For nearly a decade, Stranger Things has maintained a cultural relevancy nigh unprecedented. Since debuting on July 15th, 2016, the series been the kind of zeitgeist-capturing work of entertainment that only comes along a couple of times every generation. Indeed, only a few years into Netflix’s ambitious swing to begin producing content on its own, the Duffer Brothers’ Stranger Things proved to be a monolithic success across the board.
As such, while Netflix has been infamously reluctant to give runs of more than three seasons to its shows, Stranger Things became a notable exception. Yet despite the fact that it was given increasingly longer runtimes and increasingly larger budgets, the Duffer Brothers’ project still suffered from something which plagues nearly all Netflix series: interminable waiting periods between seasons.
This is why in 2025, the fifth season and final season of Stranger Things is only just now releasing, three years after season 4 and nearly a full decade from the series premiere. But as anyone with a pair of eyes and access to the internet has undoubtedly seen over the past several days, in its final stretch, audiences have begun to turn on Stranger Things in droves, critiquing the final season and comparing it to similarly disappointing finales such as Game of Thrones’ finale season and Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. So now, mere hours away from the series’ final episode, the question must be asked: is it doomed to fail?
Will the divisive reception to Stranger Things 5 affect its theatrical run?
Fascinatingly, months ago, the decision was made that Stranger Things’ finale would act as a crucial juncture point between Netflix and AMC Theaters. While the two companies have long struggled to cooperate with one another, the Stranger Things finale is set to be a benchmark moment for both, as it is premiering in-theaters on New Year’s Eve, at the exact same time that it is premiering on the streaming service. A few months ago, this undoubtedly sounded like a slam-dunk of an idea. Stranger Things has always been cinematic in nature, especially the finales, and with reportedly the largest budget of any television show in history, Stranger Things’ final episode seemed ideal for theatrical exhibition. Even three weeks ago, when tickets initially went on sale and crashed the AMC app, this seemed like an easy win for all involved. However, in the last week, things have gotten unexpectedly complicated.
With the release of Volume II of season five (i.e the fifth, sixth, and seventh episodes of the season) on Netflix, Stranger Things has encountered some clearly unanticipated resistance. Mere hours after release, social media platforms were flooded with people voicing their disdain for these episodes, with the penultimate episode even scoring a record-low IMDB rating of 5.4 out of 10 from fans. Unfortunately, this has cast the upcoming finale in a new light, both creatively and commercially.
On the creative side, even with the finale’s two-hour runtime, there are a lot of threads unresolved and questions unanswered, to the extent that many are wondering how on Earth the show can end in anything but disappointment. On the commercial side, it has now become trendy and a meme in and of itself to bash on these new episodes of Stranger Things. Not only will this now color peoples’ expectations going into the finale, but it also means that the communal theatrical experience may very well be turned into a place for public performative response, similarly to how something like A Minecraft Movie performed earlier this year, only with a great deal more hostility toward the entertainment in question.
Ultimately, I think that one of the biggest detriments to Stranger Things has ironically been its own popularity. The fact that the Duffer Brothers’ show has had such a monumental presence in pop culture over such a long period of time means that fans and casual viewers alike have sat with these characters and formed their own distinct impressions of them. Now, as they begin to bring things to a close, many viewers are pushing vehemently back as the characters’ choices and actions don’t align with what fans have imagined and hoped for in the past.
In short, I hope the Stranger Things finale is, as director Shawn Levy described it, “a masterpiece,” because anything less than that is now going to be met with utter scorn.