Breaking Down The Entire Stranger Things Timeline

Remember the '80s? If you've seen "Stranger Things," you definitely do. The Netflix series has spent the past six years traipsing through the decade that brought us "Fast Times at Ridgemont High," Farrah Fawcett hairstyles, and lots and lots of great music. With four seasons and multiple time jumps, it can be difficult keeping track of when the kids of Hawkins, Indiana are at any given moment. Plus, as more secrets about the town and the villains that call it home come to light, the pre-'80s past has also begun to become important.

Luckily, we've got you covered with the complete timeline of the major plots of "Stranger Things" to date.

Warning: There are SPOILERS below for "Stranger Things" season 4.

In a brief but seemingly important flashback, Victor Creel (who's played by Kevin L. Johnson and Robert Englund at different ages) revealed that he was stationed in France in WWII, where he accidentally ordered the shelling of an occupied civilian home. We're briefly told that this is his greatest regret, and later, his son Henry (portrayed by Raphael Luce as a child) — who would grow up to be Vecna — shows him the haunting image of a child's bassinet engulfed in flames.

Could Victor's wartime memory be just another example of Vecna's ability to reflect shame and guilt back at his victims? Maybe, but as you'll see on this timeline, much of the "Stranger Things" mythology has to do with both shady war practices and children. Plus, Victor's wife gets pregnant with Henry soon after he returns from the war — could all of this be related to the origins of Vecna's powers?

To start this slide off, we're going to discuss an event unseen in the actual "Stranger Things" show. Instead, this is something added to the canon in "Stranger Things: The First Shadow," the stage play prequel to the central series that premiered at the end of 2023. The play primarily follows the character of Henry Creel, who later becomes Vecna, but it kicks off with a reveal concerning how all these fantastical events begin.

In 1943, the United States government conducts experiments to try to get a leg up on the Axis Powers during World War II. One of these tests involves forcefield technology intended to grant naval ships invisibility — a massive potential advantage against the Nazi fleet. However, when this energy device is tested on the USS Eldridge, it doesn't just disappear but is warped to a hostile, parallel reality dubbed Dimension X.

That strange alien world is glimpsed at various points throughout the show, and while it has close ties to the Upside Down, they are not the same. Only one man survives the ordeal: the father of Dr. Martin Brenner. His exposure to Dimension X makes genetic changes to his blood, and the experience leaves his son obsessively curious about the alternate world and the mysteries held there.

Inspired by his father's harrowing experience in Dimension X, Martin Brenner (Matthew Modine) grew up and pursued a career researching similar paranormal phenomena. As detailed in "The First Shadow," Brenner joined a team of scientists some time in the 1950s on a project known as the Nevada Experiment. The goal was to recreate the transdimensional effects of the USS Eldridge incident (also known as Project Rainbow and the Philadelphia Experiment). During this time, the Creel family lived nearby. Young Henry was caught in the range of one of the experiments while playing in a cave system near his home, which transported him to Dimension X for a number of hours. While he returned alive, he was forever changed, and the stage play implies that the creature later dubbed the Mind Flayer tainted his mind and unlocked his psychic abilities.

For reasons that we'll get into a bit more later, this is confusing. Season 4 of "Stranger Things" makes it pretty clear that Henry bent the Mind Flayer to his own will after being sent to Dimension X by Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown) in the '70s. The show itself doesn't provide an origin for his psychic powers. The version of events relayed in "The First Shadow" alters this story substantially, or at least it seems to. If the play is to be believed, Henry was changed by the Mind Flayer, and his later psychotic episodes, spurts of violence, and connection to Dimension X all stemmed from the strange creature's own desires (rather than the other way around).

"Stranger Things" hasn't talked about MKUltra for a while, so it's easy to forget that the real-life CIA mind control experiment is at the core of the series' sci-fi premise. While the show itself doesn't seem to have mentioned the exact year the experimentation that would eventually be led by Dr. Brenner began, press materials for season 2 (shared by The Playlist) included a timeline revealing the start of the experiments.

