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Netflix is staying very tight-lipped about anything that set to happen in Stranger Things season five, but that only means that we’re even more impatiently waiting for its 2025 debut. When Deadpool & Wolverine director Shawn Levy dropped a few behind-the-scenes images on his Instagram, one in particular put our imaginations into overdrive trying to figure out what it means for the Hawkins gang.

Shawn Levy has been confirmed as a director of at least one episode of Stranger Things season five – along with the recently un-retired director of The Shawshank Redemption – so we’re not exactly surprised that he is sharing updates from the Atlanta set. Most of the pictures have been simple pictures of the cast and crew during filming, but one that he posted on October 5 made us pull an “enhance and zoom” on it.

The image in question had the Duffer Brothers talking to Stranger Things stars Finn Wolfhard and Noah Schnapp, along with an unidentified person. However, the interesting bit is in the background. Folks should be able to recognize the lights back there – they’re the Christmas lights Will’s mother Joy used to communicate with her son when he was in the Upside Down in season one.

What could this mean? Why would this throwback prop be back on set for Stranger Things season five? The truth is that we simply don’t know, but it feels important. Considering that Joy and Will moved out of that house at the end of season three, that means they had to set up a new letterboard. In the absence of actual information, we have but one recourse: wild speculation.

The most likely scenario is that someone else gets trapped in the Upside Down and Joy remembers how she communicated with her son in season one. It would serve as a good throwback to how this whole adventure started, though we’d hope it isn’t Will stuck in the Upside Down this time.

Another reason for this particular prop to be back in action could be a simple flashback scene. Not exactly an exciting prospect but, again, reminding us of the genesis of the show is important considering it has been so long since it first began. Nearly a decade has passed, after all, so we can forgive the team for being a bit reflective of the entire experience now.

However, our personal favorite idea for how this letterboard ties into Stranger Things season five is also the most outlandish – time travel! With all the speculation that Linda Hamilton is playing Eleven from the future, this isn’t even that outside the realm of possibility. We’re half expecting to see Eleven go back in time to undo everything that happened in the show to keep some world-eating monster from creeping into our reality. Would it be a satisfying ending? Probably not, but it would be very weird so we’re here for it.

Again, all of this is baseless speculation at this point. And, allow us to put on our tinfoil hats for a moment and consider that Netflix definitely approved that image to be publicly shared knowing it would create this kind of reaction, so it could be a classic misdirection from the studio to distract us from the real twist in Stranger Things season five. We simply don’t know, and that is half the fun. We get to wait months and months to find out so we can spend all that time pouring over every breadcrumb of Stranger Things information Netflix feeds us and beg for just a bit more.

As we all collectively wait for Stranger Things season 5, here's the keys to getting ready:

• How to watch Stranger Things in chronological or release order
• Getting to know the Stranger Things season 5 cast
• There needs to be more death in Stranger Things, says co-star Gaten Matarazzo
• The Stranger Things time jump between season 4 and 5 has been confirmed by Netflix - and it raises some serious questions
• "They land the plane," David Harbour describes the Stranger Things finale, which he calls its "best episode"