The Stranger Things finale was so long awaited… that even Netflix couldn’t handle the pressure.

When the final Stranger Things premiere day came, the world practically stood still. Thousands of fans entered Netflix at the same time as the countdown reached zero. It was the most awaited moment after years of following Eleven, the group and all the chaos of “Upside Down”.

But the excitement was so great that the platform couldn’t stand it. During the first few minutes, users from several countries began to receive error messages, screens on black and infinite uploads. Social networks were filled with memes, complaints and jokes about how Stranger Things had “took down” the streaming giant.

Nevertheless, the problem was temporary. Shortly after, Netflix was back up and running and millions could follow the final chapter that marked the end of a story that left its mark on an entire generation.

The unexpected meltdown only confirmed what was already obvious: Stranger Things isn’t over… made history.Streaming platform Netflix was down for about an hour for several users in the United States on Wednesday evening, coinciding with the release of the fifth and final season of its hit series “Stranger Things”.

Cast members Noah Schnapp and Millie Bobby Brown attend the screening for the final season of the television series “Stranger Things”, at Odeon Luxe Leicester Square in London, Britain, Nov. 13, 2025. Photo by Reuters

There were less than 800 reports of the issue as of 8:45 p.m. ET, down from a peak of 14,290 incidents earlier in the day, according to Downdetector, which tracks outages using multiple sources.

“Some members briefly experienced an issue streaming on TV devices, but service recovered for all accounts within five minutes,” Netflix said in an emailed response to Reuters.

Netflix has ranked “Stranger Things” as its third-most popular English-language series globally.

The highly anticipated season was set to be released at 8 p.m. ET on Wednesday.

The platform has previously faced outages during major events, including the Mike Tyson-Jake Paul boxing bout and the live-streamed reality show “Love is Blind.”