Spoilers ahead for Stranger Things season five.
When the Stranger Things season five finale aired on December 31, fans flocked to their TVs to see once and for all if their theories were correct. Because in the years between the fourth and fifth seasons, viewers had a lot of time to think.
In the end, however, the resolution wasn’t as convoluted as some people thought. It wasn’t all just a Dungeons & Dragons game, and the Eye of Vecna ultimately played no role at all in our rag-tag crew’s mission to sever the link between Earth and the Upside Down. The epilogue showed what the now quite grown-up children get up to after the big battle, and how they continue to live more or less happily ever after.
But not so fast. The theories haven’t let up yet, and today—January 7, 2026—marks the end of a very special Stranger Things countdown.
Here’s how Stranger Things season five ends
Did you also watch the last episode—and in particular, the epilogue—and think to yourself: Something’s not right here? You’re not alone. A fan theory, which has been dubbed “conformity gate,” insists that the epilogue of Stranger Things wasn’t the real ending at all. Why?
In episode eight, the Hawkins crew implements their plan to enter the Upside Down one last time, or rather, to penetrate the Abyss, rescue the kidnapped children, and defeat Vecna once and for all. The plan goes well, even if there are a few unexpected obstacles as well as the death of El’s sister, Kali.
After the crew finds Vecna’s hideout, El jumps into the heart of the Mind Flayer to find and defeat Vecna himself, while the rest of the gang fights the monster from the outside. Will helps El one last time by drawing his powers from Vecna, and together they are able to impale him. The killing blow comes from Joyce, who chops off Vecna’s head with an axe because he “messed with the wrong family.”
Then comes the happy ending. Almost.
The crew heads back to Hawkins, but only after planting a bomb near the exotic matter to obliterate the Upside Down’s wormhole once and for all. However, they are intercepted by Dr. Kay and her soldiers, who still want El. She sacrifices herself—as she planned from the beginning–to end the cycle. Whether or not El is really dead has been up for debate: Because at the end of the epilogue, Mike reveals his theory that Kali used her last breaths to trick the military (and El’s friends) so her sister could get away.
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