Stranger Things fever hit a snag on Wednesday (Nov 26) as Netflix experienced a sudden outage in several regions. Thousands of viewers reported being unable to stream the highly awaited Season 5 finale premiere, triggering a flood of complaints across social media. Outage-tracking platforms confirmed disruptions, with the issues peaking in the US around the show’s release time.
According to DownDetector, outage reports surged minutes after the episode dropped. Users complained of login failures, service crashes, and streaming glitches. About 55% reported video playback issues, 36% faced server errors, and 9% couldn’t log in. By 7:56 PM ET, over 14,000 incidents had been logged. Several users in India also reported difficulties accessing content early Thursday morning.
“Some members briefly experienced an issue streaming on TV devices, but service recovered for all accounts within five minutes,” Netflix stated in an email response to Reuters. The platform has experienced service disruptions in the past during significant events, such as the Mike Tyson vs. Jake Paul boxing match and the live-streamed reality series "Love is Blind".
Fans quickly took to X (formerly Twitter) as Netflix went down, with hashtags like #NetflixDown and #StrangerThings trending. Many shared error screenshots, expressed frustration after waiting years for the finale, and joked that the Upside Down had taken over the platform. The outage hit hard given the cultural importance of the final season, one of Netflix’s most-watched franchises.
Netflix has listed 'Stranger Things' as its third most-watched English-language series worldwide. The fifth season’s first four episodes debuted on November 26, followed by three more on Christmas Day, and the final episode aired on New Year’s Eve. The opening set of episodes from the highly anticipated final season premiered at 8 PM EST (6:30 AM IST the next day). Stranger Things 5, Volume 1 will consist of four episodes, each anticipated to run between 54 minutes and 1 hour 23 minutes.
Netflix’s Stranger Things Season 5 is set in fall 1987, with Hawkins still haunted by the Rifts. The group must track down the missing Vecna while the government hunts Eleven. As Will’s disappearance anniversary nears, the final battle looms, requiring the full team to unite one last time.