How will Stranger Things’ final season end? Fans have many theories on that

Is testament on the qt more involved with the Upside Down than we think? Is the Mind Flayer the real villain, rather than Vecna? Is the entire adventure one big Dungeons and Dragons campaign?

If that sounded like gibberish to you, you’re obviously not on Stranger Things social media, where fans have been sharing excitement and theories about how the much-loved sci-fi show will wrap up, ahead of today’s release of the first volume of episodes of the fifth and final season.

The show, which emerged in 2016, centres around a group of Dungeons and Dragons-loving kids in 1980s Indiana, and chronicles their fight against supernatural forces and secret government experiments that threaten their town.

The fan theories have become such a big part of the fandom that the show’s creators have addressed them directly. In a recent interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Ross and Matt Duffer, twin brothers and the show’s creators, said they love reading fans’ predictions, even if “the vast majority of them are wrong.” 

Season 4 saw Eleven (the main character with psychic abilities, played by Millie Bobby Brown) regain her powers after first losing them, the death of beloved characters — one of whom was brought back to life but remains in a coma — and some great music from Kate Bush.

It also left the characters with a big rift between their world and the Upside Down — a dark, alternate dimension full of monstrous creatures — that the gang will need to fix in the final season.

Doug Stephen, a Vancouver fan and owner of Down Low Burgers, is hosting a Stranger Things watch party at The American bar tonight. He says the long wait since the previous season’s release, in 2022, has helped build anticipation and fed fan theories about the show's outcome.

“It feels as though on all socials, I'm just being inundated,” Stephen said. €œI have consumed so many different theories and … thoughts. Yeah, I love it all.”

Angela Rodriguez, a fan based in Spain who moderates a Stranger Things fan club on Facebook and runs fan accounts on X, says she hasn’t seen this much hype for the last season of a TV show in a long time. She likens it to the release of the last (and famously disappointing) season of Game of Thrones.

“I [post] something and it gets like a hundred likes and replies, and it's crazy,” Rodriguez said. €œI think it's because there's a lot of questions that [haven't] been answered.”

Stephen’s biggest theory is that the ultimate villain that’s been established, Vecna, is not actually the big bad, and that the Mind Flayer (a massive, spider-like creature that can control people) will actually need to be defeated in the end.

He also thinks a briefly introduced character from the second season who also had psychic abilities will make a return and team up with Vecna and Eleven to save the town — something he’s pieced together in part with clues from a game of Dungeons and Dragons the characters play in Season 4.

But “the biggest thing that I think I've seen everybody talking about is the bike lights in the posters,” Stephen said.

In a Season 4 trailer, Eddie is the only character who has the light on the front of his bike turned on; he later dies. In a poster for the fifth season, characters Will and Dustin both have their lights on, leading to speculation that they will die in the new season, Stephen explains.

Stephen isn’t convinced those two beloved characters will wind up dead. Regardless, he says Stranger Things has been easy to theorize about, because it's one of the few sci-fi or saga-style series not based on other source material — unlike Marvel movies or popular anime shows.

With those stories, “even once it catches big in the visual format, you still kind of know what's going to happen next,” Stephen said. €œRight now [with Stranger Things] no one knows. Everybody's going into the season blind, there's no frame of reference other than the previous four seasons and the Broadway show.”

That allows fans to run wild with their predictions, because anything is possible, Stephen explains.

Katy Scott, another fan from Toronto, adds that the massive cliffhanger in Season 4 made for perfect theory fodder. Plus, she says the last season of any show is bound to be the subject of intense speculation, because there are lots of loose ends that need to be pulled together to make a satisfying ending.

Scott's favourite character is Steve Harrington, but she has a hunch that he might sacrifice himself to save the rest of the group, “which would be very in character, but would be sad.”

She’s also still holding out hope that Eddie, who dies in the fourth season, might make a return — even though the Duffer brothers have said he won’t be coming back to life.

“The delusional part of me is like, no, there's still a chance,” Scott said. €œPeople have said that about other characters before, so I'll believe it when I get to the end of the season and he hasn't come back.”

Either way, she likes that the show’s creators engage with fan theories, as it keeps them in tune with the fanbase. Plus, it gives the fans more to think about when the creators say one particular theory is wrong, or that others have gotten close.

“It inspires people to keep coming up with new [theories],” Scott said.

Scott isn’t too concerned if none of her predictions come true, as long as the show provides a good finale.

“That's my major hope,” Scott said. €œPlease let this be a fulfilling ending. Please let it be satisfying.”

Journalist

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