In just a few hours, Netflix will be dropping the first four episodes of Stranger Things Season 5.

The fifth season of the hit series picks up in the fall of 1987, as the gang comes to grips with the opening of the gates to the Upside Down, which happened at the end of Season 4. The future for Eleven, Mike Wheeler and the rest of the group hangs in the balance as Vecna remains at large and is as powerful as ever.

“I think what’s unique about this season is that it starts a little bit in chaos because our heroes ultimately lost at the end of Season 4,” co-creator Ross Duffer told Netflix’s Tudum in October.

The release schedule for Stranger Things Season 5 is as follows: The first four episodes will be released later today, followed by the next three episodes on Christmas Day and then the grand finale on New Year’s Eve.

Take a look at the Yahoo character guide to Stranger Things, from the returning main characters to a handful of fresh faces, below:

Millie Bobby Brown as Eleven

Eleven is a young girl with telepathic abilities who escapes from the Hawkins National Laboratory at the start of Season 1. She eventually befriends local Hawkins, Ind., kids Mike (Finn Wolfhard), Dustin (Gaten Matarazzo) and Lucas (Caleb McLaughlin), and helps them search for their missing friend, Will (Noah Schnapp). In Season 2, she meets Max (Sadie Sink), who also becomes one of her closest friends.

As the series progresses, Eleven uncovers the truth about her past, including how she became involved in government experiments in the first place. She often uses her strong psionic abilities to protect her friends and battle monsters of the Upside Down, which threaten their existence.

Finn Wolfhard as Mike Wheeler

Mike Wheeler is the leader of the Party, his group of friends, which originally consisted of Dustin, Lucas and Will, before Max and Eleven — whom he affectionately calls “El” — joined. Often leading his friends in their battles against the Upside Down’s monsters, Mike is critical to discovering the truth behind Will’s disappearance in Season 1; providing distractions in Season 2 and 3 to help close the gate to the Upside Down and free Billy (Dacre Montogomery), Max’s stepbrother, from the Mind Flayer; and finding Eleven after she’s taken by Dr. Owens in Season 4.

“Mike is back in leadership mode,” Wolfhard told Netflix’s Tudum of his character in Season 5. “He’s taken it more upon himself to help plan out these missions, and he and the whole gang are devoted to finding Vecna and ending this.”

Gaten Matarazzo as Dustin Henderson

Dustin Henderson is a key member of the group who is behind many of their revelations, like the discovery of the gate to the Upside Down, in Season 1. Dustin identifies the Mind Flayer in Season 2, teams up with Steve and Robin (Maya Hawke) to uncover the secret Russian operation beneath the Starcourt Mall in Season 3 and bonds with Eddie Munson (Joseph Quinn), the leader of the Hellfire Club, in Season 4.

At the end of Season 4, Dustin is left grieving the tragic death of Eddie, who sacrificed himself to protect the rest of the group.

Caleb McLaughlin as Lucas Sinclair

Lucas Sinclair is the sensible one among the group. While he’s initially hesitant to trust Eleven, Lucas soon grows close to her. He starts a romantic relationship with Max, the new girl in town, at the end of Season 2; works with his friends to take down the Mind Flayer in Season 3; and desperately tries to free Max from Vecna’s control in Season 4, although he ultimately fails.

Noah Schnapp as Will Byers

The series starts with Will Byers, whose sudden disappearance on Nov. 6, 1983, leads to the discovery of the Upside Down, where he’s held, and the uncovering of a massive government experiment right in Hawkins, Ind. Will is found by the end of Season 1, but his connection to the shadowy parallel dimension remains intact throughout Season 2, when he unwittingly becomes a spy for the Mind Flayer.

Will helps the group during the big battle at Starcourt Mall in Season 3. After relocating to California with his mom and his big brother, Eleven, he returns to Hawkins in Season 4 to fight Vecna alongside everyone else.

David Harbour as Jim Hopper

When we first meet Jim Hopper, he’s a jaded police chief struggling with his daughter’s death. After Will’s disappearance, Hopper and Joyce join forces to bring him home and, in the process, they uncover the secret, scientific underbelly of Hawkins.

It’s been a tumultuous four seasons for the former police chief: He shelters Eleven at his cabin before eventually adopting her in Season 2, discovers a secret Russian operation that’s aimed at reopening the gate to the Upside Down in Season 3 and is captured by the Russians before being rescued by Joyce and Murray in Season 4.

As for Season 5, it seems Hopper is prepared to do whatever it takes to protect his loved ones.

“Hopper’s been back from Russia, and for about a year, he’s been training for these Upside Down crawls, basically prepping for a final battle with Vecna,” Harbour told Netflix’s Tudum earlier this month. “He doesn’t tell the people he loves exactly what he’s planning, but he’s gearing up for something big in this quarantine environment.”

Winona Ryder as Joyce Byers

It’s been a tumultuous four seasons for Joyce Byers, single mom to Jonathan (Charlie Heaton) and Will. In Season 1, she searches relentlessly for Will and miraculously manages to communicate with him in the Upside Down via the Christmas lights in their home.

She’s certainly endured her share of trauma: In Season 2, Joyce’s boyfriend, Bob (Sean Astin), is viciously killed by a pack of Demodogs; in Season 3, she moves her family to California after Hopper supposedly dies; and in Season 4, she travels to Russia with Murray in an effort to rescue Hopper from a brutal labor camp.

