Many fans are left disappointed and confused with the recent ending of Stranger Things.
The all-known Netflix show “Stranger Things” written by the Duffer Brothers recently dropped another season on three different dates. They dropped the first four episodes on November 26th, the second group of three on Christmas day, and the finale on December 31st all at 8:00 PM. This show has been going on since 2016 and just ended off right when 2025 ended. The millions of fans who grew up on this show were extremely eager to watch it and were already skeptical at the fact that the entire cast was going to be much older playing teenagers than in the earlier seasons when they looked younger.
The season included intense cliffhangers and strong emotional connections throughout most of the cast, especially near the ending knowing they were all going to be finished with a show they had been acting in since they were children. They extended the storyline/plot and main characters into a bigger group of “outcasts” to show fans that it’s okay to not fit in, and that makes them cooler. Each season had a new monster, but in this season, it was a continuation of the villain, Vecna (A.K.A. Henry), getting stronger and more powerful and how they defeated him. Fans weren’t disappointed about the storyline, necessarily, but they were disappointed at the ending.
The ending had many mixed opinions because, for one, nobody important died. Fans were expecting a tragic plot twist or a big character to die; and that didn’t happen. Eleven “supposedly” died, but at the end in a big game of Dungeons and Dragons, the cast of Max, Mike, Dustin, Lucas, and Will all have an intimate moment after Mike expresses his theory of Eleven still being alive on her own in a place with 3 waterfalls. The camera goes around the table, and each member of the group says that they believe she was still alive. Now, fans are left wondering whether she is alive and it’s an unfinishable cliffhanger. Fans said there were many plot holes of what happened to Vickie and Robin, the military just letting everyone go after Eleven “died” even though they killed many of their officers, what happened with Nancy and Johnathon, how Hopper became chief of police after disappearing for so long, Hopper proposing with the same ring Johnathon “un-proposed” to Nancy with, and so many more. Fans just want answers and so many things were left unsaid in this two-and-a-half-hour episode.
Some fans thought this was a well written ending and that they didn’t need any more closure, but most were disappointed with the way this was permanently ended. Fans wanted answers, while the last hour of the episode is 18 months in the future with the main cast (Max, Will, Mike, Dustin, and Lucas) graduating from high school and the older cast (Johnathon, Nancy, Robin, and Steve), discusses their future plans with college and how this was their last goodbye. There were many crazy suspected fan theories that quickly got shut down with this episode dropping. Social media such as TikTok, Instagram, and X (Twitter) were flooded with opinions. Some fans were defending the ending and saying it was good nobody died, while other people said that they could have done anything with the ending and just chose the safest option to not disappoint fans more. Both groups of fans who liked the ending or not could not all be satisfied by the Duffer Brothers and they are still receiving endless amounts of hate for this.
This long-awaited ending fans were expecting did not meet everyone’s expectations, and most fans expected much more than what they were given. The ending was not as hype as it was said to be by the Duffer Brothers with a “crazy plot twist.” Even though the ending was not expected, it still was the 9th most watched English language series in all time with a viewing record on New Year’s Day of over 105 million total viewers and being shown in theaters. The show still ended incredibly successfully with money and viewing wise, but viewers are still in disbelief over the ending that was chosen.