The image was shared by the official Stranger Things account

It's been almost two years since we last visited Hawkins and the Upside Down, and whilst we know season five - which will be the last series of the hit Netflix show - is in production, we're still none the wiser as to when exactly it will be released.

But we do have the first image of the new season.

In a post on social media, the official Stranger Thing account shared a picture of Jonathan Byers and Nancy Wheeler - played by Charlie Heaton and Natalia Dyer - in the back of a car.

The picture was captioned: "Jonathan Byers. Nancy Wheeler. SITTING IN THE BACK OF STEVE HARRINGTON'S BMW!"

The fourth series of the show was released in two parts in summer 2022. Later that year, Netflix revealed that the script had been written for the final season.

However, progress on filming was severely delayed by the Hollywood strikes last year, having been due to start in June 2023, according to lead actor David Harbour.

The more than six month delay on production will have pushed back whatever release date the show runners and Netflix had in mind.

In November, the first lines of the first episode were released to mark Stranger Things Day.

The explosive fourth season introduced fans to the show’s main villain, Vecna, and was by far the biggest and boldest that the Duffer brothers had put together.

There is no confirmation about when fans can expect Stranger Things 5 to be released, but it seems likely that it may not be until 2025 if production has only just started on the show.

In September last year, producer Shawn Levy promised fans that the season five will feature “major, major cinematic storytelling” and will be “as big as any of the biggest movies that we see.”

Related links:

• Millie Bobby Brown says Stranger Things prevents her from pursuing ‘passions’
• Filming for season five of Stranger Things is underway
• Stranger Things releases first teaser for its final season