Stranger Things 4 is bringing the country together.
Netflix released the final two episodes of the season over the weekend, and its release propelled the season to surpass 1.15 billion hours of viewing. ST4 is only the second title on Netflix to reach 1 billion hours, with Squid Game being the first.
ST4 has a chance to dethrone Squid Game‘s record of 1.65 billion hours viewed by the 28-day mark, after which Netflix no longer counts viewership.
Variety explains:
“Stranger Things Season 4 is Netflix’s most popular English-language series ever and second most popular overall. And technically, it still has a chance to beat Squid Game. Because of the season’s segmented release, viewership of Volume 2 during the 28 days after July 1 will contribute to the popularity tally, though viewership of Volume 1 is already done being counted.”
Other milestones for the season include breaking the first-week English-language record of 335 million hours watched between May 30 to June 5, topping Bridgerton’s previous record of 251.74 million hours between March 28 to April 3.
Volume 2 likely won’t break this record as it consists of only two episodes, five fewer than Volume 1.
Still, the release of the second half of the season began with such a high demand that it crashed Netflix’s servers moments after its 3 am release.
With just one season left, Netflix is plotting ways to expand the Stranger Things universe after the forthcoming fifth and final season. Netflix will need to rely more heavily on blockbuster brands moving forward with subscription declines and increased competition from various streamers.
Show creators Matt and Ross Duffer recently announced that they are developing at least one spinoff series to follow the show’s conclusion. The Duffer brothers say the spinoff will not include the characters in the current series, which suggests a prequel set years before the events of the current timeline.
Prediction: Netflix will produce far more than just one Stranger Things spinoff.
At a time when viewers can’t agree on anything, we all admit Demogorgons, psychokinetic abilities, the Upside Down, and the Mind Flayer are — to quote Eleven — bitchin.