Stranger Things creators shut down popular fan theory

This year has been a tough one for the entertainment industry. Due to the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes, productions came to a standstill as writers and actors fought for better deals. But now the strikes have been resolved, and movies and TV shows can continue where they left off. That includes the fifth and final season of Netflix’s Stranger Things. 

Stranger Things season 5 is set to begin production in January 2024. While we don’t know what the new episodes will entail, we know what they won’t be about. There’s an awful fan-theory suggesting that the events of the previous four seasons were all imagined by the kids in Mike Wheeler’s’ basement, playing a long game of Dungeons & Dragons – not unlike the story of the movie Jumanji, for instance. 

Looking at it objectively, the theory has some legs. I mean, all of the monsters are based on characters from Dungeons & Dragons: the Demogorgon, the Mind Flayer, Vecna, etc. However, after such a complex, heartfelt story, it would feel like an insult to fans to end the series by merely making it all the result of childish imagination. 

“That would be the equivalent of, ‘That’s all a dream’. No, I assure you that is not how we’re going to end the show,” creator Ross Duffer told Metro. 

In fact, Ross and and his brother/fellow creator Matt Duffer’s ultimate plan for the show’s endgame has been in place for some time now. “We’ve known where we’ve been going for a while,” he said. “And we feel comfortable with it; hopefully, it satisfies everyone. We’ll see.”

Season 4 left fans on a huge cliffhanger. Just as the kids thought they’d all done enough to save the world… it turns out thinks were just getting started. In the final moments, the Hellish Upside Down landscape leaked into the quaint town of Hawkins. Yikes. 

So far, the final season is shrouded in mystery. However, we know that iconic Terminator star Linda Hamilton is involved. And now, it’s been revealed that The Shawshank Redemption director Frank Darabont is on board to helm two episodes, per The Insneider. Darabont also worked on season 1 and 2 of The Walking Dead, so he knows how to bring the horror! 

Netflix has not set a release date for Stranger Things 5 yet. Sometime in 2025 seems like a reasonable estimate. 

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