After his first voyage into Dimension X, Henry Creel became deeply troubled. Whether tormented by messages and urges from the Mind Flayer or just set off-balance by the genetic changes of a visit to the alien realm, the result was clear — something was wrong. The family relocated to Hawkins, Indiana in the late 1950s for a fresh start, which makes up the majority of "Stranger Things: The First Shadow."

Again, this is where the show and the play begin to contradict each other. In "Stranger Things" season 4, Vecna himself (the mutated, evil version of Henry who torments Hawkins) essentially claims responsibility for the many strange and violent deeds perpetrated in 1959. These begin with Henry torturing animals and drawing strange visions, and they culminate in him murdering his whole family (save for his father) in a fit of incredible power and viciousness. According to his own version of events, Henry did this of his own free will because he had come to detest humanity — even those closest to him.

In "The First Shadow," however, it is shown that the Mind Flayer pushed Henry to commit these grave acts. The dark being's influence on Henry's mind led him to periods of dissociation and brutality, but the play portrays these as being more like anomalies. Henry even befriends a girl named Patty in Hawkins around that same time, showing that he wasn't as misanthropic as a child as he later claims.

The easiest way to justify these two versions of the story with one another is to assume that the Mind Flayer's influence on Henry, over the course of many years, twisted his mind and his memories so severely that he eventually came to believe that he was always an agent of evil. As Vecna, Henry takes credit for the bloody things he did under the influence of the Mind Flayer, and he eventually transforms into a self-motivated creature with his own vile agenda.

As he reveals in an emotional season 4 monologue, Jim Hopper (David Harbour) worked in the Chemical Corps and was a part of the project that spread Agent Orange in Vietnam. This real-life "herbicidal warfare" program left many involved extremely ill and also caused birth defects in children of soldiers and Vietnamese locals.

According to dates laid out in the book "Stranger Things: Darkness on the Edge of Town," Hopper was in Vietnam in 1960, but Agent Orange didn't begin until 1962. In the series, he says that he joined the military when he was just 18, so maybe he didn't get shipped off right away. Either way, we'll go with the show's timeline and say that if he was involved in the early days of the Chemical Corps, it was in 1962.

Sometime in 1971, Terry Ives (Aimee Mullins) gives birth to a baby named Jane, but is told she miscarried while Jane is secreted away to Hawkins Lab. During her pregnancy, Terry was subject to the MKUltra experiments, which her sister says involved putting her in sensory deprivation tanks. 12 years later, when Hopper and Joyce Byers (Winona Ryder) visit Terry's home to question her, she still has a child's room set up for baby Jane, now called Eleven.

Coincidentally (or not), Hopper and his wife gave birth to a daughter named Sara during the spring of this same year. This is another detail that's revealed in "Stranger Things: Darkness on the Edge of Town," but that hasn't been exactly specified in the show's timeline. Despite Hopper's exposure to Agent Orange, he says Sara was initially healthy upon her birth.

The emotional climax of "Stranger Things" season 1 reveals that Hopper's daughter Sara passed away at a young age after developing cancer. While the show doesn't specify the year, we know Sara was 7 at the time of her death, meaning this would have happened in 1978.

If Sara and Eleven are parallels, this is interesting timing, given that El's mother Terry was also fighting to save her life this year. In season 2, we learn that Terry's current catatonic state happened after Dr. Brenner forced her to undergo torturous treatments for her perceived mental illness, all because Terry brought a gun to Hawkins Lab in an attempt to recover her daughter.

Meanwhile, El's childhood friend and fellow test subject Kali (Linnea Berthelsen), aka 008, escaped from Hawkins Lab this year, which is good, because some pretty intense stuff went down in 1979.

To control Henry in his captivity, Dr. Brenner implanted a device that kept his powers muted. As the team at Hawkins Lab continued to experiment on him and the other psychic children created through Brenner's tests, whatever remained of Henry's innocence and humanity was eroded away, likely assisted by the pervasive influence of the Mind Flayer. By 1979, he had grown to hate everyone involved in the project and humanity as a whole.

After befriending Eleven, Henry (now played by Jamie Campbell Bower) tricked her into helping him remove the blocker that had been implanted in him by Brenner. Free of the control, Henry went on a bloody rampage through the facility that was only stopped when Eleven managed to open a portal to Dimension X and send Henry through it. In the process, Henry was physically transformed, and his mind was twisted even further.