Sadie Sink as Max Mayfield

Max Mayfield moves to Hawkins in Season 2, with Billy, her mom and her stepdad. It’s not long before she befriends the Hawkins kids and tackles the monsters from the Upside Down. She’s still grieving Billy’s Season 3 death when Vecna psychologically attacks her, luring her into dangerous, trance-like states in Season 4, putting her in a coma.

Natalia Dyer as Nancy Wheeler

Nancy Wheeler is an aspiring journalist and Mike’s older sister. When her best friend Barb (Shannon Purser) goes missing, Nancy takes it upon herself to find out what actually happened — and in the process, begins to uncover Hawkins’s dark secrets. She’s been through just about everything — fighting the Demogorgon in Season 1, exposing the Hawkins National Laboratory in Season 2, battling the Mind Flayer in Season 3 and leading the charge against Vecna in Season 4.

Joe Keery as Steve Harrington

Steve Harrington may have started out as Nancy’s jealous boyfriend, but he’s since become one of the group’s most loyal and courageous members. Recognized as the “ultimate babysitter,” Steve eventually develops a close friendship with Dustin. He also counts Robin Buckley among his best friends.

He’s helped the group through many of the big, traumatic moments, like when he fights the Demogorgon in Season 1, protects the kids from the Mind Flayer in Season 2, uncovers the Russian operation under the Starcourt Mall in Season 3 and teams up with Nancy and Robin to battle Vecna in Season 4.

Maya Hawke as Robin Buckley

Robin Buckley is first introduced in Season 3 as Steve’s coworker at the Scoops Ahoy ice cream shop at the Starcourt Mall, but quickly becomes a valued member of the group. Despite Steve’s initial crush on her, he and Robin become close friends, bonding over their shared girl problems. Robin teams up with Steve and Nancy in Season 4 to severely injure Vecna.

Charlie Heaton as Jonathan Byers

Jonathan Byers is Will’s dedicated big brother. In Season 1, Jonathan teams up with Nancy to uncover the truth behind Barb and Will’s disappearances. Their unlikely partnership soon turns romantic. Jonathan helps Nancy expose the truth of Barb’s death in Season 2, helps defeat the Mind Flayer in Season 3 and moves to California in Season 4, before returning to Hawkins, to help take on Vecna.

Priah Ferguson as Erica Sinclair

Erica Sinclair might be Lucas’s kid sister, but she’s also incredibly intelligent. In Season 3, Steve, Dustin and Robin recruit Erica to help them sneak into the secret Russian lab beneath the Starcourt Mall. Erica also takes after her big brother: In Season 4, she joins the Hellfire Club and helps the group battle Vecna.

Amybeth McNulty as Vickie

Vickie is a student at Hawkins High School, a member of the school’s marching band, and the girl Robin has a crush on. At the end of Season 4, after Vecna opens the rift to the Upside Down, Vickie and Robin share a sweet moment together while making sandwiches for those affected by the “earthquake.”

Brett Gelman as Murray Bauman

Murray Bauman is a former investigative journalist who helps uncover the dangerous truths lurking within Hawkins. He’s first introduced in Season 2, when he investigates the disappearance of Barb.

Murray’s proven himself to be a team player: He helps Nancy and Jonathan expose the evils of the Hawkins National Laboratory in Season 2, serves as a translator for Alexei (Alec Utgoff) in Season 3 and helps Joyce find — and rescue — Hopper from a Russian labor camp in Season 4.

Cara Buono as Karen Wheeler

Karen Wheeler is Nancy, Mike and Holly’s mom, and Ted Wheeler’s wife. In Season 4, following a string of teen murders, Karen attends a town hall meeting with other worried parents. The Wheeler matriarch has a brush with infidelity too: In Season 3, she briefly considers having an affair with Billy, but ultimately decides not to.

Sherman Augustus as Lt. Colonel Sullivan

Lt. Colonel Sullivan is an intelligent, high-ranking military officer who blames Eleven for the murders in Hawkins. He’ll stop at nothing to capture her.

Jamie Campbell Bower as Vecna

Vecna, born Henry Creel and also known as “One,” is the first child taken by Dr. Brenner and the source of all the terrifying supernatural occurrences in Hawkins. In Season 4, it’s revealed that Eleven is responsible for opening the first gate to the Upside Down, through which Vecna falls.

At the end of Season 4, Nancy, Steve and Robin severely injure Vecna, though they fail to kill him. Vecna ultimately succeeds in opening a large gate between Hawkins and the Upside Down, setting the stage for Season 5’s final showdown.

New characters in Season 5

Nell Fisher as Holly Wheeler

Holly Wheeler is the youngest of her siblings, Nancy and Mike. In the fifth and final season, Holly struggles to navigate the social pressures of school and looks to an imaginary friend for comfort.

Jake Connelly as Derek Turnbow

Derek Turnbow is one of Holly’s classmates — and a rude one at that.

Linda Hamilton as Dr. Kay

Dr. Kay is the new head scientist for the military operating within Hawkins. Taking over for Dr. Brenner, Kay is in pursuit of Eleven, whom she wants to find alive.

Alex Breaux as Lt. Robert Akers

Lt. Robert Akers is one of Kay’s henchmen who is hunting Eleven.