iEditorial | When Netflix's STRANGER THINGS Season 5 Ends…

The Netflix Original Series

The phenomenon enters into its final episodes on Netflix, revelations are made, theories are explored, and fans prepare for the impact when the hit series ride comes to its end.

<span class=“dropcap”>A</span>udiences have been turned upside down and nursing a bloody nose ever since Stranger Things made its debut in 2016. The original sci-fi and fantasy series created by The Duffer twins, Matt and Ross Duffer, unequivocally put Netflix on the map. The streamer had been raising eyebrows in the industry, and with the series' stunning popularity, Netflix suddenly emerged as a serious contender. Filmmaker Shawn Levy, known best for the recent Marvel Studios’ blockbuster Deadpool and Wolverine, signed on to collaborate with the Duffer Brothers. The series set in the heart of a small town in the 80s immediately struck a nostalgic chord with anyone who lived through the era.

Exemplified by its teased-up big hair, bright-colored wardrobe, weekend mall crawls, and 8-bit arcade games, the style inspired the twins, who were taken by the decade's cinematic hits and its soundtrack. Throw in government conspiracies, sinister scientific experiments, secret Russian double-agents, and bloodthirsty, faceless monsters from an alternate dimension, and Stranger Things would emerge as a phenomenon, reigniting an enthusiastic interest in a somewhat subversive role-playing game known as Dungeons & Dragons. Centering on a group of neighborhood bike riding junior high school friends, living in Hawkins, Indiana, an ensemble of mostly outcasts who march to their own drumbeat, but when one of them mysteriously disappears, it sets off a series of events of unpredictable magnitude.

Stranger Things has since become a pop-cultural phenomenon, attracting intense scrutiny from fans who follow the show’s myriad plot lines and receiving extensive media coverage at every red carpet premiere. As the final episodes of its fifth season launch, the cast of relative unknown junior-high school-aged kids has grown up into rock stars! Their celebrity parallels the fandom of the series' legacy actors, including Winona Ryder and David Harbour. Starring Millie Bobby Brown, Finn Wolfhard, Noah Schnapp, Gaten Matarazzo, Caleb McLaughlin, Natalia Dyer, Charlie Heaton, Joe Kerry, later joined by Sadie Sink, Priah Ferguson, and Maya Hawke, the cast that has stepped up to protect the town of Hawkins from the invading forces of the Upside Down, is setting up to say “good bye” in an epic finale.

The Upside Down of Season Five

As is often the case with something that has achieved an intensely dedicated following in entertainment, Stranger Things fans are no exception in declaring their ownership over the series.. Climatically, the final season has met some challenges, meeting some touchstones as it works to wrap up loose ends and deliver a satisfying conclusion to Eleven and her friends’ super-powered confrontation with the psychopathic monster, Henry Creel (Jamie Campbell Bower), aka Vecna. When a plot line that has endured five consecutive seasons starts to wind down, inevitably, everyone is going to have an opinion.

There have been some significant developmental revelations in Season 5 (Spoiler Alert! This is the part where we try to responsibly raise the clarion call that there will be some spoilers ahead), namely, among them that the Upside Down, long believed to be an alternate dimension connected literally underneath the town of Hawkins, Indiana, is in fact a bridge connecting to a much more profoundly dangerous other dimension. When Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown) banishes Henry Creel (Jamie Campbell Bower) and opens the gate to the alternate realm, she sends him across universes, where he discovers a world full of horrors, including the series' faceless horrors, the demogorgons.

Transformed into the monstrosity Vecna, Creel has since been penetrating the realm now known as the Upside Down, which lies between the other dimension and connecting it to Hawkins, sending monsters through to hunt for his vessels. Will Byers (Noah Schnapp) is the unfortunate first of his prey and is used by Vecna to spy on our world. Whenever Will is in proximity of Vecna or one of his terrifying agents, he becomes part of the collective hive mind — he becomes aware of Vecna’s intentions. He learns that he can also syphon Vecna’s ability. Will becomes a threat that Vecna had not accounted for in his new plan to use children, including Nancy (Natalia Dyer) and Mike’s (Finn Wolfhard) little sister, Holly (new cast member Nell Fisher), as vessels to bring the two universes crashing into one another.

Faced with the terrible truth of it all, Vecna further threatens Will by showing him a future — a future where a secret he has harbored ruins his friendships and isolates Will from his family. Faced with this fear and revealing his authentic self to his friends, Will decides not to submit to his enemy’s whim and comes clean. In a very dramatic and touching scene near the final act of Season 5, Will sits his family and friends down and shares with them that although they’ve always had a bond and shared many adventures growing up, there’s one thing that they don’t know about him. Will isn’t attracted to girls in the same way that the rest of his male friends are; in fact, he’s had a crush on one of them that has since changed, but confirmed his truth.

Vecna uses his fear of this truth to try to isolate Will, who thinks that he’ll be abandoned, but once he reveals his secret to his party, they all confirm that no matter what, he will never be alone — he will never be abandoned. They confirm that they accept him the way he is, and once that happens, Will takes Vecna’s power over him away. The truth of that moment, that fear of disclosing one’s authenticity, is relatable to many of us, especially those of us who were adolescents in the 80s. It’s a personal journey set against the chaos of Stranger Things, becoming a very human moment. Faced with a major crisis, this truth sets Will free and deals their enemy a mighty blow.

Though some criticized the revelation, the hidden truth that Will Byers has always been a part of the character’s evolution, and when their foe prepares to use that truth against him, Will decides most bravely that it is far more relevant to come clean. Noah Schnapp, as well as the rest of the Stranger Things cast, expertly navigate the emotional rigors of such a harrowing decision, but in the end, stand by their friend and embrace Will, proving that their bond is steadfast. If this very human expression in the midst of a fantasy series is distasteful to some audiences, perhaps those audiences need to look deep within themselves.

As Will learns, the truth sets him free. It releases him from the vice that the evil Vecna is prepared to keep him trapped in, and it gives him power. It’s that power, that support of those relationships, that he’ll always have his friends, no matter what, that is the real power that will lead to the party vanquishing evil — if that scares you, then perhaps you should think about which side of this fight you’re on. Vecna’s secret spy is no longer under his twisted grip, and Will Byers and his party are now shielded against Vecna’s vile manipulation. As Stranger Things comes to an end, it’s clear that all along, its power has been in the power of these friends, and what they can accomplish together is marvelous. Let the battle begin.

Stranger Things | The Netflix Original Series is coming to an end with the Final Episode airing on Wednesday, December 31st, 2025.