The first episodes of Stranger Things 5 left a lot of people with the feeling that they are in for a wild ride, and the Volume 2 trailer is just about to confirm that. The three episodes are set to drop on Netflix on December 26th, which means we'll barely have time to digest our Christmas dinner before we are thrown headfirst back into the Upside Down and everything we thought we knew gets turned on its head.
This is how it looks from some of the show's main characters in that preview, with Will looking like he's lost all hope, telling his mum, "We never had a chance", despite all that's happened so far, and despite Joyce trying to reassure him; and later on Dustin's got this look on his face as if to say "Everything we thought we knew about the Upside Down was completely wrong" and now all the wild theories that have been floating around online are going to get even wilder: who is the real bad guy going to be, and how are they going to get beat?
The first four episodes of Stranger Things 5 had us on a rollercoaster of emotion, what with the Americans besieging Hawkins and setting up base in the Upside Down as well, Demogorgons breaking through and snatching some kids to take off to Vecna's hangout, where he's got them - and yes, one of them is also Max and Nancy's little sister Holly. But just as all hope seems lost, Max spots her sister getting snatched and somehow manages to grab her in the Upside Down - even though she's been out cold in real life.
And in the Upside Down, Eleven and Hopper are stomping around the American base thinking they are going to find Vecna being held captive, but instead they find Kali, and meanwhile Mike, Will and the others are trying to rescue the kids from the clutches of the monsters and the demons, and it all comes to a head with a massive confrontation with Vecna and his minions who get taken down by Will. But that's not all - thanks to his connection to the Upside Down, Will has developed some pretty cool powers, kind of like Eleven and Vecna - the ability to see the future and move objects with his mind.
Now, the trailer for Volume 2 is giving us a pretty scary glimpse into what's to come, set to the tune of "Upside Down", which is a pretty fitting choice: Max and Holly are still wandering through the Upside Down, and it looks like they're going to be in for the fight of their lives as they encounter all the different forms of Vecna - along with El and Kali who are teaming up to take him down; Nancy is getting more and more superhero-like - and as for the Demodogs, well they are back at Hawkins Hospital causing all sorts of chaos, and it looks like Vecna is dead set on following through with his plans to the very end.
"The time has come for a brand new world," he says with this air of menace around him... and all our heroes are in for a massive battle with something that looks like a huge, destructive red cloud. What is it, and where did it come from - and what's its relationship to Vecna? We've got a real mystery on our hands here. And then there's Steve and Dustin looking out for each other and saying, "If you go down, I go down" - who is going to survive the epic finale, and which of our characters are going to stick it out to the end?