Stranger Things Season Five

After three long awaited years, the new season of the popular Netflix show Stranger Things has dropped volume one of season five, the show's final season. The first volume consists of four episodes and the last three episodes will drop on December 25, with the last episode dropping on New Year's Eve. For fans of the show, having to wait a whole month for new episodes may feel like eternity, but as people wait, predictions of what the final episodes contain have been spiraling.  

The first four episodes were action packed and left viewers with countless questions and cliffhangers, leaving fans wondering how it will all tie together in three episodes. The creators of the show, the Duffer Brothers, had a broad idea of the entire five season show back when they first created it and explained their goal for the final season. “I would definitely rewatch those early seasons because it really is about tying everything back to seasons one and two…there are a lot of mysteries we set up and then intentionally did not answer in those early seasons.”

One of the most popular theories going into the new season is the death of an important character. The show is known to kill off at least one semi-important character each season. (season one Barb, season two Bob, season three Alexei, and season four Eddie.) In past seasons, the show has introduced new characters who play a temporary role until they are killed off, but because this is the final season, it has been speculated a core character will die. (Dustin, Mike, Lucas, Max, Eleven, Steve, Robin, Joyce, Hopper, and Max) The season five trailer shows a clip of Lucas in an elevator holding Max and he clearly is in danger. Many predict he will die to save Max. Robin is speculated to die because she has been receiving much more screen time and fans say she has fulfilled her character's purpose after her speech to Will in volume one. Maya Hawk, who plays Robin said in an interview that she “would love to die and get my hero's moment.” It is also strongly guessed that Eleven or Will could die trying to defeat Vecna. The Duffer Brothers spoke out about the death speculations. “Hopefully their (the audience) is not all booing.”

Another popular theory is that the upside down is part of a wormhole and time travel will potentially be used. The show has hinted at a potential wormhole when Mr. Clarke, the Hawkins science teacher, has a scene where the class goes into details about learning about wormholes. He specifically emphasized how they can be referred to as Einstein Rosen Bridges, and episode seven of the season finally is called “The Bridge.” The show has made numerous connections to the book “A Wrinkle In Time,” with Holly referencing the book to Max, and Dereck playing with a tesseract shaped object when his character was first introduced. Vecna is disguised as Mr. Whatsit, which is similar to Mrs. Whatsit who is a force of good who guides children through time to defeat “It” in a Wrinkle in Time. Vecna disguises as Mr.Whatsit and acts as a force of good when viewers have seen he leads kids to evil and is an evil force. Fans speculate Vecna is using wormholes to connect the upside down to Hawkins and needs 12 children in order to create gates to connect the two worlds.

Fans speculate Vecna (Henrey)  is attempting to use wormholes to travel back in time, as the show has hinted at Henry Creel’s past which contains memories that seem to still haunt him. Lastly, fans have noticed the Upsidedown’s walls resemble an hourglass shape which is a common symbol for a passage of time, and in season four Vecna used a grandfather clock to lure his victims. The Duffer Brothers spoke about the theories. “It’s fun actually when [the fans] have all these theories as to what’s going to happen. It’s fun to read them. The vast majority of them are wrong. Occasionally, someone gets something.”  

Many theories still speculate, with fans finding small details from past seasons to back up their predictions. After Winter break, the true ending will be revealed, and whether these theories are right or wrong this is predicted to be an outstanding ending with strong emotions. 

Characters planning to defeat Vecna