What age is Stranger Things appropriate for?

Rated TV-14 in the US. 14, alone or with a parent; 15 in France. All 42 episodes of the 5 seasons, watched one by one: what's in it, and how to talk about it with your child.

Why is Stranger Things not recommended under 14?

What's in it: the official rating, first; monsters, darkness, and dread; children alone and in danger; deaths that are shown, not just told; rough talk, including a slur; teen romance and older-teen life. The detail, fact by fact, is in the zinema guide, which reads the work itself (images, sound, dialogue).

zinema · series · what age

Stranger Things: what age is it for? 14, alone or with a parent

From 14, alone or with a parent.

Series · 2016 · 5 seasons · 42 episodes · action & adventure, mystery, sci-fi & fantasy

YRS

The trailer

Alone, or with you

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not yetwith an adult, or to talk about afteralonethe sweet spot

The official US rating is TV-14, and we never go below it. Alone from 14, and not before, even with an adult.

The sweet spot: around 15-16, when a group of friends is the most important thing in the world and you like being scared together. Why a sweet spot?

Official US rating: TV-14. In France, zinema would say 15.

Watch the trailerContinue in zinemathen where to watch it, in zinemamore trailers, and where to watch films

Where to watch itWhere to watch

Included withWith a subscriptionNetflix · Netflix Standard with Ads

Offers in the United States, collected automatically. Catalogues change often.

What it's about

When a young boy vanishes, a small town uncovers a mystery involving secret experiments, terrifying supernatural forces, and one strange little girl.

Why 14

The official rating, firstRated TV-14 in the US (parents strongly cautioned, may be unsuitable for children under 14). zinema never goes below the country's rating: it explains it.
rule
Monsters, darkness, and dreadThe series lives in the dark: long night scenes, basements, woods, and a creature that growls before it appears. The sound design does a lot of the work, with quiet stretches broken by a sudden blast, screams, and music built to make your chest tighten. Even confident kids tend to feel it in the body, and it repeats across all five seasons rather than peaking once.
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Children alone and in dangerA big part of the story is a child taken and other children left on their own, hunted, hidden, or locked away. Images of a kid alone in the dark come back again and again, and adults in the story sometimes cause the harm rather than stop it. That is the part younger viewers carry home with them at bedtime.
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Deaths that are shown, not just toldPeople die, including characters you have come to love, and the camera does not look away. There is blood held in frame for long stretches, wounds, fights, guns and knives handled by teens and adults alike, gunfire, fires and explosions. It is not gore for its own sake, but it is graphic and it accumulates over the seasons.
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Rough talk, including a slurThe dialogue is full of teen insults and swearing, and the bullying of the younger kids is nasty and sustained. Early on, two anti-gay slurs are thrown at a character. The show frames the bullies as cruel rather than cool, which makes it usable material for a conversation, but a younger child will mostly just absorb the words.
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Teen romance and older-teen lifeAs the kids grow up, the show follows kissing, first relationships, parties, drinking and smoking, and later storylines involving drugs. Nothing is explicit, but bedroom scenes and morning-after moments are clearly implied, and adult substance use is part of the ordinary background.
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The codes, for parents

In a small Indiana town in 1983, a boy vanishes, a girl with powers escapes a laboratory, and their friends discover another world has opened beneath their own.

The lexicon

The Upside DownA copy of the town, empty, cold and covered in tendrils, existing in parallel. It is hard to breathe there, it is permanently night, and things live in it.
The DemogorgonThe creature of season one, eyeless, with a flower-shaped head. The name comes from the role-playing game the children play: they are the ones who name it, for want of anything better.
Eleven (El)The girl with the shaved head, raised in a laboratory as an experimental subject and known by a tattooed number. She moves objects with her mind and her nose bleeds when she pushes too hard.
Hawkins and the labThe town and its government research centre, where secret experiments opened the rift. The lab denies everything, which makes adults the children's second obstacle.
Dungeons & DragonsThe tabletop role-playing game the four boys play, with dice, figures and a dungeon master. It gives the series its vocabulary, its monster names and its quest structure.
The Mind FlayerThe threat of later seasons: a vast intelligence that controls at a distance and takes possession of people. Another name borrowed from the game.
VecnaThe season four villain, who preys on teenagers eaten by guilt and loneliness. The series handles depression and trauma more directly there than before.
The Christmas lightsWill's mother's device for talking to her missing son: one letter per bulb. It has become the series' most recognisable image.

