{"id":224252,"date":"2026-01-06T22:24:12","date_gmt":"2026-01-06T22:24:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/224252\/"},"modified":"2026-01-06T22:24:12","modified_gmt":"2026-01-06T22:24:12","slug":"11-fantastic-pop-culture-references-in-the-stranger-things-finale","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/224252\/","title":{"rendered":"11 Fantastic Pop Culture References in the STRANGER THINGS Finale"},"content":{"rendered":"

For five seasons and nearly a decade, Stranger Things<\/a> has paid homage to pop culture from throughout several decades, but especially from the 1980s. And the long-anticipated finale, \u201cThe Rightside Up,\u201d was no different. As the Hawkin heroes headed into the home stretch, these are our ten favorite pop culture defences and Easter eggs we spotted from the big series finale:<\/p>\n

Rambo\"(Left)<\/p>\n

Netflix\/Lionsgate\/Warner Bros.<\/p>\n

When the group takes the fight to Vecna in the Abyss, Nancy Wheeler (Natalia Dyer) has a new look. According to the Duffer Brothers, Sylvester Stallone\u2019s appearance in the Rambo films inspired Nancy\u2019s attire.<\/p>\n

Halloween: H2O\"(Top)<\/p>\n

Netflix\/Dimension Films <\/p>\n

It is a fed-up\u00a0Joyce Wheeler (Winona Ryder) who delivers the killing blow to Vecna. And she does so by chopping his head off with an ax. (Look, she\u2019s had enough, ok?) In part, this is a callback to her using an ax in season one. But it also recalls how Jamie Lee Curtis as Laurie Strode, tired of running from slasher Michael Myers for twenty years in Halloween:\u00a0H2O,<\/a> finds her inner resolve and takes an ax and chops off his head.<\/p>\n

Purple Rain<\/p>\n

One of the most iconic albums of the \u201880s, Prince and the Revolution\u2019s Purple Rain,<\/a> gets two songs played in the finale. We hear them play as the group leaves the Upside Down, rigging it to blow for the length of time it takes Side B of Purple Rain to start and finish. Famously, Side-B starts with \u201cWhen Doves Cry,\u201d and ends with \u201cPurple Rain,\u201d which plays as Eleven makes her big sacrifice. Prince almost never licensed out his music for film or TV. Especially his signature biggest hits. But the late icon\u2019s estate has less strict rules regarding that. Ever since the finale dropped, streams of Prince\u2019s music have shot up significantly.<\/p>\n

Stephen King\"(Top)<\/p>\n

Netflix\/Warner Bros.<\/p>\n

Since the start, Stranger Things has channeled as much Stephen King as it does Steven Spielberg. But the finale was filled with more King references than ever. Vicki refers to the Demo Dogs as \u201cmutant Cujos,\u201d referencing King\u2019s killer St. Bernard book. The Mind Flayer\u2019s form in the Abyss resembled a giant spider, reminiscent of Pennywise\u2019s final form in It<\/a>. Mike growing up\u00a0to become a writer is not only reminiscent of Bill Denborough in It, but also Gordie in Stand By Me (and a few other King protagonists). The sign for Silver Bullet Beer in the bar we see Will at in the future is likely a reference to King\u2019s werewolf novel Silver Bullet.<\/p>\n

The Breakfast Club\"The<\/p>\n

Universal Pictures<\/p>\n

In Dustin\u2019s graduation speech for the 1989 class of Hawkins High School, he mentions how cultural forces divide the school into several social castes, the jocks, the nerds, and the freaks. This seems like a very direct callback to Brian\u2019s letter to Principal Vernon in\u00a0the finale of The Breakfast Club<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Montauk\"The<\/p>\n

Netflix<\/p>\n

When Hopper (David Harbour) proposes to Joyce at Enzo\u2019s restaurant, he mentions getting a job offer in Montauk, New York<\/a>. This is a reference to the Duffer Brothers\u2019 original pitch for Stranger Things, titled Montauk. It was loosely based on the mysterious Montauk Project, a series of experiments allegedly conducted by the U.S. Government in the late \u201870s and early \u201880s. Despite the name change. Much of the urban legends surrounding Montauk would serve as inspiration for season one.<\/p>\n

Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade\"Sean<\/p>\n

Lucasfilm\/Paramount<\/p>\n

As an indicator of where we are in the show\u2019s timeline, the \u201c18 months later\u201d segment shows the local Hawkins movie house is showing Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.<\/a> This sets the events firmly in the summer of 1989. As this was the \u201clast crusade\u201d of the Hawkins A.V. Club and their allies, it\u2019s a fitting movie title to display.<\/p>\n

Ghost\"(Left)<\/p>\n

Netflix\/Paramount <\/p>\n

According to the Duffer Brothers,\u00a0when we see Max and Dustin together in the near future on a date, they\u2019re watching the 1990 supernatural romance Ghost, starring Patrick Swayze and Demi Moore.<\/p>\n

Star Trek: The Next Generation\"(Top)<\/p>\n

Netflix\/Paramount Television <\/p>\n

The biggest sci-fi event of 1987, when season five takes place, was the debut of Star Trek: The Next Generation.<\/a> Although not given a shout-out by name, the final scene of Stranger Things had a strong similarity to the finale of TNG, \u201cAll Good Things.\u201d Both feature our main characters playing a game around a table. In Stranger Things, it\u2019s D&D, in TNG, it\u2019s poker. It\u2019s a \u201cfull circle\u201d moment, showing the characters playing a game that\u2019s been important to them throughout the series run. Both bittersweet endings show flash forwards to the future lives of the characters as well.<\/p>\n

Joyce and Karen\u2019s Frantic Phone Call\"Joyce<\/p>\n

Netflix<\/p>\n

One of the most memorable Easter eggs in the finale was Stranger Things making a callback to itself. In the first episode of the first season, Joyce Beyers frantically calls Karen Wheeler looking for her missing son, Will. In the final episode of the series, it is Karen who calls Joyce, looking for her missing son, Mike. Luckily, he wasn\u2019t abducted; he was just sulking on a park bench, and not sucked into another dimension.<\/p>\n

Dungeons & Dragons Player\u2019s Manual \"(Left)<\/p>\n

Netflix\/TSR<\/p>\n

Stranger Things wouldn\u2019t be Stranger Things without a Dungeons & Dragons reference, and appropriately enough, the show ends with one. As the credits roll over David Bowie\u2019s \u201cHeroes,\u201d we see the group\u2019s adventures over five seasons drawn like the black and white illustrations in the Dungeons & Dragons Players Handbook. The \u201ccover\u201d of the manual even looks like the kind you\u2019d see published by TSR back in the \u201880s.<\/p>\n

The post 11 Fantastic Pop Culture References in the STRANGER THINGS Finale<\/a> appeared first on Nerdist<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"For five seasons and nearly a decade, Stranger Things has paid homage to pop culture from throughout several…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":224253,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[67292,52091,146,85,46,18889,122934,122932,409,122930,95247,122935,122931,122933,4707],"class_list":["post-224252","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-david-harbour","tag-duffer-brothers","tag-entertainment","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-jamie-lee-curtis","tag-joyce-beyers","tag-joyce-wheeler","tag-music","tag-nancy-wheeler","tag-natalia-dyer","tag-prince-and-the-revolution","tag-purple-rain","tag-series-finale","tag-stephen-king"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/224252","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=224252"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/224252\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/224253"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=224252"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=224252"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=224252"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}