A Year Turned Upside Down

Stranger Things released its finale season in November-December of 2025, leaving some fans feeling unsatisfied

After almost a decade of filming and the release of five seasons, the popular Netflix series Stranger Things officially came to an end on December 31st, 2025. 

Stranger Things season five —the final season of the series— was broken up into three separately released volumes and eight different episodes. This means that fans weren't able to watch the entire season at once. 

“I would have preferably liked to watch [the season] all at once instead of waiting [for] the three volumes [to be released],” Avery Wert (9), Stranger Things fan, said. 

Each volume was also released in the midst of the busy holiday season. 

“[The episodes being released on holidays made the season] a little bit worse because [you had to wait] that whole holiday [to watch it],” Wert (9) said. 

Despite the anticipated wait for the release of Stranger Things season five and the wait between volumes, several fans were left feeling disappointed with how the show officially concluded. 

[I wasn't satisfied with the ending] because after three years there was a lot of [excitement] built, and then [the finale] ended up being really predictable and kind of rushed,” Evie Miller (10), Stranger Things fan theorist, said.

One of the biggest disappointments for fans this season was screen time per character.

“[I wanted this season] to be more focused on…Venca…and the kids, but like less about Mike and more about everyone else,” Miller (10) said. 

The finale of season five, episode 8, also felt rushed to many viewers.

“This season felt more rushed. I feel like a lot of the story lines didn't really come to an end, so I think that [this season] was just more disappointing than it was exciting, ” Becca Hiler (11), Stranger Things fan, said. 

The ending of Stranger Things left some fans disappointed enough to end up theorizing about a potential new final episode. After watching the last episode of the show, some fans have come to believe in a theory known as “conformity gate,” which insinuates that the show isn't truly over and the ending of Stranger Things is yet to come. Fans theorized about a secret final episode being randomly dropped that would fill in any lasting plot holes and give the famous show the ending it deserves.

“[I believe in “conformity gate”] because I just don't want [this] to be the ending and I feel like [not including it is] a really big missed opportunity, and maybe [the writers] are working on it now because they see how much backlash there is for [conformity gate] not being real,” Miller (10) said.

From plot lines to characters, it's clear that Stranger Things season five didn't deliver what all fans had hoped for.