The Stranger Things Season 5 finale has landed on Netflix, bringing the long-running story to a close. Here’s a full breakdown of how the final battle unfolds, who survives, and what the ending really means.
In Season 5 Volume 2, the Hawkins gang discovered that the Upside Down is actually a portal to the Abyss – the true origin of demogorgons and the Mind Flayer, and the place Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown) banished Henry Creel (Jamie Campbell Bower) to years prior.
What’s more, they find out that Henry, aka Vecna, is using the kidnapped children to merge the Abyss with the real world. They devise a plan to stop it, which Steve (Joe Keery) coins “Operation Beanstalk.”
Max (Sadie Sink) will guide El and Kali (Linnea Berthelsen) through Henry’s mind to kill him, while the rest of the gang will head into the Abyss to save the kids. In theory, it’s a great plan, but as we know, nothing in Stranger Things is straightforward. Warning: spoilers ahead!
Stranger Things Season 5 ending explained
Stranger Things Season 5 Episode 8, ‘The Rightside Up’, brings the battle against Vecna to a close, saving the kidnapped children and preventing the Abyss from colliding with the real world – but victory comes at a cost, forcing Eleven to stay away from Hawkins forever.
You see, everyone bands together to kill the Mind Flayer and Vecna, stopping the Abyss from consuming their world. They all make it out alive, including Holly Wheeler (Nell Fisher) and her classmates, meaning there’s just one part of the plan left: detonate a bomb to destroy the gateway connecting Hawkins and the Upside Down.
But as they head out of the gate, Dr. Kay (Linda Hamilton) and her cronies are waiting for them, and they have one goal: find El. As they look for her, we see El standing at the gateway.
She says a tearful goodbye to Mike (Finn Wolfhard) in his mind, explaining that she has to sacrifice herself in order to stop the government’s cycle of using those with powers to create more super-powered babies.
The bomb detonates, closing the gate and seemingly killing El in the process. However, in the final scene, Mike explains to Lucas (Caleb McLaughlin), Max, Will (Noah Schnapp), and Dustin (Gaten Matarazzo) that it was all an illusion created by Kali in her final moments.
The reality is that El secretly escaped while tricking Dr. Kay and co. into thinking she had disappeared. And since Kali was killed in the Upside Down, in their minds, there are no more babies to experiment on.
As such, everyone gets their happy ending, even if it means living a life without El.
What happens to each character?
Following the closure of the gateway, the Stranger Things Season 5 finale jumps ahead 18 months to show Hawkins returned to normal – no military presence, no quarantine, and no sign of the curse that once defined the town.
As Robin puts it, “I think the Hawkins curse has finally lifted.” Here’s where everyone ends up:
- Robin (Maya Hawke) has left Hawkins for college, making a brief guest appearance as Rockin’ Robin on WSQK Squawk radio station when she visits Hawkins during her break
- Steve becomes a teacher and is later seen coaching a baseball team – a fitting full-circle moment for the former babysitter, with Derek (Jake Connelly) among his players
- Max and Lucas are preparing for graduation and are back together, finally able to move forward without fear or guilt hanging over them
- Dustin is also graduating and heading to college, and is revealed to be his class valedictorian
- Hopper (David Harbour) and Joyce (Winona Ryder) are settled into family life with Will and Jonathan, their long fight finally behind them
- Jonathan (Charlie Heaton) is studying filmmaking at college, while Nancy (Natalia Dyer) has dropped out to take a junior reporting role at the Herald
- Holly, alongside Nancy and the rest of the Wheelers, attends graduation safe, happy, and free from Vecna’s influence
- Mike initially avoids graduation, struggling with the weight of El’s disappearance and the future they planned together. After a quiet conversation with Hopper about choice, guilt, and acceptance, he decides to stop running and rejoin his friends, with Karen proudly watching on
- Steve, Robin, Nancy, and Jonathan reunite on the roof of the radio station, promising to stay connected despite their diverging paths
- Joyce and Hopper, realizing their children are grown and moving on, decide to leave Hawkins and start fresh. Hopper proposes, and Joyce says yes
In the final moments, Mike, Will, Dustin, Lucas, and Max sit down for one last game of Dungeons & Dragons. Mike reveals the truth about Eleven’s survival and hints at his future as a writer as the group close the chapter on Hawkins together.
Stranger Things Season 5 deaths
Despite widespread fan speculation ahead of the finale, Stranger Things ultimately avoids killing off any of its core characters. However, as said, Kali doesn’t make it, although her sacrifice helps save the world and El. And, of course, Henry aka Vecna meets his end.
Lt. Akers (Alex Breaux) is one of many of Dr. Kay’s men who are killed by El after Murray (Brett Gelman) helps disable the government’s sound tech kryptonite – not that anyone’s particularly sad about Akers’ demise.
In the lead-up to the final battle, theories predicting the deaths of Steve, Dustin, or even Will were everywhere, and these were further fuelled by near-misses throughout the episode, including Steve nearly falling from the radio tower.
Instead, the Duffer brothers made the decision to keep everyone intact, with each member of the Hawkins gang making it out alive. It also pays tribute to those we lost along the way, with flashbacks to Eddie (Joseph Quinn), Barb (Shannon Purser), and Bob (Sean Astin).
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