🌅 The Cost of Prestige Drama

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Sunrise Stat
October 20, 2025

$480 million - The reported budget for the fifth and final season of Netflix’s Stranger Things.

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WHAT TO KNOW

  • The fifth and final season of the global megahit Stranger Things reportedly cost Netflix $50-$60 million per episode, suggesting the total cost for the eight-episode final season could be as high as $480 million, around $210 million more than Season 4. The episodes will range in length from 90 minutes to two hours.

WHY IT MATTERS

  • The budget is one of the highest in television history, sitting just behind The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, which reportedly cost Amazon $58 million per episode for the first two seasons, totalling over $1 billion when it was all said and done. The massive budget also underscores the evolution of scripted television in recent years, as the per-episode cost of prestige drama has skyrocketed as streamers compete for eyes in an increasingly crowded market.

CONNECT THE DOTS

  • The price tag also means the cost of the final season of Stranger Things is greater than the budget of many major Hollywood movies, outpacing recent releases like The Fantastic Four: First Steps ($200 million) and Superman ($225 million). Still, the budget pales in comparison to the most expensive movies in recent years, including 2019’s Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, which Disney just revealed cost a staggering $593.7 million, making it the third most expensive film of all time.