'Stranger Things' Season 5 Time Jump Explained: When Does the Netflix Series Take Place?

Stranger Things has laid the groundwork for game-changing twists in its fifth and final season.

On November 26, Volume 1 of the hit Netflix series premiered, presenting Eleven and the gang's reunion while Hawkins is placed under military quarantine.

"Hawkins is scarred by the opening of the Rifts, and our heroes are united by a single goal: find and kill Vecna," the official synopsis reads. "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."

It adds, "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."

The events in the final season, which premiered over three years after the Season 4 finale, take place on November 3, 1987. It sees Eleven, Dustin, Mike, Will and Lucas attempting to save Holly after a Demogorgon attacks and eventually kidnaps her.

After Holly reaches the Upside Down, she awakens in Vecna's world, where she discovers Max (Sadie Sink) alive but trapped. Max has been in a coma since the fourth season after Vecna "killed" her to open the fourth gate between Hawkins and the Upside Down.

Stranger Things Season 5 features a time jump of about a year and a half from the events of the fourth season, which was set in March 1986, making it the show's biggest time jump.

In comparison, the previous seasons occurred in different years: Season 1 in the fall of 1983, Season 2 in the fall of 1984 and Season 3 in the summer of 1985.

In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, creator Ross Duffer advised fans to rewatch the early seasons "because it really is about tying [everything] back to seasons one and two."

"[Those] are the seasons we referenced the most, because we really wanted this to be circular and to come full circle. There are a lot of mysteries we set up and then intentionally did not answer in those early seasons," he shared.

Stranger Things Season 5 kicks off with a five-minute flashback revisiting Will's experience in the Upside Down and everything that has happened afterward.

As Volumes 2 and 3 have yet to be released, viewers can expect to see more recollections as the story unfolds toward its conclusion.

Duffer told The Hollywood Reporter, "I mean, season one, we didn't even know we were going to get a season two, but we still kept some mystery in there. For instance, what is the Upside Down? Why was Will taken, which obviously is why this season begins with a flashback to his time in the Upside Down."

Stranger Things Season 5's last two volumes will premiere on December 25 and December 31, respectively.