Stranger Things Season 5 First Five Minutes Reveal What Vecna Did To Will Byers In 1983

Will Buyers in Stranger Things Season 5 - 1

Netflix TUDUM finally gave us an exclusive look at the Stranger Things Season 5 premiere, along with red-carpet interviews, straight from the TCL Chinese Theatre in Hollywood. The livestream started at 5:00 PM PT on November 6, 2025, and after waiting for two hours, the event finally showcased the opening sequence of the final season of our beloved television show. To be honest, the spine-chilling video made it clear that it will surpass everyone’s expectations in terms of brutality.

Stranger Things Season 5 To Feature the Show’s Most Terrifying Openings Ever

Stranger Things Season 5 opens up with Will Byers. We finally get to see what happened to him moments after he was kidnapped by the Demogorgon in 1983.

The 12-year-old kid is seen lying inside the Upside Down forest and singing ‘ Should I Stay Or Should I Go ‘ in his sleep. A few seconds later, he wakes up, all terrified.’ Well, who wouldn’t? He heard the sound of the Demogorgan, who is approaching him to attack.

Will picks up a gun and shoots him, but that didn’t do any good, so without taking much time, he starts running. He climbs a tree, and the Demogorgon follows him. While jumping to another tree, the poor boy crashes to the ground and loses consciousness.

The Upside Down creature drags Will to a place where we get to meet Vecna , who looks as horrifying as ever. The tentacles grab Will and push him toward the wall, tightening the grip. Vecna comes closer to the boy and says, ‘ At long last, we can begin .’ He then looks up, and a tentacle appears, sticking to Will’s mouth. Vecna then says, ‘ You and I, we are going to do such beautiful things together, William .’ And that’s where the five minutes end.

Now, we finally know what Vecna did to Will and why the boy had problems leading his normal life, even after returning at the end of Stranger Things Season 1. Also, as several cast members said in their interviews, Season 5 will be pure rampage, and now we know they weren’t exaggerating.

Stranger Things Season 5 First Five Minutes Reveal What Vecna Did to Will Byers in 1983 - 2

Aparna is a Senior Entertainment Writer at Beebom with 4 years of experience in the industry. Specializing in Jujutsu Kaisen and everything horror, she brings in-depth insights and a passion for storytelling to her coverage. Recently, she has interviewed Abby Trott, the voice actress behind Demon Slayer’s Nezuko and Dandadan’s Momo. She has also interviewed Adam McArthur, the one to voice Yuji Itadori in JJK, delivering exclusive content for fans. Previously, she contributed her expertise to some notable publications including Sportskeeda, Dexerto, and Forever Geek, honing her craft in entertainment journalism.

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Stranger Things is over; yeah, it’s really over. The final episode of Season 5 has just arrived on Netflix, and boy, it was surely an exciting journey. And now that it is over, fans may find it hard to move on from the brilliance of Hawkins and the Upside Down. Well, if you’re in the same boat of sadness, here are some other TV shows like Stranger Things you should watch now.

1. Dark

Image Credit: Wiedemann & Berg Television (via Amazon)

Release Date: December 1, 2017
Director: Baran bo Odar
Cast: Jonas Gerzabek, Louis Hofmann, Andreas Pietschmann, Dietrich Hollinderbäumer, Ella Lee, Maja Schöne, Lena Urzendowsky, Angela Winkler
Seasons/Episodes: 3/26
IMDb/Rotten Ratings: 8.7/95%

Dark might seem different from Stranger Things on the surface, but if you dig deeper, you might discover why we chose it for this list. It is a small town mystery, with missing children driving the plot. On the other hand, like the Upside Down mirrors Hawkins in Dark, you will see different realities existing in layers.

Dark revolves around four interconnected families, who are connected to each other across multiple generations. After a child goes missing, a hidden passage is discovered beneath the caves of the town of Winden. The series shows that a generation’s past sins are never buried; they are simply passed on to the next.