How the world works

Each season covers a school year and the actors genuinely grow up: the children of season one are teenagers by season four, and the tone follows, from adventure to horror. The series runs three groups in parallel, children, teenagers and adults, who only meet at the end of each season. It all takes place in 1980s America, with walkie-talkies, bikes, a shopping mall and cassettes: that is a setting, but it is also the subject.

The references

The whole first episode is an homage to Spielberg: the children on bikes and the torchlight come from E.T., the disappearance and the small town from The Goonies.
The horror comes from Stephen King: the title is set in the same typeface as his 1980s paperbacks, and It supplied the gang of children facing a creature adults cannot see.
The laboratory and the experiments on a child point to a real American programme, MK-Ultra, which the series owns up to from season one.
Season four put a 1985 Kate Bush song back into the global charts: many children know it through the series rather than the other way round.

Why they love it

A gang of friends against the world, with bikes and a walkie-talkie: exactly the age when you dream of having a gang.
The children are more competent than the adults, and adults who believe them are rare: at twelve that is extremely satisfying.
The seasons age with the viewer, which brings the same children back for years.

Three questions to ask

Adults do not believe the children for the whole first season: has that happened to you, not being believed?
Eleven grew up with no name, just a number: what difference does having a first name make?
Vecna goes after those who feel guilty about something: why does he attack there, do you think?

What the series brings

A rare portrait of friendship that holds: kids who refuse to abandon one another, even when adults tell them to go home.
It rewards curiosity and loyalty over strength, and it lets outsiders and misfits be the heroes.
A warm, detailed trip through the 1980s that gives teens and parents a shared reference point.

Watching it together

Before

Before the first episode, you might say that the show is built to scare you on purpose, and that pausing it or stopping for the night is completely allowed.

After

at 14 and up

Which character would you actually want beside you if things went wrong, and what is it about them that makes you say that?

Season by season

the reading per season, episode by episode · expand

Season 1 · 8 episodes, 51 min on average · zinema reading 11, 10 with a parent · France 11 · the gentlest

no episode at the top of the series. What's in each episode, without telling the story:

Episode	What's in it
1 · Chapter One: The Vanishing of Will Byers	Many dark scenes; the monster in plain sight; scary music and jump scares; lots of weapons; bullying; a lot of swearing.
2 · Chapter Two: The Weirdo on Maple Street	Many dark scenes; deaths told; frightening images; scary music and jump scares; bullying; some swearing; drugs mentioned; alcohol.
3 · Chapter Three: Holly, Jolly	Many dark scenes; frightening images; scary music and jump scares; a scene of cruelty; a child put in danger; some swearing; drugs mentioned.
4 · Chapter Four: The Body	Many dark scenes; deaths told; frightening images; scary music and jump scares; bullying; some swearing; alcohol.
5 · Chapter Five: The Flea and the Acrobat	Many dark scenes; deaths shown; frightening images; scary music; lots of weapons; bullying; a lot of swearing; drugs mentioned; alcohol.
6 · Chapter Six: The Monster	Deaths told; frightening images; scary music; fights; a scene of cruelty; a child put in danger; a lot of swearing; drugs mentioned.
7 · Chapter Seven: The Bathtub	Many dark scenes; blood on screen; frightening images; scary music and jump scares; fights; a lot of swearing.
8 · Chapter Eight: The Upside Down	More than half the episode in the dark; blood, for a long time on screen; deaths told; the monster in plain sight; scary music; fights; lots of weapons; meanness; some swearing; drugs mentioned.

