In what order to watch Stranger Things: seasons, the play, and the animated series
Guide · Order · Viewing
The order is simple: the five seasons, from the first to the last. But since a play tells 1959 and an animated series is set in 1985, the question comes up: in what order, and when? Here is the release order, the chronological order, and our advice.
The essentials
- Suggested order: seasons 1 to 5, in order
- The play “The First Shadow”: after Season 4, or after everything
- The animated series: between seasons 2 and 3, or after everything
- Chronological order: 1959, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1985 bis, 1986, 1987
Contents
The simple order: from 1 to 5
The show is watched in release order, with no exception: each season assumes the previous one, and the fifth picks up scenes from the other four. There is no optional episode and no season to skip. The 42 episodes, from “The Vanishing of Will Byers” to “The Rightside Up,” form a single story, from November 1983 to May 1989.
| Order | Work | Period of the story | Release |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Season 1 | November 1983 | 2016 |
| 2 | Season 2 | Fall 1984 | 2017 |
| 3 | Season 3 | Summer 1985 | 2019 |
| 4 | Season 4 | Spring 1986 | 2022 |
| 5 | Season 5 | Fall 1987, epilogue 1989 | 2025 |
| Aside | The First Shadow (theater) | 1959 | 2023 |
| Aside | Tales From 1985 (animated) | Winter 1985 | 2026 |
The logo T-shirt, to start.
In the shopMen's long-sleeve Will Byers T-shirt47,90 €See the product
Where to place the play
"The First Shadow," played in London and New York, tells Henry Creel's adolescence in 1959 and serves as a prologue to the whole show. Chronologically, it comes first. But it assumes you know Henry, revealed in season 4: watching it before is spoiling everything; after season 4 or after the end is understanding everything. Our advice: after season 4.
Where to place the animated series
"Tales From 1985" is set in the winter of 1985, between the end of season 2 and the summer of season 3, with the party in a Saturday-morning cartoon format. You can insert it in its chronological place, between seasons 2 and 3, or keep it for afterward: it changes nothing in the main plot, and watches like a recess.
Full chronological order1959: The First Shadow. 1983: Season 1. 1984: Season 2. Winter 1985: the animated series. Summer 1985: Season 3. 1986: Season 4. 1987 to 1989: Season 5. That is the order of the story, not the suggested order.
For a second time
Once the show is over, chronological order takes on a meaning: starting with 1959 and Henry's youth, then following the children from 1983 to 1989, lights each season differently. Some fans also advise rewatching the season 5 prologue, set in 1983, right after the first episode of season 1.
What to avoid
Starting with season 4 because it is the best known; skipping “The Lost Sister”; watching the play before knowing Henry; and stopping the viewing before the after-credits scene of season 3. The rest is order, and the order is that of the numbers.
The Will figure, the first episode.
In the shopLego Will Byers mini figure and his blue bike14,90 €See the product
The internal timeline, from 1959 to 1989
| Period | What happens | Where to see it |
|---|---|---|
| 1959 | The Creel family moves to Hawkins; Henry, a teenager, discovers what he is | The First Shadow, and the season 4 flashbacks |
| 1979 | The lab massacre: One against Eleven, Henry exiled into the Upside Down | Season 4, episode 7 |
| November 1983 | Will's disappearance, Eleven, the Demogorgon | Season 1, and the prologue of the first episode of season 5 |
| Fall 1984 | The Mind Flayer, Dart, the Snow Ball | Season 2 |
| 1985 | Middle school, a summer in Hawkins before Starcourt | Tales From '85 |
| Summer 1985 | Starcourt, the Russians, Billy | Season 3 |
| March 1986 | Vecna, the Hellfire Club, the rift | Season 4 |
| November 1987 | The quarantine, Holly, the end of the Upside Down | Season 5 |
| Spring 1989 | The epilogue: diplomas, a wedding, a new game | Season 5, last episode |
Why not to watch in chronological order
It is tempting to start with 1959 and the play, then 1979, then Season 1. That would be a mistake. The show is built on gradual revelation: you are not supposed to know who Henry Creel is before the seventh episode of Season 4, or what happened in the mine before the last chapter. The First Shadow and the flashbacks only make sense for someone who already knows what comes after; seen first, they defuse the best surprises.
The animated series poses the same problem on a smaller scale. Set in 1985, it assumes you know the Snow Ball and the closing of the gate. Seeing it before Season 2 reveals who survived 1984, which is not nothing.
An order for watching with a child
If you watch with a child, the order changes a little. Seasons 1 to 3 follow one another with no particular difficulty, with scenes to anticipate: Barb's pool, Bob's death, then the 1985 hospital. Season 4 jumps clearly in violence from its first episode, with Chrissy's death; that is the moment to pause, and possibly to slot in the animated series, gentler.
Season 5 is of the same intensity as the fourth, plus children of Holly's age in danger, which can hit a young viewer harder than a monster.
The prologues: when a season goes back
Several seasons open on a scene set years before the action, and that is where the watch order is at stake. Season 4 starts in 1979, at the lab, on the bodies of the numbered children: you only understand that scene in the seventh episode. Season 5 starts in November 1983, with Will in the Upside Down, and reveals what happened during his week of captivity in season 1: the creature carried him to Henry, in the library.
Those prologues are the way the show rewrites its own past. They only matter in release order: seen after the season concerned, they bring an answer; seen before, they are only one more riddle. That is the simplest reason to watch the show from 1 to 5, and to keep the prequels for afterward.
The five-season poster.
In the shopWill Byers hoodie59,90 €See the product
TakeawaySeasons 1 to 5, in order, without skipping. The play (1959) after Season 4. The animated series (1985) between seasons 2 and 3, or after. Do not start with Season 4.
Frequently asked questions
In what order to watch Stranger Things?
Seasons 1 to 5, in release order. The play and the animated series are watched apart, preferably after Season 4.
Should you watch The First Shadow before the show?
No: it tells 1959 but assumes you know Henry, revealed in season 4. Watch it after.
Where is the animated series set?
In winter 1985, between seasons 2 and 3. It changes nothing in the main plot.
Can you skip episodes?
No. All of them count, including "The Lost Sister," which introduces Kali, essential to the ending.
Can you start with The First Shadow?
It is not recommended: the play reveals who Henry Creel is, which the show only says in the seventh episode of season 4. It watches better afterward.
Where to place the animated series for a child?
Between seasons 3 and 4, as a gentler pause before the rise in violence of 1986; it is set in 1985 and assumes season 2 is known.
In what order to rewatch the show before introducing it to someone?
In release order, with particular attention to the prologues of seasons 4 and 5, which take their full meaning when you know the ending.