2. Fringe

Image Credit: Warner Bros. Television (via Amazon)

Release Date: September 9, 2008
Director: J. J. Abrams, Alex Kurtzman, Roberto Orci
Cast: Anna Torv, Joshua Jackson, John Noble, Lance Reddick, Kirk Acevedo, Blair Brown, Jasika Nicole, Mark Valley, Seth Gabel
Seasons/Episodes: 5/100
IMDb/Rotten Ratings: 8.4/91%

Now, you might love seeing Dustin talking about Parallel Universes, time, and every other sci-fi mumbo-jumbo. Well, you’ll see that all of that is discussed in Fringe. This show revolves around unexplained crimes linked to advanced science. In the show, they call it the “fringe science.”

Overall, Fringe is a TV show like Stranger Things that will surprise with its complexity, and of course, with its several alternate dimensions that ultimately threaten humanity. Sure, you don’t get a band of kids fighting off the inter-dimensional threat, but you still get amazing characters like Olivia Dunham, Walter Bishop, and his son Peter.

3. The Umbrella Academy

Image Credit: Dark Horse Entertainment (via Amazon)

Release Date: February 15, 2019
Director: Jeremy Webb, Paco Cabezas, Peter Hoar
Cast: Elliot Page, Tom Hopper, David Castañeda, Emmy Raver-Lampman, Robert Sheehan, Aidan Gallagher, Mary J. Blige, Cameron Britton, John Magaro
Seasons/Episodes: 4/36
IMDb/Rotten Ratings: 7.8/78%

The Umbrella Academy may not be as popular as Stranger Things, but believe me, it’s an awesome show that features some amazing band of characters. In Stranger Things, we have one or two superhero kids, and in The Umbrella Academy, every character has some sort of superpower.

The film centers around the Hargreeves siblings, who reunite after the death of their adoptive father. Each one of them has some ability, and one way or another, the siblings are dragged into tackling issues like alternate timelines and the end of the world. Of course, The Umbrella Academy might’ve disappointed many of us fans in the end, but if you can digest an underwhelming end, it’s for sure an amazing show to watch.

4. Alice In Borderland

Image Credit: Robot Communications (via Netflix)

Release Date: February 15, 2019
Director: Shinsuke Sato
Cast: Kento Yamazaki, Tao Tsuchiya, Nijirō Murakami, Ayaka Miyoshi, Aya Asahina, Dori Sakurada, Sho Aoyagi, Riisa Naka
Seasons/Episodes: 3/22
IMDb/Rotten Ratings: 7.8/78%

Honestly, if you have Netflix and you still haven’t watched Alice in Borderland, then you are seriously missing out on one of the best TV shows like Stranger Things. Alice in Borderland is a Japanese show that centers on a group of people stuck in what we’ll call an alternate dimension. These people have to take part in a variety of deadly games to make it out alive.

Yeah, in a way, Alice in Borderland is a mix of Squid Game and Stranger Things. But of course, don’t expect to see any flesh-eating monsters in this one. Still, the mystery around Borderland and the people running this place is as great as the mystery of Upside Down .

5. Archive 81

Image Credit: Atomic Monster (via Netflix)

Release Date: January 14, 2022
Director: Shinsuke Sato
Cast: Mamoudou Athie, Dina Shihabi, Evan Jonigkeit, Julia Chan, Ariana Neal, Matt McGorry, Martin Donovan
Seasons/Episodes: 1/8
IMDb/Rotten Ratings: 7.3/87%

Compared to Stranger Things, Archive 81 is a slow-burning horror that leans more towards a serious side. The show is basically Dan Turner, who is trying to restore the videotapes recorded by Melody Pendras. The events recorded in these videotapes lead Turner on a mystery hunt where he comes across threats like alternate dimensions, occult rituals, and a cult.

Sure, Archive 81 may take some time to grab your interest, but once it does, you stay in it until you see it to the very end. It not only entertains you with a variety of characters, but it also questions you on every stage by making you question what’s real or not.