After I Watched Stranger Things 5’s First Five Minutes, Here’s What The Upside Down Flashback Changes (And Doesn't) From Season 1

Spoilers are ahead for the first five minutes of Stranger Things 5, if you're avoiding all footage until the premiere.

While there are still a few weeks left in the 2025 TV schedule before the long-awaited arrival of Stranger Things’ fifth and final season, Netflix had a treat for fans. Just hours after the first footage of Stranger Things: Tales From ‘85 debuted, the first five minutes of the original series' premiere were streamed as part of a Season 5 event, giving fans a first look at the first new episode since 2022.

Now there's more to talk about after the full trailer revealed a huge moment for Will and Vecna in the remaining weeks of hiatus! The opening scene tied back to the seventh episode of Season 1, and while the flashback to Will’s final hours in the Upside Down was a great way to get immersed back into the world of Stranger Things, it also doesn’t entirely match what we knew from that earlier episode.

The First Five Minutes Of Season 5

Stranger Things Season 5 turned back the clock for the first five minutes, which meant digitally de-aging Noah Schnapp to play Will at the age of 12 once again. The youngest Byers boy was still stuck in the Upside Down, with the date marking the flashback as November 12, 1983. He was lying down in Castle Byers, singing The Clash’s “Should I Stay Or Should I Go” to himself.

Unfortunately, Will’s time hiding from the OG Demogorgon was up, as the creature found him and attacked. Will fired his rifle at the Demogorgon and ran for his life, frantically scurrying up a tree in the Upside Down. When the Demogorgon went after him anyway, he made a bold jump towards another tree… only to not be able to get a good hold and fall, banging every branch until getting stuck by his backpack and hitting the ground hard.

Then, the Demogorgon dragged him to the Upside Down version of Hawkins Library, where Vecna was waiting to use vines to pin Will to a wall. “At long last we can begin,” said Vecna, using his powers to force a tentacle down his throat to pump some kind of substance into him. Caressing the poor kid’s face, Vecna ended the first scene by saying, “You and I, we are going to do such beautiful things together, William. Such beautiful things.”

Take a look:

And now, fans have some classic Stranger Things nightmare fuel to consider for the next few weeks!

How The Scene Compares To Will In The Upside Down In Season 1

Don't worry – I’m not going to claim that the first five minutes were retconning everything from Season 1. Will comforting himself in the Upside Down by singing “Should I Stay Or Should I Go” in Castle Byers has been canon since 2016, and that tentacle down his throat is as revolting now as it was when I first binged my way through Season 1 with my Netflix subscription. But there were some other pieces from the scene that don’t quite fit with what we saw in Season 1.

So, I went back on Netflix and rewatched the scenes of Will in the Upside Down from the penultimate episode of the first season, starting with when Eleven found him in the Void (around the 34:00-minute mark). To say that Will was running on fumes would be an overstatement; the poor boy was cold, pale, and looked almost completely lifeless until he managed to weakly stammer out “Hurry” when El promised that Joyce was coming for him. All the adrenaline that a 12-year-old body can muster doesn’t seem like it would be enough to get him up and ready for an action sequence!

Then we get the scene of the Demogorgon finding Will, around the 39-minute mark. It mostly matches with the recreation in Season 5, since the pilot confirms (around the 7:30-mark) that Will did have the rifle on him when he was taken. My only issue is that the Season 1 version of Will didn’t look like he had the energy to stand up straight, let alone fire a gun, run away from a Demogorgon, climb a tree, and then leap to another tree.

It’s not the biggest deal in the world, and anybody who hasn’t watched Season 1 since 2016 might not even notice. Plus, Vecna controlling everything isn't a retcon, but fleshes out what we thought we knew all this time. I just think it's safe to say that Season 1 Will was in no way ready to shoot, run, and climb the way that Season 5 Will does in the flashback. That doesn't do anything the ruin my excitement for what's to come, though!

See what’s in store after these first five minutes when Volume 1 of Season 5 arrives on Netflix on Wednesday, November 26 at 8 p.m. ET. Volume 2 will premiere on December 25, and then the Stranger Things series finale on December 31 as the final release of Netflix 2025 schedule. Hopefully fans everywhere can ring in the new year in the wake of a satisfying finale!