The Stranger Things series finale delivered the long-awaited final battle with Vecna, which took place in the alternate dimension known as The Abyss. That battle played out across The Abyss as well as within the depths of Vecna’s mind, and there was also a massive gnarly version of the Mind Flayer in the mix as well. What wasn’t in that mix though were any Demogorgons or Demodogs, who had been Vecna’s minions of choice over the course of the series. Stranger Things creators the Duffer Brothers have now revealed why they weren’t involved in that final battle, and fans may not like the reason.

In a conversation with The Wrap, Matt and Ross Duffer were asked where all the creatures were once the crew got to The Abyss. “Mainly it’s just that Vecna was not expecting this sneak attack on his home turf. Never in a million years could he even imagine that,” Matt said. “They’re there somewhere. We obviously discussed having a demo battle on top of the Mind Flayer battle, but it felt more right to us that why does he need the demos when the Mind Flayer is this giant thing and can attack them? He doesn’t need his little ant army to attack, he’s going to take care of this himself.”

STRANGER THINGS: SEASON 5. Millie Bobby Brown as Eleven in Stranger Things: Season 5. Cr. COURTESY OF NETFLIX © 2025

“It’s a giant, desolate planet. If you recall, you see Henry wandering the planet back in Season 4 and at some point in his journey, he does see a demo far in the distance, but it’s not like they’re hanging out in little huts. There’s not like a giant civilization of demos up there,” Matt said.

Matt Duffer did add one additional note about the lack of Demogorgons, which had a major spotlight throughout season 5 and especially in the episode Sorcerer. “One of the other things we talked about was just demo fatigue. I felt like we did everything we wanted to do with them in ‘Sorcerer,’ and wanting to keep the focus on Vecna and the Mind Flayer, who’s been absent this season,” Matt said.

The Duffer Brothers Scrapped An Alien Homage From Stranger Things Finale

Speaking of things that didn’t make it into the finale, Matt and Ross Duffer did reveal that there was an idea for a sequence in The Abyss that never made it into the finale, and Alien fans would have probably loved it.

Matt said, “We did at some point have that they were going to come across a giant field of demo eggs in kind of an ‘Aliens’ thing, but you can’t get all your ideas in there. You remember the eggs?

Ross then said, “Yeah that’s in the three-hour version of the finale, which was never written.” Matt added, “Were they going to come out of the eggs? I can’t remember”, to which Ross said, “Yeah”.

It would have been great to get a little more time on The Abyss, but with just how vast and empty it seems to be, perhaps less is more in that regard. As for the Demogorgons, the Mind Flayer spotlight makes a lot of sense, though it would have been cool to at least see a few Demogorgons show up ahead of the battle or even during it. That said, the final fight was still epic, and other than just more people on screen, I’m not exactly sure what they would have added to the battle itself.

Stranger Things season 5 is streaming on Netflix.

What do you think? Leave a comment below and join the conversation now in the ComicBook Forum!