Season 4 of Stranger Things was big in size, scale, budget and length of episodes. In addition, the series included the addition of the Kate Bush song Running Up That Hill, which has been re-popularized by the show. With season five being the last before the show finishes, fans are curious as to how that is going to take shape. Creators and showrunners Ross and Matt Duffer spoke with the Happy Sad Confused Podcast to explain that most of the episodes won’t be as long as they were this past season.

“The only reason we don’t expect to be as long is, this season, if you look at it, it’s almost a two-hour ramp up before our kids really get drawn into a supernatural mystery. You get to know them, you get to see them in their lives, they’re struggling with adapting to high school and so forth, Steve’s trying to find a date, all of that. None of that is obviously going to be occurring [in season 5],” Matt Duffer said. “However, look for the series finale to be as long as a feature film. “We’re more likely to do what we did here, which is to just have a 2.5 hour episode.”

One thing fans can expect is for the characters to pick up right where they left off, ready to hit the ground running. “Characters are already going to be in action, they’re already going to have a goal and a drive, and I think that’s going to carve out at least a couple hours and make this season feel really different,” Matt Duffer continued. “I’m sure the wrap-up will be a lot longer, it’s going to be ‘Return of the King’-ish with, like, eight endings.”

The Duffer brothers provided some clarity about Max’s (Sadie Sink) fate after she was left in a coma, and Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown) could not see her in the void. Max is alive, but “brain dead, blind, and all of her bones are broken,” the brothers said.