Netflix Crashes with ‘Stranger Things’ Finale Premiere, Second Outage of the Season

Netflix hit a bit of a snag on Wednesday night as viewers tuned in for the series finale of “Stranger Things.” Some users experienced technical difficulties, causing a brief crash for the streaming platform. This wasn’t the first time this season – Netflix also faced issues during the Season 5 premiere on Nov. 26.

The crash occurred right around 5 p.m. PT, just as the “Stranger Things 5” finale was set to drop. Fortunately, after a minute or so and a few refreshes, things were back up and running smoothly. Users who encountered the error were greeted with an image from “Nailed It!” along with a message saying, “Something went wrong. Sorry, we’re having trouble with your request. You’ll find lots to explore on the home page.”

Back in November, Netflix experienced a five-minute crash when the first four episodes of Season 5 were released. This wasn’t the first time technical issues have plagued Netflix during a highly-anticipated release. Season 4 of “Stranger Things” and the Mike Tyson vs. Jake Paul boxing match also caused some trouble in the past.

Thankfully, the second batch of “Stranger Things” Season 5 episodes, released on Christmas Day, went off without a hitch. In fact, those episodes helped Netflix achieve its highest viewership ever on Christmas Day. The series finale proved to be a crowd-pleaser, with 34.5 million views between Dec. 22-28. This marked the second-best weekly total for the season, following the impressive debut with 59.6 million views in November. Fans clearly can’t get enough of the Upside Down and all its mysteries!