Season 2 · 9 episodes, 53 min on average · zinema reading 14, 13 with a parent · France 15

1 episode out of 9 at the top of the series. What's in each episode, without telling the story:

Episode	What's in it
1 · Chapter One: MADMAX	Many dark scenes; deaths told; a lot of swearing; drugs mentioned.
2 · Chapter Two: Trick or Treat, Freak	Nearly half in the dark; deaths told; frightening images; scary music and jump scares; meanness; a child put in danger; a lot of swearing; drugs mentioned; alcohol; and a lot of laughs, 16% of the episode.
3 · Chapter Three: The Pollywog	Many dark scenes; blood on screen; deaths shown; frightening images; a lot of swearing; drugs mentioned; alcohol.
4 · Chapter Four: Will the Wise	Many dark scenes; deaths told; scary music; bullying; a lot of swearing.
5 · Chapter Five: Dig Dug	Many dark scenes; deaths shown; frightening images; scary music; bullying; a lot of swearing; alcohol.
6 · Chapter Six: The Spy	Many dark scenes; deaths told; lots of weapons; meanness; a lot of swearing; alcohol.
7 · Chapter Seven: The Lost Sister	More than half the episode in the dark; deaths told; frightening images; scary music; fights; lots of weapons; a scene of cruelty; a lot of swearing.
8 · Chapter Eight: The Mind Flayer	More than half the episode in the dark; deaths told; frightening images; scary music and jump scares; lots of weapons; meanness; some swearing; drugs mentioned.
9 · Chapter Nine: The Gate	More than half the episode in the dark; blood, for a long time on screen; deaths shown; frightening images; scary music; lots of weapons; meanness; a lot of swearing; drugs mentioned.

Season 3 · 8 episodes, 57 min on average · zinema reading 14, 13 with a parent · France 15

1 episode out of 8 at the top of the series. What's in each episode, without telling the story:

Episode	What's in it
1 · Chapter One: Suzie, Do You Copy?	Many dark scenes; deaths told; frightening images; scary music and jump scares; lots of weapons; bullying; a lot of swearing; drugs mentioned; alcohol; and a lot of laughs, 31% of the episode.
2 · Chapter Two: The Mall Rats	Many dark scenes; deaths shown; frightening images; scary music; lots of weapons; a scene of cruelty; a child put in danger; a lot of swearing; drugs mentioned; alcohol; and a lot of laughs, 15% of the episode.
3 · Chapter Three: The Case of the Missing Lifeguard	Many dark scenes; deaths told; frightening images; lots of weapons; a scene of cruelty; some swearing; drugs mentioned; alcohol; and a lot of laughs, 29% of the episode.
4 · Chapter Four: The Sauna Test	Many dark scenes; blood, for a long time on screen; deaths shown; frightening images; scary music; lots of weapons; meanness; a lot of swearing; drugs mentioned.
5 · Chapter Five: The Flayed	Many dark scenes; blood, for a long time on screen; deaths told; frightening images; scary music; lots of weapons; meanness; a lot of swearing; drugs mentioned; alcohol; and a lot of laughs, 17% of the episode.
6 · Chapter Six: E Pluribus Unum	Blood, for a long time on screen; deaths told; frightening images; scary music; lots of weapons; a scene of cruelty; a lot of swearing; drugs mentioned; alcohol; and a lot of laughs, 15% of the episode.
7 · Chapter Seven: The Bite	Many dark scenes; blood, for a long time on screen; deaths told; frightening images; scary music; lots of weapons; bullying; a lot of swearing; drugs mentioned; alcohol; and a lot of laughs, 29% of the episode.
8 · Chapter Eight: The Battle of Starcourt	Many dark scenes; blood, for a long time on screen; deaths told; the monster in plain sight; scary music; fights; lots of weapons; a scene of cruelty; a child put in danger; a lot of swearing; drugs mentioned.