While Eleven remained in captivity (now the new centerpiece of Brenner's experiments), Henry explored Dimension X and began to commune more deeply with the Mind Flayer and the other creatures found there. This slowly changed him completely into the creature known as Vecna.

After Eleven showed the full display of her powers and vanquished Vecna to Dimension X, Dr. Brenner took renewed interest in her unique talents. He began a regimen of focused training for her psychic abilities, often involving sensory deprivation techniques similar to the ones he employed with Henry years before.

The primary purpose of this work was to produce effective spy tools for the United States government to deploy against the Soviet Union. Through training, Eleven managed to learn a form of mental projection, casting her mind psychically across great distances and latching onto other beings. Under Brenner's instruction, she used this technique to eavesdrop on Russian operatives, but one such mission led her to encounter the demogorgon, a predator from Dimension X.

The exact details of how this happened remain up for debate. But since we know that psychic abilities originate from Dimension X, it's likely that Eleven's powers were always linked in some ways to the creatures living there. Her mental projection technique may have been latching onto some extra-dimensional frequency, linking her to the alien world that she once opened a portal to. After the encounter with the Demogorgon, Brenner once again became fascinated by the potential of Dimension X.

"Stranger Things" season 1 starts in November 1983, roughly four years after Eleven's violent confrontation with Henry Creel. On the fateful night of November 6, Dr. Brenner led Eleven through another projection escapade, this time explicitly intended to find and contact the demogorgon. What the doctor didn't anticipate was that Eleven finding the creature would also lead to her creating another portal between the worlds.

The demogorgon breaks through the dimensional barrier with the assistance of Eleven's powers and begins massacring the scientists. In the commotion, Eleven manages to get away, sneaking out of the facility and wandering hungrily until she's found the next morning by some concerned citizens.

As she makes her getaway, Will Byers (Noah Schnapps), riding home at night on his bike from a grim D&D session with his friends, is pursued by the escaped demogorgon. Will tries his best to hide from the creature, but it eventually finds him, dragging him to a twisted inversion of Hawkins created in between Earth and Dimension X — a realm later dubbed the Upside Down.

Though Will's disappearance is very strange, it takes a while for his mother, Joyce, to convince Sheriff Jim Hopper and the rest of the Hawkins Police Department to pull out all the stops and search for him. As this is happening, government agents descend on the lab and the town, hunting for Eleven. Benny (Chris Sullivan), a local diner owner, takes Eleven in and feeds her, but when he tries to get help, the operatives searching for her make their way to the diner and kill him, forcing her to flee again.

While on the hunt for their friend in the woods, Mike Wheeler (Finn Wolfhard), Dustin Henderson (Gaten Matarazzo), and Lucas Sinclair (Caleb McLaughlin) once again encounter an on-the-run El, taking her back to Mike's basement. She explains that Will has been taken by a creature from another realm, which she relays via the boys' D&D setup. The figure for the demogorgon is used for the monster, and she shows how the creature and Will now both exist in a realm "upside down" from the everyday world.

As this is unfolding, Mike's older sister Nancy (Natalia Dyer) goes to a party with her new boyfriend Steve (Joe Keery) and her best friend Barb (Shannon Purser). As Will's brother Jonathan (Charlie Heaton) snoops in the bushes, the demogorgon strikes again, claiming the life of Barb. Hopper traces some of the mysteries around the lab and Will's disappearance to a series of MKUltra experiments, and Joyce Byers sets up Christmas lights in her house around an alphabet sign when she realizes Will can communicate from the Upside Down through electrical signals. While she receives evidence that he's alive, a body is found that night, drowned in the quarry, and Will is declared dead.

Troubled by Joyce's protests that the body found in the Hawkins quarry is not Will, Hopper digs deeper. He aggressively interrogates the state trooper who claims to have found the body, uncovering the truth that the discovery was a government-mandated deception.

