Popular Netflix original series Stranger Things recently concluded its nine-year run with one final installment at the end of 2025, yielding mixed opinions surrounding the finale.
Since its initial release in 2016, Stranger Things has garnered over one billion views on Netflix, making it one of the most popular series the network has ever had.
The show’s success has catapulted the acting careers of Millie Bobby Brown, Noah Schnapp and other cast members, who started working on the show as kids and are now young adults. Many young fans have reported feeling an attachment to the show because they feel as if they’ve grown up with each of the characters.
Set in the 1980s, the sci-fi horror follows a group of friends who uncover supernatural forces and government secrets in fictional Hawkins, Indiana, blending coming-of-age themes with mystery and ‘80s nostalgia. Stranger Things has been nominated for 256 awards and won 81, including four Golden Globes and twelve Primetime Emmy Awards.
The first three seasons alone were extremely popular, with some viewers even feeling as if they were the best of the series. Senior Nuha Razak is the vice president of the PHS Film Club and began watching the show during COVID. In an interview, she shared her appreciation for Stranger Things seasons 1-3.
“I particularly liked seasons one, two, and three before Vecna was introduced because I think there was a lot more of a horror element,” Razak said. “I think with Vecna coming into the picture, everything started to make sense and it wasn’t as scary as it seemed before.”
With its earlier success, fans like Razak expected a lot from the final season but were ultimately disappointed with its conclusion. She admitted to feeling dissatisfied with the last episode.
“I was actually expecting a lot more loss and devastation in the last episode,” Razak said. “I think the fact that most of the cast, except for one, survived was really strange, and the whole climax with Vecna was just too easy.”
Following the release of the two-hour long finale on New Years Eve, theories circulated on social media speculating that a secret additional episode would be released on Jan. 7. The rumor, dubbed “Conformity Gate,” quickly caught fire among Stranger Things fans, as some of them were left feeling unsatisfied by the show’s ending.
Stranger Things fan Aspen Lacy, a sophomore at Northwest High School, explained why he believed in the Conformity Gate theory.
“There were a lot of plot points that they set up but never finished,” Lacy stated. “The stakes didn’t feel high enough.”
Ultimately, the Conformity Gate theory did not transpire and was proven false on Jan. 7. On Jan. 12, a behind-the-scenes documentary called “One Last Adventure: The Making of Stranger Things 5” was released. Since the documentary’s release, speculation has spread following some fans’ disappointment with the ending of the show after Conformity Gate theories were debunked. Some fans were accusing the writers of the show, Matt and Ross Duffer, of using ChatGPT on the scripts due to the continuity errors and a tab allegedly resembling the AI software that fans spotted on the Duffer’s computer during the documentary.
The rumors were denied by filmmaker Martina Radwan, who worked closely with the Duffer brothers during the making of the documentary. However, some viewers were still left with questions and mixed feelings about how the finale played out.
Still, Stranger Things 5 became Netflix’s ninth most-watched series with over 105.7 million views by Jan. 6, 2026, just 6 days after its initial release.
The Duffer Brothers confirmed an animated series titled “Stranger Things: Tales from ‘85” to be released this year and an untitled spinoff to expand on the Stranger Things universe in the works. Matt Duffer revealed that the spinoff will tie up a significant loose end and aim to answer some lingering questions that were left over from the finale.
