With the first volume of Stranger Things Season 5 dropping on Netflix in India at 6.30 am on Thursday, the streamer crashed for a section of viewers.
The disruption lasted for about five minutes, caused by the overwhelming demand for the series, after which the platform resumed normal functioning.
Netflix
Though the service recovered within minutes, glitches persisted for certain users. Many who rushed to stream the sci-fi series found themselves staring at a “Nailed It!” error screen that read- “Something went wrong. Sorry, we’re having trouble with your request. You’ll find lots to explore on the home page,” according to Variety.
“Some members briefly experienced an issue streaming on TV devices, but service recovered for all accounts within five minutes,” a Netflix spokesperson told Variety.
This isn’t the first time Stranger Things has overwhelmed Netflix. When the last two episodes of Season 4 debuted in July 2022, the platform briefly went down, according to Variety. The streamer also encountered service issues during the Mike Tyson–Jake Paul fight, one of its first attempts at live streaming.
Set in the fictional town of Hawkins, Stranger Things began in 2016 with the disappearance of Schnapp’s Will Byers in the pilot episode. This sparked a chain of events which culminated in Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown) defeating Vecna (Jamie Campbell Bower), the murderous antagonist from an alternate dimension, using telekinesis in the final episode of Season 4.
The cast of Season 5 also includes Joe Keery as Steve Harrington, Charlie Heaton as Jonathan Byers, Natalia Dyer as Nancy Wheeler, Caleb McLaughlin as Lucas Sinclair, Gaten Matarazzo as Dustin Henderson, Finn Wolfhard as Mike Wheeler, Cara Buono as Karen Wheeler, David Harbour as Jim Hopper, Winona Ryder as Joyce Byers, and Priah Ferguson as Erica Sinclair.
The fifth and final instalment of the Netflix supernatural series will include eight episodes titled The Crawl, The Vanishing of…, The Turnbow Trap, Sorcerer, Shock Jock, Escape from Camazotz, The Bridge and The Rightside Up.
The first four episodes are currently streaming on Netflix, while episodes 5 to 7 will premiere on 26 December. The series finale will drop on 1 January, 2026.