tuesday, November 6, 1984
- Murray’s report shuts down Hawkins Lab for good
Saturday, December 11, 1984
- Hopper adopts Eleven as his daughter
- The kids go to the Snow Ball dance; the Mind Flayer lurks over Hawkins Middle School

Season Three: Summer 1985

Summer in Hawkins should be all about fun – hanging out at the pool, first crushes, and the new Starcourt Mall. But things are far from perfect. The terrifying Mind Flayer is still out there, turning people into monsters, and now there are Russian spies operating in town, too. Plus, everyone seems to be growing up so fast!

Thursday, June 28, 1984 – The Russians attempt to open a gate to the Upside Down
Friday, June 28, 1985
- The Soviet Union activates “the Key” in their secret base underneath Starcourt Mall, opening a new gate to the Upside Down
- The Mind Flayer resurfaces to infect rats at Brimborn Steel Works
Saturday, June 29, 1985
- Dustin returns from camp, and the gang reunites; they set up a giant ham radio
- Billy crashes his car and is taken by the Mind Flayer
- Dustin receives a strange Russian transmission
Sunday, June 30, 1985
- Nancy and Jonathan investigate a tip about diseased rats
- Joyce notices something is off with the magnets
- Dustin, Steve, and Robin team up to decipher the Russian code
- Billy kidnaps Heather Holloway and takes her to the Mind Flayer
Monday, July 1, 1985
- Eleven and Max investigate Billy and Heather’s strange behavior
- Joyce and Hopper are ambushed by a Russian hitman after breaking into Hawkins Lab
Tuesday, July 2, 1985
- Hopper confronts Mayor Kline about shady Russian dealings in Hawkins
- Dustin, Steve, Robin, and Erica use the mall’s air ducts to infiltrate Russian headquarters
- A sauna test proves that Billy is possessed by the Mind Flayer
Wednesday, July 3, 1985
- Joyce and Hopper take Alexei hostage and flee to Murray’s warehouse
- The Mind Flayer grows its army; the Holloways attack Nancy and Jonathan
Thursday, July 4, 1985
- The Russians drug and interrogate Robin and Steve in their headquarters; Dustin and Erica rescue them
- The group arms themselves to face the Mind Flayer at Starcourt Mall
- Grigori assassinates Alexei at the Fun Fair
- The kids battle and defeat the Mind Flayer; Billy sacrifices himself to protect Eleven
- Joyce and Hopper shut down the Key machine and blow up the Russian base
- Hopper is captured by the Soviets
Friday, July 5, 1984 – Eleven loses her powers and starts living with the Byers

Season Four: Spring 1986

Season four picks up about eight months later. Our main characters are now in high school and are starting to drift apart. We meet Eddie Munson and his Dungeons & Dragons club, the Hellfire Club, and also a terrifying new villain named Vecna. There’s a lot happening, so let’s dive in!

October 1985
- The Soviets torture Hopper at the Kamchatka labor camp
- The Byers and Eleven move to California
- Owens and Brenner begin the “Nina Project” to get Eleven’s powers back
- Mike and Dustin join the “Hellfire Club,” led by Eddie Munson
March 1986 – Chrissy, Fred, and Max begin having headaches, nosebleeds, and nightmares
Friday, March 21, 1986
- Joyce receives a strange package of a Russian nesting doll
- Vecna murders Chrissy from the Upside Down as Eddie watches
Saturday, March 22, 1986
- With help from a Russian prison guard, Joyce and Murray travel to Alaska to rescue Hopper
- Mike visits Eleven for Spring Break; Eleven hits Angela with a roller skate
- Eddie is blamed for Chrissy’s death; the group finds him hiding at an old boat house and tells him about the Upside Down
- Vecna kills Fred Benson
Sunday, March 23, 1986
- Owens intercepts Eleven from juvenile detention and tells her about the “Nina Project”
- Nancy and Robin research alleged killer Victor Creel
- Max, Dustin, and Steve break into Counselor Kelley’s office; Max’s hallucinations continue
Monday, March 24, 1986
- Argyle, Mike, and Jonathan flee from Colonel Sullivan’s men
- Joyce and Murray meet Yuri in Alaska, who drugs them
- Nancy and Robin interview Victor Creel at Pennhurst Mental Hospital and learn about Henry
- Vecna targets Max at Billy’s grave, but she breaks free with music
Tuesday, March 25, 1986
- While in the “Nina” isolation tank, Eleven sees glimpses of the 1979 lab massacre
- The Hawkins crew breaks into the Creel house while Vecna kills Patrick at Lover’s Lake
- Sullivan continues searching for Eleven
Wednesday, March 26, 1986
- The California team enlists Suzie’s help to track down Eleven
- Joyce and Murray sneak into Kamchatka to find prisoners being forced to fight a captured Demogorgon; Hopper and Dmitri escape with Joyce and Murray
- Steve, Nancy, Robin, and Eddie discover an underwater gate to the Upside Down and go in
- Vecna reveals his origins to Nancy in the Upside Down
Thursday, March 27, 1986
- Brenner tells Eleven about Henry, revealing him to be Vecna
- Sullivan attacks the “Nina” facility and kills Brenner; Eleven escapes with the California crew
Friday, March 28, 1986
- Joyce, Murray, and Hopper return to the prison to kill the Mind Flayer and Demogorgon
- Eleven piggybacks into Max’s mind to fight Vecna while the older teens and Dustin attack in the Upside Down
- Eddie distracts the Demobats with heavy metal, sacrificing his life
- Vecna starts to kill Max before Eleven stops him; though alive, Max remains unconscious
- Nancy, Robin, and Steve attack Vecna in the Upside Down, but he escapes
- A fourth gate opens up in the Creel house and kills Jason
Saturday, March 29, 1986 – The entire crew reunites in Hawkins as smoke rises from the gates

What We Can Expect For Season Five

A lot has happened, and season five begins in the fall of 1987, a year and a half after the events of season four. At the end of the last season, the barrier between Hawkins and the Upside Down was almost completely gone, with the two worlds starting to merge. The new trailer shows Hawkins under strict government control, Vecna returning as a major threat, and Eleven being crucial to defeating him. The creators, the Duffer brothers, promise a huge, emotional finale.

Stranger Things 5 Volume One hits Netflix on Wednesday, November 26.

2025-11-25 18:08