The calendar reads Jan. 7, 2026, and as the hand of the clock ticks closer to 7 p.m., fans sit on the edge of their seats, TV on, Netflix loaded. The entirety of the world is banking on a single idea: Vecna won.
As season 5 of Stranger Things was released from Thanksgiving to the ball drop on New Year’s Eve, the finale didn’t leave viewers with a sense of closure, but rather a sense of profound confusion
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“I have watched it about a million times. I love it, and I grew up watching this show. It has strongly impacted my life,” freshman Tatum Wiltgen said.
As a decade-long tv show, Stranger Things had collected lots of buzz. The show revolves around a superhuman character, Eleven (Played by Millie Bobby Brown), who helps the core four (Will, Mike, Lucas, and Dustin) to defeat the creatures of the Upside Down while also running from the lab where she was kept. As the show developed, we met new important characters, such as Nancy, Steve, Jonathan, and Hopper, who were all crucial to the plot.
The last season of Stranger Things centered on defeating Vecna, a threat to the kids and Lucas’ true love, Max Mayfield. We see the group discover the truth of the Upside Down and the existence of dimension X. They work to fight Vecna, win, and in a last attempt to save the world, Eleven sacrifices herself as the Upside Down implodes. After that tragedy, we are faced with a flash forward to graduation. We see the characters almost unaffected, and the ending of the boys playing one last game of D&D, then the show ends.
“The ending felt off because there were so many plot holes and questions left to answer. It didn’t make sense that it would leave so much open. For example, they literally left out Vicky, Mr Clark, and more characters from the end sequence. I mean, they also didn’t explain how all of a sudden Max can see after becoming blind and paralyzed, or how she was able to graduate after being in a coma for two years,” freshman Kassie Bazis said
This ending left viewers distraught. After a highly cinematic and well written season 4, Season five was full of loopholes, boring storylines, and confusing scenes (Like the Jancy ‘breakup’ which is seen as one of their most romantic moments with the almost love). This, fans did not like. Instead, they decided that maybe Vecna had won, and the last episode was a complete lie created by Vecna’s mind-controlling powers. This idea was officially named ‘Conformity Gate’.
“I just didn’t want it to be over, and even though the ending was beautiful, I still wanted there to be more. I really did think there would be an episode 9, but I wasn’t super hopeful,” junior Kara Woodworth said.
This name came from the last episode of the series “The Right Side Up” after the show ended unusually. The main characters seemed to just return to normal life as if nothing happened. They did not speak of the events leading up to or about Eleven’s death. They conformed to the reality, and truly, it seemed unrealistic, especially for the outlandish, strong-headed Dustin Henderson, as he just graduated peacefully.
“This show was made for outcasts. They specifically say that multiple times, and by making one of your main 4 characters, who is supposed to be different, lose all defining traits of his character and integrate into society, is just bad,” senior Robin Hubert said.
The other aspect of this name was brought up by the fact that people thought the Duffer Brothers wanted us to conform and be okay with this ending. They also lost much genuine writing, and plot holes were evident. Many fans attribute the perceived creative decline in Season 5 to the real-world separation of Ross Duffer and his ex-wife, filmmaker Leigh Janiak, because they divorced right before Season 5 was produced. Many think that she may have been a ghostwriter for the show, and when the divorce was finalized, so was her writing saga.
“It was the worst writing Stranger Things has ever seen. I think it was just super rushed. The worst writing was BY FAR the last episode, with episodes 5 – 7 coming in 2nd, and the first 4 episodes were decent,” junior Noah Litherland said.
The biggest thing that led people to this conclusion was truly the changes in scenes. Fans noticed colors changing from earlier episodes, leading to the belief that Vecna was just controlling their [and our] minds. This was noticed in the diluted color of Hawkins. The shift in hue was noted as a cue that the characters were trapped in a cold reality constructed by Vecna to keep them docile. Others also noticed background details that defied the natural logic of the show. There was a random clock in the back of the graduation scene, seemingly running backwards, and Mike’s basement was mirrored even, with the stairs on the wrong side. These errors were seen as the inability of Vecna to perfectly replicate the real world.
“Yes, it [Vecna in control] literally has to be, there is no other reason for everyone to be sitting like him, Mike looking eerily like him in the final scene, like come on,” Woodworth said.
As 7:01 p.m. ticked onto the clock and fans refreshed their Netflix to nothing, fans were left mourning the ending that could have been. Left disappointed and upset, they shut off their screens and hope that maybe another day will reveal the episode. The Duffer Brothers later confirmed that Episode 8 would be the last of the series, debunking the theory of ‘Conformity Gate”.
“It felt like it had a lot of missing pieces. I would have really liked to look into how Henry became the way he was a bit more, and the black hole area around the “bridge,” freshman Isabella Niehaus said.
However, some fans remain strong in their hope, making this more than a theory, but also a collective refusal to let go of the influential characters that defined over a decade of television.
“I think Conformity Gate would have been a better ending, especially after the documentary. The story was just too rushed to be that deep,” Bazis said
Whether the ending was an urban tragedy or a sad downfall of rushed writing remains a point of debate. However, for one week in 2026, the world chose to believe in one more monster, one more fight, and one more chance to see Eleven- because for Stranger Things fans, conforming to a world without her was the scariest ending of all.
“I hope that maybe, by some MIRACLE, they come out with another episode to save the season. If this is the real ending, then I am choosing to believe Vecna won and has them in his mind,” Litherland said.
