“Stranger Things” briefly turned Netflix upside down.
The streamer crashed at 5pm PT on Wednesday, just as the sci-fi series’ long-awaited fifth season premiered.
The service has been down for about three minutes, and some users continue to experience bugs. Tens of thousands of people who logged in to watch the sci-fi series were shown images of “Nailed It!” It has a caption that says, “Something went wrong. We’re sorry, but there’s a problem with your request. There’s a lot to explore on the home page.”
By 5:05 p.m., the site appeared to be up and running for most users. Variety has reached out to the streamer for comment. According to a Netflix spokesperson, “Some members temporarily experienced streaming issues on their TV devices, but service was restored to all accounts within five minutes.”
This isn’t the first time Netflix has been overloaded with “Stranger Things” traffic. In July 2022, Variety reported that the final two episodes of season 4 were removed, making the streamer unavailable for a short period of time. Users also experienced a Netflix outage during the Mike Tyson vs. Jake Paul fight, one of the first live streaming events on the platform.
More than three years after the Season 4 finale, Stranger Things returns with the first episode of its final season. The new episode will see the Hawkins children find and attempt to kill the monster Vecna. The town is under military quarantine as Eleven hides from the authorities.
Created by Matt and Ross Duffer, Stranger Things also stars Millie Bobby Brown, Finn Wolfhard, Gaten Matarazzo, Caleb McLaughlin, Noah Schnapp, Sadie Sink, and Natalia. Starring Dyer, Charlie Heaton, Joe Keery, Maya Hawke, Winona Ryder, David Harbour, Cara Buono, Priah Ferguson, Eduardo Franco, Brett Gelman, and Dacre. Montgomery, Matthew Modine, Paul Reiser, Jamie Campbell Bower, Grace Van Dien, Robert Englund, Tyner Rushing, and Raphael Ruth.
The series continues to be one of the most-watched series in Netflix history.
