Inside Conformitygate, The Stranger Things “Secret Finale” Conspiracy Theory
Is it just wishful thinking?
Series finales are tricky things. Some of the most acclaimed finales are also the most heartbreaking: the fade to black in The Sopranos that resulted in panicked calls from viewers, Hawkeye’s departure in M*A*S*H*, even the somber Ice Age moment in Dinosaurs. But just as heartbreaking are the finales that feel like betrayals themselves, like the “Super-Hell” moment at the end of Supernatural or the graceless finale of Game of Thrones.
But every so often, there’s a series finale that is so unsatisfactory, so egregious, that certain fans are convinced it can’t be true. That’s the theory thrumming through the Stranger Things fandom currently — and it’s led to a fervent belief that we could still get another episode. Inverse spoke to the minds behind the theory, including the fan who coined its name: Conformitygate.
What is Conformitygate?
In the vast halls of Stranger Things Twitter (an anachronistic name, but the one they use all the same), some are fan editors, some are fan-fiction authors, and some are shippers. But none are as fascinating as the fan theorists, who piece together information from Stranger Things and all related media, including merch, tie-in streams, and interviews.
This specific theory sparked from a Space audio livestream on X hosted by Jess (@67gate) that featured fellow theorists Wry (@wryisevil), Cas (@season5chapter4), and Mika (@mikaplow). (All of these fans chose to go by their first names due to privacy concerns.) There were already theories surrounding this series after Volume 2 — Paladingate, coined by Wry, uses the Dungeons and Dragons Paladin class to suggest why Mike is bound to Will, and Possessiongate, coined by Cas, suggested that Will was controlled by Vecna throughout Season 5. The -gate conspiracy suffix has now thoroughly outgrown its Watergate connotations and is now as commonplace fandom slang as “shipping” or “AU.”
But in the wake of the finale, these fans had more questions than answers. Characters were given “happy endings,” but they didn’t feel right. Max is acting aggressive like her late brother Billy, Lucas doesn’t get any future besides staying together with Max, and Will is shown drinking and possibly smoking — activities that didn’t feel in-character for him.
Conformitygate is focused on how the endings forced the characters to conform, like how Steve became a teacher and Robin started dressing completely differently.
That’s what inspired Jess to come up with Conformitygate: the theory that this ending is just what viewers are led to believe, while the truth is very different. “We want a way to still love the show after being burned pretty badly by it, because at the end of the day, we still love the characters and who they were before they got such poor writing in the newest season,” Wry tells Inverse. “The title of Conformitygate to me,” Cas tells Inverse, “is about how the characters are made to conform toward ideas and ways of life that the characters normally wouldn’t choose for themselves.”
For some fans, this means creative license to choose to interpret the ending however they like, even if that means rejecting it entirely, while others take things a step further. Some believe there is a secret ninth episode that will premiere today, Jan. 7, because of how important 7 is to the story: the series premiered in July, the seventh month, and in the very first episode of the series, Will rolls a seven. This theory only grew when Netflix released a cryptic teaser full of Stranger Things imagery that teased a huge announcement on Jan. 7 (the announcement turned out to be a teaser for Netflix’s general 2026 slate).
“In my opinion, the best-case scenario would be an Episode 9, and even an entirely new Volume 2, that actually relates to the thematic topics of Stranger Things rather than mimicking a low-budget Marvel movie,” Mika says.
The Byler Elephant In The Room
The strangeness of Will’s coming-out scene led many fans to doubt the veracity of the season as a whole.
Ever since Mike snapped at Will that “it’s not my fault you don’t like girls” back in Season 3, fans have embraced Will as a queer character, a rarity for a show set in the 1980s. Byler — the pairing of Will Byers and Mike Wheeler — soon developed an ardent fan base, with some convinced the two would be endgame (paired together when the credits roll). The result was nothing like that. Will came out in a painful-to-watch scene where he didn’t even use the word “gay,” and the knife was twisted in the finale when Mike suggested he would be “best friends” with Will.
But while Conformitygate may seem like a last-ditch attempt to make Byler canon, it’s not exactly true. “This is definitely not a Byler theory,” Mika says. “While it did come from Byler Twitter, the overlap has dwindled in percentage with the general audience becoming more invested in Conformitygate. As it spreads across platforms, more Stranger Things viewers are starting to notice all the things blatantly wrong about this finale and hope for more.”
She’s not wrong. #Conformitygate now has 13,200 posts on TikTok, from fandom accounts posting proof to celebrities like the Philadelphia Flyers’ mascot Gritty getting in on the action. New proof keeps getting brought up, like how the entire first row of the Hawkins High graduation ceremony posed like Henry, or how Max was able to graduate despite being in a coma for much of her high school career. “Though most of the people speaking about Conformitygate are queer and do ship Byler,” Cas agrees, “This theory is less about Byler and more toward the show as a whole.”
Hoping For The Best
This is far from the first time a fandom was convinced an unannounced epilogue was on its way. In 2017, fans of Kendrick Lamar became so convinced his album DAMN would be followed by a second album entitled NATION that Lamar himself had to post a tweet ensuring everyone that nothing else was coming. Earlier that year, possibly the most infamous theory ran amok: fans of the BBC’s Sherlock series were so disappointed by Season 4 that they were convinced a future BBC listing for Apple Tree Yard would actually be a fourth episode that would prove the first three were bad on purpose. It was, in fact, just a show called Apple Tree Yard.
This fact isn’t lost on the theorists. They know that Jan. 7 may come and go with no new episode. They know a new episode may never come. But that’s not the point. The point is to create, imaginary or otherwise, an ending that feels worthy of this story and these characters.
In fact, even if there is a secret episode, it still wouldn’t be enough to erase all the sins of Season 5. “If it’s truly real, I still won’t forgive the Duffers for how they’ve handled their characters in marginalized groups,” Mika says. “Whether it’s their way of sidelining characters like Lucas, or poorly navigating Will’s scenes in regards to his queerness, the Duffer brothers have proven to be unable to write impactful and accurate portrayals of characters that are in such groups.”
Everything from the way students sat during the graduation scene is used as evidence for this theory.
“I’d definitely say that for me, I reject that ending,” Wry says. “I don’t really believe it makes sense for any of the characters, and it was left so ambiguous that I am enjoying creating my own with my friends.” Cas also refuses to accept how the show ended. “If the finale was the true ending, no shade, but I will happily accept everything up to Season 5 Episode 4. But the rest I will pretend doesn’t exist.”
So while the Duffer brothers may not be preparing some big unannounced rug pull in a secret episode, it doesn’t really matter. What matters is the fact that this series — a show that so many young adults have grown up with — is up to their interpretation. If a secret episode that fixes everything the way they want it gives them hope for these characters, then they are free to think that. To paraphrase Albert Camus, and also Mike Wheeler, one must imagine Eleven happy.
