{"id":178967,"date":"2025-12-11T04:27:08","date_gmt":"2025-12-11T04:27:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/178967\/"},"modified":"2025-12-11T04:27:08","modified_gmt":"2025-12-11T04:27:08","slug":"this-63-year-old-sci-fi-masterpiece-is-now-crucial-to-stranger-things-ending-reveals-a-major-theory","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/178967\/","title":{"rendered":"This 63-Year-Old Sci-Fi Masterpiece Is Now Crucial to Stranger Things\u2019 Ending (& Reveals a Major Theory)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Stranger Things<\/a>\u2018 series finale is fast approaching, and after Season 5\u2019s first four episodes, it\u2019s safe to assume that a sci-fi masterpiece from 63 years ago holds the key to the show\u2019s ending. Stranger Things Season 5, Volume 1<\/a> debuted on Netflix on November 26, bringing the Hawkins gang\u2019s journey closer to its conclusion. While the latest episode continues the fight against Vecna (Jamie Campbell Bower), it also raises new questions ahead of the next two volumes. Warning: Spoilers ahead for Stranger Things Season 5, Volume 1.<\/p>\n

How Holly (Nell Fisher) and Max (Sadie Sink) will escape Camazotz, whether the group can sever Will (Noah Schnapp) from the hive mind, and what Vecna is planning<\/a> are chief among the mysteries presented in Volume 1. Of course, there\u2019s also the larger question of how the gang will defeat Stranger Things\u2018 Big Bad; thus far, it seems they\u2019ve continuously played into his hand. Matt and Ross Duffer will need to tie up all these threads to deliver a satisfying conclusion. While we await their ending, many are speculating about what small details scattered throughout the series could mean. And one sci-fi classic crops up repeatedly during Season 5, which tells us it\u2019s probably important.<\/p>\n

A Wrinkle in Time Is Clearly Crucial to Stranger Things\u2019 Ending<\/p>\n

\"NellImage courtesy of Netflix<\/p>\n

Stranger Things is known for making pop culture references, covering everything from Star Wars and Back to the Future to He-Man and the Masters of the Universe. In some cases, the show is merely playing into its \u201980s setting. However, it also uses its nods to other stories to foreshadow looming twists. And it seems to be doing the latter with 1962\u2019s A Wrinkle in Time, which crops up in multiple ways throughout Season 5, Volume 1. To start, Holly is shown reading the book at the kitchen table during the premiere \u2014 a visual that could be overlooked, if it weren\u2019t for the larger details pulled from the story. <\/p>\n

When Henry introduces himself to Holly and the other kids he\u2019s after, he calls himself Mr. Whatsit, an obvious play on the character Mrs. Whatsit from A Wrinkle in Time. Holly also likens the part of Vecna\u2019s mind that she and Max are trapped in to Camazotz, the dark and corrupted planet from Madeleine L\u2019Engle\u2019s sci-fi story. To make things more interesting, the characters in the book are pushed to join a hive mind while on that planet. And they\u2019re up against a massive shadow dubbed IT, which could be likened to the Mind Flayer. All of these details suggest that the Duffers are drawing inspiration from A Wrinkle in Time. That signals that the children\u2019s classic could hold clues about what\u2019s coming. <\/p>\n

How A Wrinkle in Time Could Be Connected to the Netflix Series<\/p>\n

\"MaxImage via Netflix<\/p>\n

Stranger Things\u2018 use of A Wrinkle in Time is interesting, as not everything fits with the sci-fi story. For example, naming Henry after Mrs. Whatsit \u2014 a canonically good character \u2014 raises questions about where his arc is going. It\u2019s possible that the version of Henry interacting with Holly and her friends represents whatever good is still left in him. This would explain why his appearance differs from that of the villain that Will and Mike (Finn Wolfhard) encounter in Volume 1, Episode 4. It could also be the reason he\u2019s built a wall between himself and the Upside Down, which is responsible for his corruption.<\/p>\n

And that brings us to another theory supported by A Wrinkle in Time\u2018s inclusion: that the Mind Flayer is the true final boss of Stranger Things, and that he\u2019s controlling Vecna. The book centers on a massive shadow that uses mind control against its victims, and this can\u2019t be mere coincidence. It\u2019s more likely the Duffers are signaling this twist through their pop culture references. They may also be setting up another shocking development through the book, and it\u2019s one that will prove many Stranger Things theorists correct. <\/p>\n

Stranger Things\u2019 References to the Sci-Fi Classic Support a Popular Season 5 Theory<\/p>\n

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Stranger Things\u2018 allusions to A Wrinkle in Time may also lay the groundwork for another Season 5 theory to come true: that the group will have to use time travel in order to stop Vecna. After all, Volume 1 has Mr. Clarke (Randy Havens) explain the concept of wormholes to Erica\u2019s (Priah Ferguson) class \u2014 and we know his lessons usually wind up connecting to each season\u2019s plot. There\u2019s also Stranger Things Season 4\u2019s reveal that the Upside Down is stuck in the past. And set photos from Stranger Things Season 5<\/a> show Mike and Hopper (David Harbour) in 1989, two years after the events of the final outing, with the latter inexplicably dressed as police chief again. <\/p>\n

All that considered, it certainly seems like there will be a time-related twist in the coming episodes. And the outing\u2019s pop culture references point to that outcome. A Wrinkle in Time follows its characters as they use a \u201ctesseract\u201d to travel through time and space to save their father. The book\u2019s scientific explanation of time travel feels a lot like Mr. Clarke\u2019s lesson about the crossing the barrier to the Upside Down from Season 1, adding yet another parallel. And if the show highlighting A Wrinkle in Time isn\u2019t convincing enough, Robin\u2019s (Maya Hawke) \u201cFlux Capacitor\u201d comment is a direct Back to the Future nod. At this rate, it\u2019ll be surprising if there\u2019s not time travel.<\/p>\n

What do you think of Stranger Things\u2018 A Wrinkle in Time references? Leave a comment below\u00a0and join the conversation now in the\u00a0ComicBook Forum<\/a>!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Stranger Things\u2018 series finale is fast approaching, and after Season 5\u2019s first four episodes, it\u2019s safe to assume…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":178968,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[146,85,46,53235,52092,411],"class_list":{"0":"post-178967","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tv","8":"tag-entertainment","9":"tag-il","10":"tag-israel","11":"tag-regular-feature","12":"tag-stranger-things","13":"tag-tv"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/178967","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=178967"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/178967\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/178968"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=178967"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=178967"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=178967"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}