Another NC reference in Netflix’s ‘Stranger Things’? A look at the new season
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Stranger Things' teaser trailer features a building resembling Cary's WPTF radio site.
- Show creators Matt and Ross Duffer often include Durham-area references in plot.
- Season 5 premieres Nov. 26, concluding with a finale episode on Dec. 31.
It may be set in Indiana, but there’s a lot of local in “Stranger Things” that tie Netflix’s sci-fi series directly to North Carolina.
And the newest season dropping soon will be no different.
The show centers on a small town wrapped up in “a mystery involving secret experiments, terrifying supernatural forces and one strange little girl,” Netflix says.
Stranger Things NC references
If you caught a peek at the latest teaser, there’s a quick glimpse of what appears to be another Carolina connection — a building with a distinct resemblance to the decades-old WPTF radio building in Cary.
Though the bright red call letters read “WSQK” rather than WPTF, there’s no mistaking the similarities between the station in the show and the Triangle’s old Art Deco style transmitting site.
Was Stranger Things filmed in NC?
This isn’t the first time Durham natives and co-creators Matt and Ross Duffer brought a piece of their hometown to the hit show.
Since Season 1, there’s been mention of several local roads, lakes and even their old neighbors, The News & Observer previously reported.
But the fictional town in the show is not filmed in the area, or even directly based on it either.
In a 2017 interview with The N&O, the Duffer brothers revealed Hawkins is a “mix of things” including conspiracy theories, Stephen King novels, 1980s horror movies and Durham, along with a few places in Georgia where much of the show was filmed.
Stranger Things Season 5
Nearly ten years after its debut in 2016, the fifth and final season of “Stranger Things” premieres Wednesday, Nov. 26 — picking up in the fall of 1987, according to Netflix.
“Hawkins is scarred by the opening of the Rifts, and our heroes are united by a single goal: find and kill Vecna. But he has vanished — his whereabouts and plans unknown,” the official synopsis reads.
“Complicating their mission, the government has placed the town under military quarantine and intensified its hunt for Eleven, forcing her back into hiding. As the anniversary of Will’s disappearance approaches, so does a heavy, familiar dread. The final battle is looming — and with it, a darkness more powerful and more deadly than anything they’ve faced before. To end this nightmare, they’ll need everyone — the full party — standing together, one last time.”
Stranger Things release date
The fifth and final season will be released in three volumes: The first four episodes will be released on Netflix Nov. 26, followed by Volume 2 of episodes 5-7 on Thursday, Dec. 25 and the season finale on Wednesday, Dec. 31.
This story was originally published September 25, 2025 at 3:10 PM with the headline "Another NC reference in Netflix’s ‘Stranger Things’? A look at the new season."
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