Stranger Things: Season 5. Finn Wolfhard as Mike Wheeler in Stranger Things: Season 5. Ten million. Courtesy of Netflix/Netflix © 2025
stranger things It may be over, but some fans are having a hard time letting it go. There has been a lot of speculation since the finale ended just a few days ago, leaving some satisfied and others yearning for more. Too much. This has led some to believe that there is more to come…
A few quick sidenotes. It must be said that this is not the first time that fan theories have dominated the conversation stranger thingsAfter Volume 2, fans concluded that Netflix had doctored and edited out large portions of those episodes, citing fake runtimes and circumstantial evidence, We found that most of those theories were coming from the so-called Byler community, which, in layman’s terms, is a community of people who were shipping (i,e,, creating fictional relationships for fictional characters) between Will and Mike,
And before we dive into the theories swirling, we should mention how poor the promotional strategy has been since the release of Volume 3. Forced to answer questions from select outlets on January 1, the Duffer Brothers have tied themselves in knots by answering every single one of the small and annoyingly burning questions (of which there are many) about the finale. Some of his answers contradict themselves, either on the same day or in previous interviews; Others are disappointing, and still others make no sense. Why Netflix made them do this instead of letting the work (however flawed) speak for itself, I’ll never know.
WARNING: The following section contains spoilers. proceed with caution!
What exactly is ConformityGate?
If you’re on X and TikTok and other platforms, but those are the main ones, you may have seen the Conformity Gate hashtag. Essentially, these are the people who are theorizing that there is or is going to be a secret ending, mainly because they are dissatisfied with the ending presented. Once again, there is massive overlap here with the Baylor community, but this time it is much broader than that group.
Several theories point to this”Master Doctor” Started on X by 21 year old Jess under the username 67gate. There’s a lot left to be broken down, so this is my attempt.
This is the essence of the theory ‘Stranger Things’ The finale and volume two were not true endings, but rather a distorted version of reality created by Vecna. This theory posits that the audience, Mike, or both are under Vecna’s curse, which explains why several fan-favorite characters appear as “adapted”, weakened versions of themselves in the epilogue.
In-show visual evidence
- Vecna’s pose at graduation: Almost every single person in the graduation scene, including the background characters in the bleachers, is seen sitting with their arms crossed in exactly the same manner. Fans say this is Vecna’s usual stance, as shown when characters such as Billy are in possession of her.
- Number 12: The exact same scene shows 12 people wearing sunglasses, which matches the number of children Vecna needs for the merger of the worlds.
- “Duffers” T-Shirt: In Graduation a cameraman is seen wearing a shirt with “Duffers” (a nickname for the show’s producers) written across his chest while his camera is pointed directly at the audience. The theory suggests that this is a deliberate nod to the audience being the new victims of Vecna’s altered reality.
- Changing dial color: A prop’s dial pointer changes from gray to red between Episode 1 and Episode 5. This is compared to a key moment in Vecna’s mind, where a merry-go-round changing color (from yellow to black) freaked out Holly and Max.
- Non-working watches: In both Will’s coming out scene and Mike’s epilogue story, Jonathan and Will are wearing watches that do not display the time. A common feature of dreams, and especially lucid dreaming, is the inability to read clocks or the time.
- Reversible Basement Door Knob: The position of the door handle on the basement door appears to be reversed in different scenes, which may be a subtle visual reference that the characters are still trapped in the Upside Down.
External and final anomalies
- WSQK Radio Secrets: A temporary, official radio station created for the show, WSQK, strangely ended two hours later, at 11 pm GMT on January 1. First The closing was issued at 1 AM GMT. Adding to the mystery, the names of two of the three hosts, Mindy Flair and Vance Goodman, have been linked to “Mindflare” and “Vecna”. ,There is a separate lore document here – It’s extensive!)
- “XA LIE” BINDERS: An Instagram story posted by actor Finn Wolfhard (Mike) featured a sequence in the Dungeons & Dragons binders that, when read, could read “XA LIE”. This differs from the sequence that appears in the final scene, a detail that some see as a deliberate change to hide the truth.
- MIC/DM CHANGE: In the final DnD game, Mike is referred to as the “Storyteller” rather than the traditional role of “Dungeon Master”. The term “storyteller” implies a pre-planned narrative, rather than one created dynamically by the players, which suggests an enforced reality.
- Results-Free Hawkins: Other plot inconsistencies cited include Hopper not confronting Eleven’s death and none of the characters, including Hopper, who is returned to police chief, facing any consequences of his conflict with the military.
- Red script wrong direction: It was reported that the finale script was printed in red to prevent photocopying. However, new behind-the-scenes footage shows actors reading the script printed on white paper, leading to speculation of a controlled narrative.
Fans are also reporting that if you search for “Season 5 Episode 9” or “Bad Endings” in the Netflix app, stranger things The tile appears. We can’t really explain this as anything other than a mistake or some brilliant trolling. I would trust the first one.
This is the core of that document, but the well runs much deeper. some fans Looking into copyright registration As for the episodes (which were undoubtedly delayed due to the holidays), the fact is The credits depicted the show entirely as a game.and even people looking at exit signs (yes true).
Why is January 7 important?
Another part of the theory revolves specifically around January 7th. Why 7th January? This is related to a teaser that Netflix released on its social and YouTube accounts on Christmas Day, with a mysterious teaser captioned: “Another year has ended, but your future is on its way. So go ahead, we know you have questions. All you have to do is ask.”
This video and incident has been cited many times, but many have not received the proper context. What next after this incident? Refers to. (formerly known as Next on Netflix) where Netflix unveiled its slate of 2026 titles. stranger things Photos from Season 5 have been displayed in front of the actress’ board at a bus stop, lending credence to some Stranger Things news.
Of course, we’ve already got some stranger things News this week: Behind-the-scenes production documentary One Last Adventure arriving January 12th.
While we don’t think Netflix or The Duffers will ever confirm what actually happened or whether or not Mike’s theory is reality, there’s always the possibility that we could return to Hawkins in the future (beyond this). Stories of ’85) still. We know that several spin-offs have been introduced over the years, but according to the Duffers, the currently teased live-action spin-off will go into active development on January 5th. Audiences can expect a story with no returning characters, no Hawkins, and no 1980s setting, but a story where the mysterious rock from Stranger Things 5 plays a key role in a project that is very different, yet distinctly Stranger Things.
There are plenty of other cool theories floating around about the end of Stranger Things. A cool fact is that the book The Empty Copper Sea was finally seen on the bookshelf by author John D. MacDonald. This is relevant because the subject of that book is about a man who faked his own death. There’s also the fact that the way Dustin’s T-shirt is covered has the words “L Lives.”
What do you think about these theories? Let us know in the comments, and don’t forget to read our full list of burning questions we still have after the ending.