Stranger Things has come to an end after 42 episodes, five seasons and ten years. In that time the cast, creators and brand has become more than just a household name, it’s become an ouroboros.
Just like the ancient symbol of the serpent consuming itself, Stranger Things crumbled under its own immense weight, leading to a fifth and final season that represented the downfall of the Duffer brothers’ fresh, if hardly original, writing and worldbuilding.
“Where to start?” is the question that’s plagued my mind since season five of the show began airing last November. Do I start with the lazy time skip that saw all momentum established in the previous season come to a screeching halt? Or do I look at the controversial actions of a certain few cast members that have alienated the once loyal audience?
The conclusion I’ve come to is that the best place to start is the beginning, to go back a decade and look at why Stranger Things became the pop culture touch stone it is known to be today, and see if it was ever deserving of all the praise its received in the ten years since Will Byers went missing on that fateful November night in 1983.
A Perfect Mini-Series, a Confusing Continuation
July 15 2016, Netflix drops the entire first season of Stranger Things, an 80s throwback mystery that sees a group of kids uncover a government mystery, befriend a strange girl with psychokinetic powers and discover a mysterious dimension full of monsters.
What separated Stranger Things from other 80’s nostalgia trips that popped up during the early 2010’s, like J. J Abrams’ Super 8, was that the show was created to suit all ages across the board. I fit in snugly to the pre-teen audience that was ready to eat up the show’s spooky story that didn’t go too far into the real horror under the surface. Yet, it was also accessible for the folk who yearned for the 80’s to come back into fashion.
Over the course of eight episodes (all released at once, unlike Netflix’s new delayed gratification release schedule they use nowadays), audiences fell in love with the Midwest town of Hawkins, the young cast that acted like real kids and the spooky dimension known as ‘the Upside Down’. It was a perfect beginning, but it also ended on a satisfying note with the once lost Will returning home and the rest of the kids settling into their usual routines, all mourning the loss of their strange, magical friend that disappeared alongside the monster that took Will.
This ending left the door open for a season two, but it also worked as a satisfying finale for a show that encapsulated the hazy rose-tinted nostalgia many 30-somethings at the time felt for the 80’s. It was a self-indulgent, schlocky King and Spielberg-inspired Netflix-mandated product, it didn’t have to be anything else. At this point, the Duffers knew what they were making; it was a media product inspired by what they grew up surrounded with, so what happened when Netflix demanded another season that continued the story of Hawkins?
Three Out of Five
In an interview with Screenrant during the promotional run of the second season of the hit show, the Duffers stated that they originally envisioned Stranger Things to be an anthology show, with each season following the original, focusing on different characters outside of Hawkins.
As previously stated, the first season wraps up neatly but leaves the door open for more stories. The stories that followed were a mixed bag, the ups undoubtedly coming from the new characters, the lows without a doubt being the sluggish pace at which the show released.
The gap between seasons grew each year; season two released in 2017, season three released in 2019, season four released in 22, and season five wrapped up the story at the end of 2025. Three-year gaps left the fanbase, me included, to grow up quicker than the characters themselves did. Worse than that, the cast of once kids ended the show as fully grown adults, still playing teenagers.
You could argue adults playing kids was an 80’s staple, but when emotional scenes hinge on the main characters being young and figuring themselves out, they stand out as being particularly bizarre. Take season five’s most infamous scene, that being Will Byers’ “coming out” scene.
Coming Out at the End of the World
A moment that’s been coming for a decade, Noah Schnapp’s Will Byers, a sensitive teenager who’s gone through hell, comes out to the people closest to him as he finally feels comfortable in his own skin. Amongst this group of people he cares about so dearly are; his best-friends older pals colleague’s girlfriend, and his mum’s strange smuggling buddy. These two are just the most egregious examples.
The scene should hold an immense weight and further the arc of Will as someone who feels comfortable within himself. Though this is completely absent due to the scene’s placement within the show timeline, and the group of people he decides to come out to.
Will accepting who he is should be a moment for fans to cling to as the show draws to a close, but because it happens just before the gang goes to fight the evil monster that’s been looming over them for years, it feels too little too late.
As a queer guy myself, the signs that Will was gay were clear from day one, and you’d hope that a queer audience member like myself would see themselves in Will. But that didn’t happen and that comes down to one thing: Noah Schnapp’s deplorable stance on the genocide occurring in Palestine.
After the October 7 attack occurred in 2023, Noah Schnapp was seen expressing his support for Israel, handing out stickers that read, “Zionism Is Sexy” to a group of people, laughing as he did. This moment soured me on the young actor, his subsequent apology was that was fixed on the middle. Shortly after this was discovered, the actor to social media and claimed to hold the view that he wants “an end to the hostility on both sides.” He has avoided talking about the subject in recent years, he was however spotted celebrating in Israel a few months ago.
Some fans can separate character from the actor that plays them, but in the case of Will Byers, a character that Noah Schnapp has identified as being close to him personality wise, I find it particularly difficult and pointless to do so.
Delirium and #Conformitygate
Now we get to what fans have been losing their collective hive mind over since the turn of the new year – #Conformitygate. This trending hashtag has dominated the Stranger Things community, stirring fans into a frenzy making them believe that the Duffers were lying about the episode count for the final season, and that there is one final episode that would release one week after the “fake” finale.
Fans, spurred on by TikTok creators, believed that the happy ending the characters received was instead all a trick from series villain Vecna, and that Finn Wolfhard’s Mike Wheeler was under a trance in a dream-like state.
The “evidence” fans used to construct their theory was a jumbled mess of plot holes, set dressing errors, and general poor writing. Some of the most noteworthy points presented were; Steve Harrington working as a baseball coach when he was known to play basketball in prior seasons, the “x-a-l-i- e” letter line up in one of the final scenes hinting that the dimension they all escaped from was a lie, and the presence of a board game called “Whatzit”, which sounds similar to the Mr. Whatsit persona adopted by the primary antagonist of the show, Vecna.
These points are a little contrived, but the frenzy they stirred up was unlike anything the Duffers likely expected. Name one other show thats ending has caused fans to riot and trick themselves into believing that another “real” ending would release soon.
January 7 has come and gone and no secret ninth episode has been released, though this isn’t the real end of Netflix’s beloved cash-cow as this year an animated prequel series will release, alongside this a spin-off within the same universe is in development overseen by the Duffers.
The End of an Era: What Now?
As someone who spent their late pre-teens, and teens, obsessed with Stranger Things and its wonderfully slick 80’s style, saying goodbye to a show that helped raise me was easier than I would have liked.
Part of that might be because I’m now in my twenties and selfishly wish the show matured alongside me, but that’s not the real reason my divorce from Stranger Things has been so easy.
The heaps of controversy some of the main cast have been able to garner in the past three years, specifically Noah Schnapp, Brett Gelman and David Harbour, has made me reevaluate my enjoyment. I’ve come to the conclusion I’d rather live with the knowledge I now know, than rot in a dream state, just as Mike Wheeler is supposedly experiencing.
Featured Image Credit: Netflix
Fourth year Film and Journalism student
Deputy editor
Contact - deputyeditor@brignews.com
