Stranger Things is wrapping up its run on Netflix with a fifth and final season spread across three different drops - but not every cast member is returning. The hit series, which debuted in 2016, focuses on a fictional town where a series of supernatural events take place and cause mystery and mayhem. Over the course of five seasons, Stranger Things has catapulted its cast members - Winona Ryder, David Harbour, Finn Wolfhard, Noah Schnapp, Millie Bobby Brown, Gaten Matarazzo, Caleb McLaughlin, Natalia Dyer, Charlie Heaton and Joe Keery - to stardom. Ahead of the show's highly-anticipated season 4 premiere in 2022, creators Matt and Ross Duffer announced that they were going to end the series after one more chapter in Hawkins, Indiana. "Seven years ago, we planned out the complete story arc for Stranger Things," they detailed in an open letter in February 2022. "At the time, we predicted the story would last four to five seasons. It proved too large to tell in four but - as you'll see for yourselves - we are now hurtling toward our finale. Season 4 will be the penultimate season; season 5 will be the last." Holy Upside Down! 'Stranger Things' Cast From Season 1 to Now: Photos Later that year, the Duffer Brothers opened up about their vision for the final episodes and addressed the season 4 episode split. "The original plan was to release it all at once again. But as we began turning over episodes, everyone began to feel the season was too big to be released in one batch - at nearly 13 hours, it is really more two seasons than one," they told Variety in May 2022 after Volume 1 dropped the first seven episodes. "Episode 7 is as big as any season finale we've ever had, so it made sense to everyone involved to split the season there. Episode 7 really serves as the end of the second act - and we feel that our final act had enough meat on the bone to make up Volume 2." Keep scrolling to see which cast members have confirmed they are returning - and who won't be back: Winona Ryder Courtesy of Netflix Ryder's Joyce has been featured in the season 5 trailer and stills. David Harbour David Harbour Courtesy of Netflix Before filming the finale season, Harbour teased Hopper's potential story line in season 5. "We're walking into season 5. I've got a couple more months to train," he said at the Middle East Film & Comic Con in March 2023. "I did a lot of training for season 4. He [Hopper] was in a very specific position, that Russian prison. It was about making him a different guy and sort of shedding a layer of himself physically, mentally, and emotionally. But now he's back in town, he's back in America where they have cheeseburgers, so he will be well-fed." Millie Bobby Brown Netflix Brown admitted in March 2023 she was "very ready" to move on from Stranger Things, but Eleven will appear. "I'm definitely ready to wrap up. I feel like there's a lot of the story that's been told now," she explained to Seventeen. "It's been in our lives for a very long time. But I'm very ready to say goodbye to this chapter of my life, and open new ones up. I'm able to create stories myself that are important to me and focus on the bigger picture. But I'm really grateful [for the show]." Finn Wolfhard Courtesy of Netflix Wolfhard, who plays Mike, exclusively told Us Weekly that he was mourning the end of the show after returning for season 5. He called the final season "bittersweet, bitter and then sweet." Gaten Matarazzo Tina Rowden/Netflix "There's an excitement there because you always want to wrap it up and you want to see how these characters are going to finally develop one last time, and how they're going to finish their journeys," Matarazzo said on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon in March 2023, noting that the experience was "bittersweet" as well. "But also, there's a deep fear that's been like - not only has it been amazing, but it's been, like, pretty great job security." Matarazzo said he was looking forward to Dustin's final arc. "I think [the story is] in the best hands it can be," he explained. "Matt and Ross know these characters better than I think we might. It's really interesting 'cause they trust us all very much to make our own decisions and go about the scenes the way we've always instinctually wanted to." Caleb McLaughlin Courtesy of Netflix McLaughlin is reprising his role as Lucas after ending season 4 on a dramatic note. Noah Schnapp Courtesy of Netflix "There will definitely be another center point for Will in season 5 and I think it's really exciting and I'm definitely so excited to see what they have in store," Schnapp exclusively told Us in January 2023. "They won't tell me specifics, but they were like, 'You just wait. You will be very happy and excited. So sit tight.'" He continued: "I think the story opened and started with Will, and I think ending it with him and circling back on that is a nice way for them to wrap it up." Sadie Sink Netflix While season 4 ended with Sink's Max in a coma, photos fr