The remainder of "Stranger Things" season 1 unfolds essentially in three core parts. Joyce and Hopper, now both convinced of the conspiracy, investigate the facility and uncover the truth of the experiments that led to Eleven's birth and powers. Meanwhile, Jonathan and Nancy get tossed together in the search for Barb, eventually uncovering some of the Upside Down mystery themselves. Elsewhere, the kids continue to look for Will with Eleven's help, as Eleven reveals that she can also transmit interdimensional signals through the radio.

As the full strength of El's powers becomes apparent, things come to a head. The kids set up a sensory deprivation tank for Eleven in the old Hawkins middle school, and she finds WIll. Joyce and Hopper then break into the lab and eventually make their way into the Upside Down via the gate she opened there. Finally, Nancy and Jonathan, now joined by an apologetic Steve, draw the demogorgon away and fight it, while the grown ups get Will out.

As government agents descend on the school, Eleven unleashes her powers and kills them to save her new friends. When the group is faced by a wounded demogorgon, she uses the remainder of her strength to defeat it, sealing herself back inside the Upside Down in the process.

A brief epilogue to the first season of "Stranger Things" leaves threads open for the following chapters. Will, now back home, reveals some sort of Upside Down infection when he coughs up a strange goop in his bathroom, hiding the reality of his new condition from his family and friends. At the same time, we learn that Hopper has been leaving Eggos in the woods for Eleven, who still seems to be alive.

We also see how much Mike misses El, and the ways in which the experience has changed everyone. Lastly, for the time being, Nancy gets back together with Steve, though she and Jonathan remain friends.

In the aftermath of the Hawkins Lab incident, Soviet scientists in Russia begin experimenting with the Upside Down. Their intentions are essentially the same as those of Brenner and his group: to figure out how to weaponize the alternate dimension and its strange qualities to gain an edge in the Cold War.

These schemes don't come to fruition until season 3, but they begin much earlier in the timeline, before "Stranger Things" season 2 kicks off in October 1984. At the same time that the Soviets are developing their Upside Down program, the main cast of the show is recovering from the events of season 1. Most notably, as revealed in season 2, Eleven quickly manages to escape from the Upside Down after killing the demogorgon, but she's forced to hide in the woods because of the many government agents combing Hawkins looking for her. With a little help from Hopper, she manages to survive in the wild. She eventually gets up the courage to make contact with Hopper, who takes her to a cabin he owns in the woods. She lives there until season 2, safe and hidden.

And, of course, during all this time, the Upside Down continues to spread tendrils into the human realm, slowly building subterranean passages for its next attack.

On the evening of October 28, 1984, Kali Prasad, aka "Eight," and her crew track down a former colleague of Dr. Brenner named John Pericles in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Kali kills him out of vengeance for the violence he committed against her and the other subjects of Brenner's program. The next day, in Hawkins, Will, Dustin, Lucas, and Mike meet Max Mayfield (Sadie Sink), a girl their age who's just moved to town with her mother, stepfather, and stepbrother Billy (Dacre Montgomery).

Over the next few days, Will begins to have debilitating visions of the Upside Down. Though these are really caused by the influence of the Mind Flayer, the adults in his life believe they are a symptom of his PTSD. Barb's parents, still oblivious to what really happened to their daughter, hire conspiracy theorist Murray Bauman (Brett Gelman) to uncover the truth, which causes friction between Nancy and Steve due to their differing perspectives on whether or not to reveal what they know. Meanwhile, the new director of Hawkins Lab, Dr. Sam Owens (Paul Reiser), becomes concerned by the new growth around the Upside Down gate.

As Halloween approaches, a strange plague seems to spread across the countryside, spoiling pumpkin fields. The gang goes trick-or-treating, and Dustin discovers a tiny Upside Down creature outside his house, which he begins to take care of.

Bit by bit, the new Upside Down conspiracy unravels. Dustin's new pet and the county's agricultural troubles are connected, as it's revealed that a network of tunnels has been dug under Hawkins, housing a pack of dog-like demogorgon pups. Will's episodes get more aggressive, and Hopper gets lost in the tunnels. Eleven discovers the existence of her birth mother and reaches out psychically, learning new details about her upbringing, including the existence of Kali. Lucas brings Max fully into the group by explaining what happened in season 1.

