Stranger Things lovers, it’s almost time to head back to the Upside Down for one last hurrah as the show’s fifth and final season is fast approaching.
The Duffer Brothers have been cooking up an epic ending to the Netflix sci-fi teen drama that’s been having us in a chokehold since July 2016.
Fast forward to nine years later, fans of the show have enjoyed nearly a decade of theorising about what the Upside Down is all about and what is really going on in Hawkins, Indiana.
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A little over a month before the new episodes hit our screens on 26 November, we’re taking a look at the wildest, most bizarre-yet-intriguing fan theories we could find on the Internet.
But before we could delve into fans’ deep dives on Reddit — its own kind of Upside Down, if you will — let’s have a recap of what these kids teens on bike has been up to last season.
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How Stranger Things season 4’s finale set up season 5
Chapter four, released into two volumes in 2022, shed some new light as to who the big bad is and what his connection to Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown) could mean for Hawkins.
First introduced as an orderly at the lab where El was experimented upon courtesy of Dr Brenner, aka Papa (Matthew Modine), One/Henry Creel/Vecna (Jamie Campbell Bower) is revealed to be the main villain and only ruler of the Upside Down.
In the final episode, the characters reunite to fight Vecna in both dimensions before he takes over Hawkins, losing some of their own along the way (RIP Eddie Munson).
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Vecna’s defeat comes at a cost for Eleven, with Max Mayfield (Sadie Sink), possessed by the villain, apparently dying from her injuries. Eleven uses her powers to revive Max, but her death, however brief, is enough to create a short-circuit between the two dimensions.
Two days later, as Hawkins recovers from an “earthquake”, a cliffhanger teases that a comatose Max may not be gone after all, but neither is Vecna. Will Byers (Noah Schnapp), who has a connection to him after his season one’s holiday in the Upside Down, senses he’s still alive.
What could happen in Stranger Things season 5?
Anticipated by a whirlwind teaser, season five will have the full party reunite after going their separate ways for the majority of season four.
Set in 1987, the new episodes will see the gang fight together to defeat Vecna once and for all, with telekinesis queen Eleven once again called to harness her powers to put a stop to the villain.
Meanwhile, El is hunted down by the government in the person of Dr Kay, played by Stranger Things newcomer and Terminator legend Linda Hamilton.
As the Duffer Brothers have promised that questions about the Upside Down will be answered in the final chapter, fans have been coming up with their own explanations.
Will has been in the Upside Down the whole time
Netflix
This one has been a popular theory with fans of the show since Will seemingly broke free from the Mind Flayer’s influence at the end of season two.
With the fourth anniversary of his disappearance around the corner, and a confirmed link between him and Vecna, it wouldn’t be impossible for the “real” Will to still be trapped down there.
A Redditor suggested that the Will we’ve got to see for the past three seasons is but “a clone created by Vecna” and that the real Will has never left the Upside Down.
While there is certainly an energetic bond between Will and Vecna, as the final scene of season four proved, it seems unlikely that Hawkins’ Will is a clone operating under Vecna’s influence.
Will has shown no signs of sabotaging the group’s actions so far, as a second person on Reddit pointed out.
“Now with portal to Hawkins and the Upside Down completely open, I think Will’s connection will be at its strongest since his possession in season 2,” they noted. “He will use that against Vecna, but will also be mentally fighting Vecna’s infiltration of his mind.”
If true, this may mean that the final showdown won’t be (solely) between Eleven and Vecna, but will involve Will in a more prominent capacity.
The characters are all committed to a psychiatric hospital
Netflix
Now, this is a theory that would make us yell at the screen.
Not a far cry from the so-called “Pokémon Coma Theory”, one person offered a frustrating ending to Stranger Things when they suggested that all the characters — from Joyce (Wynona Ryder) to Hopper (David Harbour) and even Murray (Brett Gelman) — are patients in a psychiatric ward.
“I think Will dying at the start of season 1 sent Joyce insane. She has made everything up based on Will’s drawings and love of DnD. She’s actually in a mental hospital,” they wrote.
“Hopper is another patient after losing his daughter. Murray is a conspiracy nut, which is why he and the Russians are involved in the narrative. Vecna seems to be a representation of mental illness so is portrayed as the baddie.”
“If done well, this could be pretty good,” they concluded.
Let’s agree to disagree as we’re not sure how a problematic portrayal of mental-health issues and bereavement would actually make for the grand finale we’re hoping for.
While far-fetched, this theory has been around in different forms since day one of Stranger Things. Fans have speculated that the whole series could be unveiled to be but a game of Dungeons & Dragons due to the connections between the characters and plot points and the role-playing game.
Erica and Vecna have a one-on-one
Netflix
One of Stranger Things’ MVPs, Lucas’s (Caleb McLaughlin) younger sister Erica Sinclair (Priah Ferguson) can certainly be sassy and mildly intimidating.
A fan of the show on Reddit shared hopes that Erica and Vecna will cross paths in season five, presumably so that she could give him a piece of her mind.
While Erica’s killer one-liners have given us life in the show’s (few) dullest moments, they may be nothing on evil mastermind Vecna. We wouldn’t want anything to happen to her, so let’s just park this one for now, shall we?
Steve fakes his own death 
Netflix
Another fan-favourite, Steve Harrington (Joe Keery) could be coming back after faking his own death.
This pretty inventive theory hinges on a scene in the teaser where a teary-eyed Dustin (Gaten Matarazzo) hugs Steve as if they hadn’t seen each other in a while. One fan shared that the blink-and-you’ll-miss-it moment may point to a fake death for Steve.
“All evidence points to him being very dead and Dustin is devastated after losing Eddie last series so the reveal that Steve is still alive is a huge relief and makes Dustin have the response he does,” they wrote.
In all fairness, there is a scene in the teaser where Nancy (Natalia Dyer) sobs uncontrollably that could be an indication of her grieving a loved one. As some seem to think that a Nancy and Steve’s romantic reunion could be on the cards for the final season, we wonder if there’s any truth to the Steve dying-but-not-quite subplot.
Vecna has already killed Kali
Netflix
Back in season two, Eleven had her own adventure away from Hawkins.
Hopping on a bus to Chicago, Brown’s character met Kali Prasad, aka Eight (Linnea Berthelsen), another kid who was experimented upon by Brenner and his team.
Much like Vecna, Kali’s power is to make people hallucinate. This trait the two have in common led one Stranger Things fan to theorise that Vecna may have killed Kali off-screen and absorbed her abilities.
“Is it just me that thinks that Vecna has already killed Kali? his ability to make [people] hallucinate/show things that are not there is very similar to what her powers were,” they noted.
Someone else argued that it would be a “waste of potential” for Kali not to be given a proper send-off or even a return storyline, so we’ll have to wait and see if she shows up to help El for the big battle.
Stranger Things seasons 1-4 are streaming on Netflix. Season 5 premieres with four episodes on 26 November. Three more episodes will be released on Christmas Day, with the series final to drop on the streamer on 31 December.
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Reporter, Digital Spy
Stefania is a freelance writer specialising in TV and movies. After graduating from City University, London, she covered LGBTQ+ news and pursued a career in entertainment journalism, with her work appearing in outlets including Little White Lies, The Skinny, Radio Times and Digital Spy.
Her beats are horror films and period dramas, especially if fronted by queer women. She can argue why Scream is the best slasher in four languages (and a half).