Season 4 · 9 episodes, 87 min on average · zinema reading 14, 13 with a parent · France 15 · the hardest

9 episodes out of 9 at the top of the series. What's in each episode, without telling the story:

Episode	What's in it
1 · Chapter One: The Hellfire Club	Blood, for a long time on screen; deaths shown; frightening images; scary music; fights; lots of weapons; a scene of cruelty; a child put in danger; a lot of swearing; drugs mentioned; alcohol; and a lot of laughs, 25% of the episode.
2 · Chapter Two: Vecna's Curse	Many dark scenes; blood, for a long time on screen; deaths shown; frightening images; scary music; fights; lots of weapons; a scene of cruelty; a lot of swearing; drugs mentioned; alcohol.
3 · Chapter Three: The Monster and the Superhero	Many dark scenes; blood, for a long time on screen; deaths shown; the monster in plain sight; fights; meanness; a lot of swearing; drugs mentioned; alcohol.
4 · Chapter Four: Dear Billy	Many dark scenes; blood, for a long time on screen; deaths shown; frightening images; scary music; fights; lots of weapons; a scene of cruelty; a lot of swearing; drugs mentioned.
5 · Chapter Five: The Nina Project	Many dark scenes; blood, for a long time on screen; deaths shown; frightening images; scary music; lots of weapons; bullying; a lot of swearing; drugs mentioned; alcohol.
6 · Chapter Six: The Dive	Many dark scenes; blood, for a long time on screen; deaths shown; frightening images; scary music and jump scares; fights; lots of weapons; a scene of cruelty; a lot of swearing; drugs mentioned; alcohol.
7 · Chapter Seven: The Massacre at Hawkins Lab	Many dark scenes; blood, for a long time on screen; deaths shown; the monster in plain sight; scary music; fights; lots of weapons; a scene of cruelty; a lot of swearing; drugs mentioned.
8 · Chapter Eight: Papa	Blood, for a long time on screen; deaths shown; frightening images; scary music and jump scares; fights; lots of weapons; bullying; a child put in danger; a lot of swearing; drugs mentioned; alcohol.
9 · Chapter Nine: The Piggyback	Nearly half in the dark; blood, for a long time on screen; deaths shown; the monster in plain sight; scary music; fights; lots of weapons; meanness; a lot of swearing; drugs mentioned; alcohol.

Season 5 · 8 episodes, 78 min on average · zinema reading 14, 13 with a parent · France 15

4 episodes out of 8 at the top of the series. What's in each episode, without telling the story:

Episode	What's in it
1 · Chapter One: The Crawl	Many dark scenes; deaths shown; the monster in plain sight; scary music and jump scares; fights; lots of weapons; a scene of cruelty; a lot of swearing; drugs mentioned.
2 · Chapter Two: The Vanishing of...	More than half the episode in the dark; blood, for a long time on screen; deaths told; the monster in plain sight; lots of weapons; a lot of swearing.
3 · Chapter Three: The Turnbow Trap	Many dark scenes; blood on screen; deaths told; frightening images; fights; lots of weapons; bullying; a lot of swearing; drugs mentioned; alcohol; and a lot of laughs, 15% of the episode.
4 · Chapter Four: Sorcerer	Many dark scenes; blood, for a long time on screen; deaths shown; the monster in plain sight; scary music; fights; lots of weapons; a scene of cruelty; a child put in danger; a lot of swearing; drugs mentioned.
5 · Chapter Five: Shock Jock	Many dark scenes; blood, for a long time on screen; deaths shown; frightening images; scary music; fights; lots of weapons; a scene of cruelty; a lot of swearing; drugs mentioned.
6 · Chapter Six: Escape from Camazotz	Many dark scenes; blood, for a long time on screen; deaths shown; the monster in plain sight; scary music; lots of weapons; a scene of cruelty; a lot of swearing; drugs mentioned.
7 · Chapter Seven: The Bridge	Blood, for a long time on screen; deaths shown; frightening images; fights; lots of weapons; meanness; a lot of swearing; drugs mentioned.
8 · Chapter Eight: The Rightside Up	Many dark scenes; blood, for a long time on screen; deaths shown; the monster in plain sight; scary music; fights; lots of weapons; meanness; a lot of swearing; drugs mentioned; alcohol.

See the facts

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For the same age, on zinema

The latest guides

A zinema reading from September 5, 2026 · the 42 episodes of 5 seasons, watched one by one · the age by zinema's rules for the US and France, and a human reading · report an error · how this guide is made