Stranger Things creators Ross and Matt Duffer have been teasing in the run-up to season 5 that Noah Schnapp's Will Byers was finally going to take center stage again in the final chapter. The latest trailer for season 5, which sees Eleven and the rest of the Hawkins gang taking one last stand against Vecna, makes good on that promise.
It begins with Mike (Finn Wolfhard) talking about how awful it is to be "stuck", with the Department of Defense having put all of the locals in military quarantine to stop the Upside Down from leaking beyond the town's boundaries. "Maybe tonight is our break. We find Vecna, and we end this once and for all. Together," he tells his pals – but beating the big bad ain't gonna be easy...
"This isn't like one of your campaigns," a solemn-looking Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown) tells Mike in a later scene. "You don't get to write the ending. Not this time."
"He's planning to end our world," adds Nancy (Natalia Dyer). "And he's not gonna stop until we're drained of every last ounce of suffering."
The montage that follows gives us glimpses at the epic battle ahead, with the US army taking on a bunch of demogorgons, Nancy opening fire on an unseen enemy, Lucas (Caleb McLaughlin) rescuing an unconscious Max (Sadie Sink) from a demodog, and Eleven flexing some seriously levelled-up powers. What's perhaps most interesting, though, is the final moment in which Vecna (Jamie Campbell-Bower) approaches Will. "William, you are going to help me. One... last... time," the vine-y villain insists, as he drags the youngster towards him. What does he have planned?!
Now, it's not lost on us that the trailer is set to Queen's 'Who Wants to Live Forever', a 1986 track that was written for the fantasy action-adventure flick Highlander. In the movie, Russell Nash/Connor MacLeod (Christopher Lambert) discovers that he's a centuries-old immortal, and is forced to partake in a final duel against his arch-rival, the Kurgan. In the end, Connor defeats the Kurgan by decapitating him and absorbing his power – before leaving New York City and returning home to Scotland as a mortal man.
In Highlander lore, immortals can sense when another is nearby using 'The Buzz', an extra-sensory perception whose strength depends on the power of the immortal nearby. At the end of Stranger Things 4, Will admitted that he could feel Vecna was still alive. Might the Highlander links be a clue as to how he will beat Vecna in Stranger Things 5? Only time will tell.
Stranger Things seasons 1-4 are streaming now on Netflix. While we wait for Stranger Things season 5 to premiere on November 26, check out our picks of the best Netflix shows for some viewing inspiration.
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