Netflix Crashes Due to High Volume of Stranger Things Season 5 Viewers

The highly anticipated release of the first volume of episodes for Stranger Things Season 5 caused such a frenzy that it briefly crashed Netflix! Users reported experiencing some downtime at 5pm PT on Wednesday, November 26, as the first four episodes went live. Some viewers encountered bugs on Netflix throughout the evening, but fear not, the streaming service quickly recovered.

During the outage, users were greeted with an error message featuring a background image of a hilariously terrible cake from Netflix’s reality cooking show Nailed It! It’s always a little amusing when technical difficulties involve a baking disaster, right? The error message flooded social media as fans eagerly tried to dive into Stranger Things Season 5.

This isn’t the first time Stranger Things has taken Netflix offline—remember back in July 2022 when the final two episodes of Season 4 dropped? And let’s not forget the chaos caused by the live-streamed Mike Tyson-Jake Paul fight in November 2024.

Here’s the official scoop on Stranger Things Season 5: The fall of 1987. Hawkins is reeling from the opening of the Rifts, and our heroes are on a mission to find and defeat Vecna. But he’s gone missing, throwing a wrench in their plans. The town is under military quarantine, intensifying the hunt for Eleven and pushing her into hiding. As the anniversary of Will’s disappearance looms, a heavy sense of dread settles in. The final battle is approaching, and it brings with it a darkness more menacing than anything they’ve encountered before. To conquer this nightmare, the full party must stand united one last time.

Who do you think is most likely to meet their demise in Season 5 of Stranger Things? Joyce Byers, Dustin Henderson, Lucas Sinclair, Mike Wheeler, Nancy Wheeler, Max Mayfield, Robin Buckley, Steve Harrington, Jim Hopper, Will Byers, Eleven, Jonathan Byers, or someone else? Share your thoughts in the comments!

Stranger Things Season 5 is divided into three parts, with the first four episodes dropping on November 26 for Thanksgiving. The next three episodes will premiere on Christmas, and the series finale will hit Netflix and over 350 theaters nationwide on New Year’s Eve. Mark your calendars!

Excited to dive into the first batch of Season 5 episodes? Check out IGN’s spoiler review for Volume 1 to see what we thought of the latest installment in the Stranger Things saga.

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