The long wait for Stranger Things Season 5 still has months left to go in the 2025 TV schedule, but Netflix finally delivered something substantial to whet the appetites of fans. Following nearly two months of waiting after the premiere date(s) were announced, a trailer with nearly three minutes of new footage hit the web. At the time of writing less than 24 hours after the teaser went live, the YouTube video is at nearly 10 million views. I was on the edge of my seat as much as anybody while watching, but unfortunately the musical hook I was expecting just didn’t deliver. At least I wasn’t Rickrolled by Rick Astley's famous song?
The song featured in the Stranger Things Season 5 trailer was remixed to the point that it was difficult to identify on first listen, but Variety confirms that the tune was Deep Purple’s “Child in Time,” from their fourth studio album, Deep Purple in Rock. While not an ‘80s song like fans may have expected, the 1970 release felt fitting after Eddie Munson's music taste in Season 4. Thankfully, it wasn't the famous earworm that is Rick Astley's "Never Gonna Give You Up," because I might have gotten that indefinitely stuck in my head.
I won’t argue that “Child in Time” was a bad fit, and the title alone may have given particularly passionate fans something to debate in the remaining months before Season 5 arrives this fall for viewers with a Netflix subscription. But I just got my hopes up for a really epic music hook for the trailer, and not just because the memory of Kate Bush’s “Running Up That Hill” in Season 4 is still fresh.
Stranger Things just has a history of trailers with really, really, really memorable music mixes. To this date, I think that the Season 2 trailer set to Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” is one of the best things that the show has ever delivered. Heck, I probably enjoy the Season 2 trailer more than most of Season 3. (No, I’m still not over Hopper’s behavior in the third season.) The timing was even ideal – the Thriller album released in late 1982, and Season 2 was set in 1984.
The Season 3 trailer was set to a remix of The Who’s “Baba O’Riley” (often misnamed as “Teenage Wasteland”). While that particular anthem is a product of the early ‘70s rather than the ‘80s, it was a perfect fit for the themes of Season 3 and cut very well into the footage. Then, the first Season 4 trailer incorporated Journey’s 1983 release “Separate Ways (Worlds Apart),” while the Season 4B trailer was set to a cut of “Running Up That Hill,” for obvious reasons.
After watching the Season 5 trailer, I actually started looking up some late ‘80s songs that could be a good fit, with the final batch of episodes set in 1987. Once I got over moments like the Jurassic Park homage and the scary shot of Mrs. Wheeler and Holly hiding in a bathtub, I discovered one of the most famous songs from the ‘80s was released in 1987: Rick Astley’s “Never Gonna Give You Up.”
Luckily, Stranger Things’ final season trailer did not come across as a Rickroll! Check it out below, if you missed it:
Stranger Things is releasing the final season in three parts, finishing just before the end of 2025. Part 1 releases on November 26 (a.k.a. the day before Thanksgiving in the U.S.), followed by Part 2 on Christmas, and ending with the series finale on New Year’s Eve. That leaves plenty of time to revisit the first four seasons streaming on Netflix, and if you’re anything like me, possibly go back and watch that Season 2 trailer again.
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