And just like that, the fifth and final season of Netflix's Stranger Things is over, folks. Naturally, the final season garnered a lot of opinions and sparked controversies. All things considered, the Duffer Brothers ultimately stuck the landing, but there were more than a few bumps in the road. And now, Netflix has debuted a making-of documentary, and it's only served to have fans questioning the show even more.
Titled One Last Adventure: The Making of Stranger Things Season 5, the documentary takes fans behind the scenes of season 5, chronicling the intense work of the cast, creators, and crew as they bring the final season to our screens. It's an emotional watch, featuring many tears, and it also leaves fans bewildered by some of the quotes said by the Duffers.
Throughout the documentary, Matt and Ross Duffer admitted things best kept to themselves. For instance, at one point Matt Duffer reveals that "We went into production without having a finished script for the finale," adding that "There's always a sense of panic that it's not going to come together," and, "We are laying down the tracks as the train is going." You've got to admire the honesty, though.
All of that said, there was one thing in particular that drew fans' ire: the apparent use of ChatGPT. Now let's get this absolutely clear. We're talking about blurry screenshots here. There's no concrete evidence that generative AI was used, but many fans seem to think so. We have the post on X showing the screenshot below. Take a look at the tab icons and investigate for yourselves:
Duffer Brothers really used chatgpt for this script? WTF 😡😡 pic.twitter.com/f2fyOZ7zWa
— Vicky Shinde (@iamshinde83) January 12, 2026
Many fans are throwing shade at the Duffers' writing on the final season. Take a look at some opinions doing the rounds on X:
It's easy to assume that the vitriol around #StrangersThings5 is overblown, but no, the Duffers really wrote endless scenes with characters standing in circles, making plans, and one going "Uhh there's just one problem though 🤓" up until the final battle. ChatGPT ass writing.
— Andrew J. Salazar (@AndrewJ626) January 1, 2026
chat gpt 100% wrote “friends? no thanks. best friends” btw
— ۟ (@cleraudin) January 12, 2026
In a world where AI comes under so much flack for generating entire scrips on a single prompt, pretty much sacrificing all creativity, the mere sight of a ChatGPT tab open on the same computer as Stranger Things scripts is not a good one. Even used as a tool rather than for actual text creation, there's a hugely negative stigma surrounding AI; as there should be, especially for a project that has many millions pumped into it.
While we this isn't evidence enough to confirm that the Duffers used AI to actually write any of season 5, we'd like to think that the scripts were wholly original.
One Last Adventure: The Making of Stranger Things Season 5 is now streaming on Netflix. Give us all your opinions on the final season in the comments down below!