On December 25, 2025, The Duffer Brothers released three more episodes of the last season of Stranger Things. Later, on December 31, 2025, they released the finale. Fans anxiously waited during these breaks, creating tons of theories for the final episodes.
Episode five: Shock Jock, starts with the show reminding the audience that Will gained powers and Holly’s class went to the memory world with Mr. Whatsit. A whimsical song plays in the background, with Mr. Whatsit explaining that the kids are now in a safe sanctuary. Derek finds Holly in the memory world and explains that he also knows Mr. Whatsit is Vecna. The show interchanges between three groups: the upside-down group, the memory world group, and the final group in the radio tower. Near the end of the episode, Will enters Vecna’s mind and attempts to stop Vecna from hunting Max and Holly, while they almost escape. The episode ends with Nancy destroying a shield generator.
Episode six: Escape from Camazotz, starts with Vicky and Robin nearly breaking up before the demo-dogs attack them, and Lucas bringing Max back to safety. Back in the Upside Down, the group survives the explosion from the generator. Nancy and Jonathon get separated in a room filling up with thick liquid. The two decide to break up and become honest with each other, right before realizing they can safely escape
The seventh episode, The Bridge, starts with Max waking up in the hospital, and Holly in a desert. Eleven and Kali come up with a plan, which ends with a sacrifice. The episode ends with Will coming out to the entire group as gay, with them all supporting him.
The finale begins with Eleven, Hopper, and Kali going back to the laboratory. Eleven, Kali, and Max all work together to enter the memory world, helping the kids escape. Vecna messes with Hopper, accidentally bringing the girls back. The kids all by themselves, end up at the mining tunnel. The other group uses a rift in the sky to get into the desert with the mindflayer and Holly’s class. They find the mindflayer and attack it. Kali, nearly dead, urges Eleven to help the group with Vecna. When Eleven arrives, she works with Will to kill Vecna. The group saves the class, taking them back to Hawkins when the military stops them. Eleven sacrifices herself, destroying the upside-down. The last 40 minutes show an 18-month time skip, with the main group graduating and predicting their futures.
Many long-time fans of the show feel bittersweet about Stranger Things ending. Tia Kruyer (11) answered that, “I thought that it was pretty good, I’m kinda sad that it’s over though”. Stranger Things ran for about 10 years, creating strong bonds with their fans. The audience got to see the actors grow up throughout the show, and many fans who grew up with the actors feel more connected.
Although the first 7 episodes of Stranger Things received good reactions, the finale did not. Many fans disliked it, some even believing it was a fake-out episode, and the “real” episode would be released a week later. Abigail-Grace Gamboa (9) responded to the fake-out with, “To be honest I never thought there would be an extra episode, the writing was just poorly done. It was probably because they used AI.” On January 12, 2026, the Duffer Brothers released a documentary about how Stranger Things was filmed, and many fans spotted that they had 3 tabs of ChatGPT open. Jaxson Peterson (11) responded to the use of AI with, “It was funny in the worst way possible, not only was the writing bad. But the show had so much money they could’ve spent on ghostwriters.”
Although Stranger Things ended on a rough note, many fans look forward to the next Duffer Brothers creation.
(Kai Peterson)
