Let’s Talk About The Stranger Things Series Finale
Was Vecna defeated? Was there a time jump? Let’s unpack it all.
Nine years, five months, and sixteen days ago, Netflix introduced streaming viewers to Stranger Things, a nostalgic Stephen King homage starring Winona Ryder and a bunch of unknown child actors. Now, those actors are all stars themselves, and Stranger Things has gone from a niche sci-fi show to a cultural behemoth.
But all good things have to come to an end, and we’ve known for a while now that this series would end in 2025. But what came as a surprise was the release schedule: three different volumes, with the finale releasing — in theaters, too — in the final hours of New Year’s Eve.
But now that Stranger Things is over and everything is said and done, how did the chips fall? How was Vecna defeated? Most importantly, who will live to tell the tale? Here’s everything you need to know about the epic two-hour finale, “The Rightside Up.”
Warning! Spoilers for the Stranger Things series finale ahead!
The final plan to defeat Vecna uses the WSQK radio tower as a “beanstalk” to reach the Abyss.
How was Vecna defeated?
The answers to these questions mostly came in the first half of the episode. The convoluted plan to defeat Vecna by entering the Abyss went more or less according to plan, though there were a few hiccups that required a last-minute distraction from Murray and resulted in the loss of Kali. Will learned what viewers of Stranger Things: The First Shadow have known all along: that Henry Creel was just turned into Vecna, but even then, Henry still sided with Vecna’s worldview.
The Mind Flayer was awoken, and Vecna and Eleven faced off inside of it. Things looked dire for a minute, but Will’s newfound psychic abilities were able to clinch it for the Hawkins gang. However, it was Joyce who dealt the final blow.
With Vecna defeated, there was only one other part of the plan, but this one was a lot more straightforward: detonate a bomb and destroy the Upside Down once and for all. Eleven brings Mike into her mind to say one last goodbye, and then she’s swept away with the rest of the interdimensional bridge.
Stranger Things Finale, Time Jump, Explained
Eighteen months later, everyone’s planning for the graduation of the Class of ‘89: Mike, Will, Lucas, Max, and Dustin are graduating, Steve’s now working as a coach and teacher in Hawkins, Robin’s back from Smith, Jonathan’s back from NYU, and Nancy’s quit Emerson to pursue a career in journalism.
Eleven appears to sacrifice herself when the Upside Down is destroyed.
After the graduation ceremony, all of the teens gather in Mike’s basement for one last Dungeons & Dragons game, where the crew manages to summon a mage in order to help them defeat the last evil. Mike’s narration about the D&D characters also informs the future of the players: Max and Lucas fall more in love, Dustin goes away to study in vast libraries, Will moves to a big city and finds community, and Mike continues to tell stories even through college.
Of course, Eleven’s absence is felt, but Mike has a theory as to how she could actually survive by making a pact with the dying Kali. “Together, the sisters devised a plan, a plan to protect the mage from the Order of the Black Hand, who remained hell-bent on stealing her powers,” he said. “So in order to trick them, she had to make everyone, including her friends, believe that she was dead. And so the sister cast a spell from far away. Safe from the power of the suppression stone. A spell of invisibility.”
Basically, Kali snuck Eleven out at the last minute and cast an illusion of her so she could disappear without any chance of being found. Mike doesn’t know if the theory is true, but we do see Eleven — either in reality or in Mike’s mind — walk up a cliffside and look over three waterfalls, just as they discussed.
Eventually, everyone puts their Dungeons & Dragons binders away on the shelf, and before Mike leaves the basement, he watches Holly and her friends (including Derek) excitedly sit down so they can start playing their own campaign.
To the pangs of David Bowie’s “Heroes,” that’s how all five seasons of Stranger Things come to an end. While there were some questions answered, there were also plenty of open-ended moments that are left up to interpretation. It’s no Game of Thrones finale, thankfully, but now that it’s over, it’s hard not to feel like there wasn’t anything surprising in all two hours. For a show defined by its twists, the Stranger Things finale felt very by-the-numbers.