Will's visions become seizures, so he's taken to Hawkins Lab for study. But because the Mind Flayer has wormed its way fully into his system, Owens is unsure how to help, and the lab is attacked by the demo-dogs. Nancy and Jonathan try to reveal the truth about the lab and the upside down to the public by allying with Murray, and they end up realizing their feelings for each other in the process. Joyce's new boyfriend Bob (Sean Astin) makes the ultimate sacrifice to help the others escape.

As this is happening, Eleven goes to visit her mother and then continues to Chicago, where Kali is hiding out. The two train together, helping Eleven to hone her powers, and hunt down another member of Brenner's old team, though Eleven chooses to spare his life after seeing his children. She then returns to Hawkins and saves the gang from the demogorgon dogs. Learning that the Mind Flayer has a weakness to heat, the gang attempts to burn it out of Will. After that, Eleven goes back into the heart of the lab with Hopper, where she seals the gate, cutting off the Mind Flayer's connection to Will and curing the plague beneath the town.

After the Mind Flayer incident is put to rest, the kids go back to something resembling normal lives, with Will finally able to start properly healing from his experiences. Hopper formally adopts Eleven, allowing her to enroll at school and stop hiding. At the school's Winter Formal dance, Mike and Eleven — now reunited — kiss. Romance is also in the air for Lucas and Max.

As the "Stranger Things" characters enjoy a period of peace, however, the forces of the Upside Down are shown mustering strength for another attempted invasion, still led by the hive mind that is the Mind Flayer. Elsewhere, the Soviet Upside Down project begins to approach substantial results, while a conspiracy involving Hawkins mayor Larry Kline (Cary Elwes) leads to the construction of Starcourt Mall as a secret Russian base.

"Stranger Things" season 3 is the first season to take place during summer vacation for the younger characters, so it's natural that it would be all about the mall — the recently constructed Starcourt Mall, to be exact. Prior to the start of the season, Dustin spends some time at a camp where he meets a girl named Suzie (Gabriella Pizzolo). Back in Hawkins, Nancy and Jonathan work as newspaper interns, while a strange phenomenon takes over the local rat population. Max's brother Billy is then attacked at night by a physical manifestation of the Mind Flayer, which takes control of him and forces him to start recruiting more human bodies to form a growing zombie army.

Meanwhile, Mike and Eleven break up, and Will has a fight with his friends over the ways they're growing apart. This leads him to destroy his forest fort, Castle Byers, in a fit of rage and grief — one of the most devastating scenes in the entire series. Meanwhile, Hopper and Joyce begin investigating strange electromagnetic disturbances in the town and discover that Starcourt Mall is actually a front for subterranean Soviet operations tied to the Upside Down gate. This conspiracy is also investigated by Dustin, Steve, and Robin Buckley (Maya Hawke), Steve's new coworker at his mall ice cream shop job.

As the "Flayed" — the name for the humans controlled by the Mind Flayer — gain strength, the gang continues to investigate this mystery. A follow-up with one victim at the hospital leads to a terrifying attack by a somewhat resuscitated Mind Flayer, which is gradually constructing a more imposing and dangerous physical form. Elsewhere, Joyce and Hopper abduct a Russian scientist named Alexei (Alec Utgoff) while being pursued by the Terminator-esque enforcer Grigori (Andrey Ivchenko).

Robin and Steve get kidnapped by the Soviets after infiltrating the Russian base beneath Starcourt with Dustin and Lucas' little sister Erica (Priah Ferguson). At the Hawkin's Fourth of July celebration, Hopper faces off against Grigori again while he, Joyce, and Murray try to save the kids from the Russians. The Mind Flayer, now near full strength, ventures to the mall in an attempt to pry open the gate to the Upside Down once again.

In the climax of the "Stranger Things" season 3 finale, Billy breaks free of the Mind Flayer's control long enough to sacrifice himself and protect the younger kids. Eleven, weakened through her battles with the Mind Flayer and the Soviets, struggles to fight back against the monster.

