Netflix has unveiled the first five minutes of Stranger Things season 5 and, well, it's a bad time to be a Will Byers fan. The flashback scene is heartbreaking and pulse-racing in equal measure, as it sees the bowl-cutted boy try to fight off a Demogorgon – but it's the last few moments, where it dramatically rewrites the show's history, that has grabbed our attention...
Turns out, Will (Noah Schnapp, who's been de-aged for the opener) first encountered Vecna (Jamie Campbell Bower) years before the vine-y villain terrorized him and his pals in season 4.
We're getting a little ahead of ourselves, though. The clip, which you can watch above, opens with a gooey, terrified Will trying to soothe himself by singing 'Should I Stay or Should I Go?' inside Castle Byers in the Upside Down. When a Demogorgon barges into the fort, he blasts it with a shotgun (Nancy Wheeler would be proud) and makes a run for it, leaping up a nearby tree and hiding out up-top.
Will watches the creatures roam on the ground, but is forced to try and jump to another branch when it starts climbing. He misses and crash-lands in the dirt; his fall stopped briefly halfway as he gets caught on his backpack. The Demogorgon then drags an unconscious Will to its lair. Given what he later told Joyce (Winona Ryder) and his pals, all of that checks out, but what comes next switches things up in a major way...
As Will lies in the cave, Vecna approaches, stringing up the boy and ominously whispering, "At long last, we can begin. We are going to do such beautiful things together, William. Such beautiful things." He then connects one of his vines to Will's mouth and starts pumping god knows what into him. Will looks to be unconscious throughout, so it's entirely possible that he doesn't even remember any of his happened... which could explain why he didn't mention it in season 4.
"Scarred by the opening of the Rifts, our heroes are united by a single goal: find and kill Vecna," reads the official Stranger Things 5 synopsis. "But he has vanished – his whereabouts and plans unknown. Complicating their mission, the government has placed the town under military quarantine and intensified its hunt for Eleven, forcing her back into hiding. As the anniversary of Will's disappearance approaches, so does a heavy, familiar dread. The final battle is looming – and with it, a darkness more powerful and more deadly than anything they've faced before. To end this nightmare, they'll need everyone – the full party – standing together, one last time."
Stranger Things season 5 premieres on November 26, with Volume 2 arriving on Christmas Day and the finale dropping on December 31. For more, check out our picks of the best Netflix shows for some viewing inspiration.
