Stranger Things season five, volume one has got us all obsessed, and the Duffer brothers have packed it all the hidden details you could possibly want.
From emotional tributes to Eddie to blink-and-you’ll-miss-them Upside Down hints, here are eight hidden details you might not have clocked during your binge watch.
1. Dustin is basically a walking Eddie tribute
Credit: Netflix
It’s not just the Hellfire Club shirt, Dustin is literally wearing one of Eddie’s rings this season. And in the cafeteria in episode one, he sits in the exact same spot Eddie did in the season four premiere. Devastating? Absolutely.
2. The missing poster phone number actually works
Credit: Netflix
Eleven’s missing poster includes a real phone number. Call it and you’ll get a message from the Hawkins PD saying the town is on lockdown following the earthquake, and that finding Jane Hopper is their absolute top priority. The ARG lives on.
3. A Rainbow Brite reference gives away a major Holly storyline
Credit: Netflix
In Holly’s bedroom, you can see some Rainbow Brite merch, a character who, in a 1984 TV special, is dragged into an underground world called “the Pits”. Considering Holly’s, erm, recent Upside Down adventures, this is some very unsubtle foreshadowing.
4. Holly’s yellow dress isn’t just cute, it’s cursed
Credit: Netflix
While exploring the Creel house, Holly tries on a yellow dress that you’ll recognise as the one Alice Creel wore the night Vecna destroyed the family. Maybe don’t touch anything in that house ever again, thanks.
5. Mike being late is now a Stranger Things tradition
Credit: Netflix
Season five opens with Mike once again being late, this time for breakfast. The show has opened with him being late every single season, previously for: Dungeons & Dragons, arcade plans, a movie at Starcourt and school because… he was too busy reading a letter from Eleven. Consistency king.
6. A DnD spell has to be foreshadowing something big
Credit: Netflix
Mike gifts Holly a DnD figure named “Holly the Heroic”, telling her she can cast a “dimension door” spell, which literally teleports you anywhere within range. Holly suggests Vecna can’t do that. Sorry but there is NO way that isn’t important later.
7. Will’s powers might be a MAJOR Vecna clue
Credit: Netflix
Notice how Will uses his hand palm-side up when using his powers? That’s exactly how Vecna does it. Eleven, meanwhile, uses palm-down. Add in the fact that Will kills demogorgons the same gruesome way Vecna killed Chrissy and Max… yeah, we’re stressed.
8. A full-on High School Musical moment?!
I just burst out laughing, how on earth are the these two scenes exactly the same frame by frame
pic.twitter.com/LcimbWZzzn
— Today Years Old (@todayyearsold) December 7, 2025
One scene recreates High School Musical almost shot-for-shot. Yes, Stranger Things just went full Troy Bolton. The crossover we never knew we needed. I just know that the directors were giggling at this one.