Elsewhere, Hopper kills Grigori and Joyce closes the Upside Down portal. However, Hopper vanishes during the chaos and is presumed to be dead. In reality, he manages to make it through the portal while it's still open, only to be caught by Russians on the other side and imprisoned. As the mall explodes, the Mind Flayer is defeated once again, but Eleven still struggles to regain her powers.

In the aftermath of "Stranger Things" season 3, there are some big changes for the main characters. The Byers family moves to California and takes Eleven with them, but she and Mike stay together. The long-distance thing is trickier for Nancy and Jonathan, though they keep at it.

Across the pond, Hopper is subjected to brutal conditions in a prison camp in Kamchatka, where his Russian captors have a captive demogorgon that they regularly use to torment the prisoners. Meanwhile, Mike, Dustin, and Lucas start high school in Hawkins, with the former two joining a new D&D game led by an older teen and social pariah named Eddie Munson (Joseph Quinn). Max, however, is haunted by PTSD from Billy's death and everything else that happened during season 3, and she eventually breaks up with Lucas (who joins the school basketball team).

Though the Mind Flayer may have been banished from Hawkins, a new threat from Dimension X emerges in the form of Vecna, the twisted final form of Henry Creel. Using his powerful psychic powers, Vecna begins to reach out and mentally torment individuals in Hawkins, starting with cheerleader Chrissy Cunningham (Grace Van Dien). Less than a week after the beginning of her visions on March 16, Chrissy is killed by Vecna. Unfortunately for Eddie Munson, he's in the wrong place at the wrong time and is presumed to have murdered her, with the local suspicion fueled by a growing Satanic Panic in Hawkins.

In a separate development, Joyce and Murray learn of Hopper's survival and hatch a plan to venture to Russia and save him with the help of a paid-off Russian pilot named Dmitri (Tom Wlaschiha). Mike, in the meantime, flies to California for spring break to visit Eleven, who's struggling with bullying and the continued absence of her powers. All the while, Vecna continues to hunt in Hawkins, eventually setting his sights on Max. At the same time, a mob begins to form in the town determined to capture Eddie and anyone else believed to be in his supposed cult.

Nancy, Steve, Dustin, and the rest of the Hawkins crew trace Vecna back to the local story of the Creel family, eventually uncovering the dark tale of what Henry did years before. Eleven is asked to reunite with Dr. Brenner in an effort to restore her powers, and she agrees, being taken to a secret facility in Nevada.

Eleven discovers the truth about Vecna's identity through new sensory deprivation work with Brenner in Nevada, all while Mike, Will, Jonathan, and Jonathan's new friend Argyle (Eduardo Franco) try to track her down. While all that's happening, Joyce and Murray manage to infiltrate the Kamchatka prison and save Hopper, but they turn back when they discover many more Upside Down creatures being studied at the facility beyond the one demogorgon. Hence, they stay and destroy the remaining samples.

Circling back to the U.S., Brenner is killed by the military after helping Eleven to regain her powers, but she's saved by Mike and the gang before the same can be done to her. In Hawkins, Max is nearly killed by Vecna but saved by her friends and the power of Kate Bush. The Hawkins crew thereafter forms a plan to sneak into the Upside Down and kill Vecna's physical body while Max uses herself as bait. Eddie rips a sick guitar solo and dies distracting Vecna's monster army, and Max briefly dies, but Eleven brings her back. Max remains in a coma but very much alive.

The plan to kill Vecna weakens him severely, but it doesn't finish the job. The rest of the gang gets out of the Upside Down safely, though. Before being attacked, Vecna also manages to rip open several more holes between the realms, causing a massive earthquake in Hawkins that decimates the town and leaves many dead or wounded. A couple days later, all of the surviving main characters reunite in Hawkins, including Eleven and Hopper. Lucas worries about Max's recovery, and new tendrils of Dimension X energy seep into the now-eviscerated Hawkins, confirming that Vecna's work has only just begun.

Everything is building towards the big finale in "Stranger Things" season 5, which is expected to premiere on Netflix by late 2025 (possibly in two parts the way season 4 did). New cast members in season 5 include Linda Hamilton in a currently undisclosed role, with Amybeth McNulty being promoted to a series regular after guest-starring as Vickie in season 4.