Stranger Things 5 premiere hit by glitches: Here’s why Indian fans might face delays watching it

Even as anticipation soared worldwide, Netflix found itself flooded with user complaints on Wednesday evening, just as the hype for Stranger Things Season 5 reached its height.

Finally, it is time for all Stranger Things fans to breathe easy, as showdown day has arrived with Season 5 Vol. 1 releasing today on Netflix after a four-year wait. However, it appears the long-awaited moment came with a new hurdle, as Netflix began facing technical issues right at the peak of excitement.

DownDetector recorded a sharp rise in outage reports from around 7:40 p.m. Eastern, only twenty minutes before the first new episodes were scheduled to go live. The timing was enough to irritate fans who had cleared their schedules to welcome the show’s return.

Even as anticipation soared worldwide, Netflix found itself flooded with user complaints on Wednesday evening, just as the hype for Stranger Things Season 5 reached its height.

Netflix had earlier confirmed that the first four episodes of the new season would drop on Wednesday night. The streamer is staggering the release across the month to sustain engagement, with three more episodes landing on December 25 and the finale arriving on December 31.

The company has not yet commented on the cause of the disruption, though early indications suggest a massive surge in demand as millions logged in at once. Stranger Things continues to be one of Netflix’s most powerful franchises, and its season premieres often trigger some of the platform’s highest traffic spikes.

While most users reported that the service stabilised shortly after the initial dip, the glitch proved to be an untimely distraction. With competition in the streaming industry intensifying, Netflix faces increasing pressure to offer a flawless viewing experience—especially during a major release. Even a brief outage is enough to ignite scrutiny when a show of this magnitude is involved.

Within minutes of the Stranger Things premiere, social media was flooded with posts from users complaining that their Netflix screens had frozen or the app had crashed. According to reports, 51 per cent of the complaints were related to streaming failures.

Also read: Stranger Things stars rank the seasons, reveal the messiest one ahead of the finale

Many users shared screenshots showing frozen frames, endless loading wheels, and apps refusing to open any title. These posts spread quickly across X, with fans directly linking the disruption to the Stranger Things launch. This is not the first time the series has strained the platform—back in July 2022, when the final two episodes of Season 4 were released, Netflix also experienced a brief outage.

Stranger Things Season 5 Vol. 1 consists of 4 episodes. Vol. 2 is set to stream on Christmas eve.