Warning: contains spoilers for Stranger Things 4: Volume 1.
After weeks of waiting to find out the fate of our favourite past and present Hawkins residents, Stranger Things 4 is finally here - you just might not be able to watch it right away.
The highly anticipated conclusion to series four of Stranger Things dropped on Netflix at 8am UK time (12am PT/3am EST), but just minutes after the final episodes arrived, the streaming service crashed and returned a message encouraging users to 'please try again later'.
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The technical difficulties are proof of just how excited fans are to find out how Eleven, Mike, Max, Steve and the rest of the gang will defeat Vecna and finally clear the name of our beloved Eddie, with thousands, if not millions, of people tuning in to watch as soon as possible.
The influx of fans appears to have overwhelmed Netflix, prompting many distraught users to take to Twitter to share news of their issues.
One fan commented, "IT'S BEEN 5 MINUTES HOW DID WE CRASH NETFLIX ALREADY. #StrangerThings4," while another wrote: "I did not just count down the seconds like it’s New Years for Netflix to crash #StrangerThings."
A third supportive, but potentially slightly sarcastic, fan wrote: "Stranger Things Volume 2 is so massive that it’s managed to crash Netflix. Love that for us."
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DownDetector show 700 reports of technical issues with Netflix around 8am, although they appear to be resolved for most people now.
The crash came just moments after Netflix hyped fans up by releasing a new clip from Stranger Things, showing Eddie shredding his guitar while in the Upside Down and dedicating the track to Chrissy, who met her unfortunate demise in the first few episodes of series four.
Alongside the clip, Netflix wrote: "Chrissy, this is for you: Stranger Things 4 Vol 2. is now streaming!"
Thankfully the streaming service doesn't seem to be down for everyone, but the issues are particularly unfortunate for those who stayed up until midnight for the show to arrive.
The final episodes amount to a whopping four hours of content, meaning that even if those fans had been able to hit play at midnight, it would have been around 4am by the time they finished. As a result of the delays, they might be in for an even later night - or earlier morning.
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Hopefully it won't be long before fans can properly dive in to the show like Steve dove into 'watergate', because after having already had to wait weeks for the conclusion, I'm not sure fans will be able to take much more.
Topics: Netflix, Technology, TV and Film, Stranger Things, Twitter, Viral
Emily Brown