Stranger Things Season 4 was something literal years in the making, and when fans learned that there would be two “volumes” in it that would be separated by about a month, many wondered if that would help or hinder the show. It didn’t hinder it, at all. If anything, Vol.1 set the table in the biggest of ways and then Vol.2 dropped all the hammers and bombshells possible in order to ensure that fans were satisfied. Which is why the viewing numbers for the first week of release were so huge.
According to Netflix (who are relying on this franchise more than ever…) Stranger Things Season 4 did 188.2 million hours viewed for the week of July 4th (that’s when Vol.2 released, that week), with 117 million of those hours viewed coming from the two-part finale.
Now, on one hand, the two-part finale had a LOT of things to show and was basically a full-on movie in the finale. But, to be watched basically 190 million hours by fans from all over…that’s a big deal. And it’s not lost on Netflix no doubt how big everything has become.
Naturally, they had to go big here due to the very simple fact that the show’s fifth season (coming in 2024) is going to be the last. So they needed to work in everything that they could in order to make sure that by the time Season 5 arrived…fans knew the stakes.
Sure enough, they do. Eddie is dead, Max is…well she’s a lot of things right now but let’s just say she’s “not well” and leave it at that, ok? Vecna has brought the Upside Down to Hawkins and now there’s going to be a massive battle coming.
So you can bet by the time the final season arrives, people are going to be rewatching everything beforehand and boosting the numbers even more.
Source: Deadline