With ‘Stranger Things’ Season 5 Just Weeks Away, Fans Are Losing Their Minds Over 8 Theories That Could Change Everything We Thought We Knew About The Show

Stranger Things season 5 is around the corner and with the first five minutes officially out and the trailer dropping some earth-shattering clues about the fate of Hawkins, fans have been releasing speculative fire. Some are wild, some are airtight, and some are starting to look less like theory-crafting and more like actual endgame design. Toss in the Duffer Brothers interviews that reveal they knew the ending scene “six or seven years ago” and suddenly fans are Sherlock Holmes, investigating every light flicker, psychic echo, and missing person’s file. Here are the best theories we’re building our final season expectations on that are grounded in the trailers, the opening footage, production clues, and our own delusions.

Eleven Created the Upside Down

A theory that has been bouncing around fan corners for years was revived following season 5’s premiere and the subsequent release of new trailer footage. The notion that Eleven didn’t just open a gate in 1979, but that she created the “frozen” Upside Down we first visited in Season 1. Fans posit that when Eleven sent Henry Creel tumbling into the void, her psychic energy not only sent him away, but warped the very fabric of that space into a corrupted replica of Hawkins in 1983. All of that in-film evidence suggesting that version of the Upside Down was a snapshot of Hawkins, from the debris and clocks to the streets that reflect the real Hawkins above, could be evidence of Eleven’s mind imprinting a traumatic moment.

If the Upside Down was a byproduct of Eleven’s energy, the final season might see her forced to destroy (or confront) the thing she created. It would be a harsh, but elegant, full-circle moment and squares with the Duffers’ statement that they always knew the emotional destination of the finale.

Will Byers Is the Final Key

Noah Schnapp said to fans, “The story began with Will, and it’ll end with Will,” and the first minutes of Season 5 prove just how intertwined his fate is. The footage is of the moment Vecna psychically invaded Will in 1983, after nearly a week of him hiding alone in the Upside Down. One theory posits that Eleven actually inadvertently gave Vecna a direct line to Will. When she contacted Will from the Void in Season 1 and uttered the phrase “Castle Byers,” she may have identified him and his location to a watching Vecna.

If so, that would explain his lingering sensitivity to the Upside Down, the possession in Season 2, and why Vecna tells him in the trailer, “You are going to help me, one last time.” Will was not simply saved — he may have been intentionally released back into Hawkins as a long-term anchor for Vecna. If so, Will is either the final sacrifice or the final weapon. Either way, his arc is now squarely at the center.

Hawkins Is Trapped in a Time Loop

With the revelation that the Upside Down is frozen permanently in November 1983, fans have theorized the biggest metaphysical idea yet: that the entire town of Hawkins is trapped in a time loop. People are citing repeating events throughout the seasons parallel story beats, cyclical trauma, and the Upside Down’s stubbornness to move through time. If the dimension and the town are in a constant feedback loop, then the final season could have Eleven stuck in time, meaning that the last episodes could involve her trying to stop the cycle and reset the timeline entirely.

This theory feels a little bit big, but the Duffers have also seeded that time is the key to the endgame. If the Upside Down “feeds” off of the timeline, then the final battle may have as much to do with chronology as it does violence.

Eddie Munson, But Different

While the Duffers have made it clear “He’s fully under that ground,” fandom isn’t willing to let go. The most persistent theory is simply that Eddie is a version of Kas the Betrayer Dungeons & Dragons’ undead lieutenant who eventually betrays Vecna. The Demobat attack in Season 4 lines up with the infection timeline, and if Vecna is controlling the dead, it’s not out of the realm of possibility that Eddie returned as a vampiric thrall.

It’s hard to believe he’d return heroically, but a corrupted Eddie in Vecna’s hive-mind forced to choose between Dustin and darkness would be gut-wrenchingly tragic and thematically similar to how the show treats grief.

Max Mayfield’s Mind Is Still Alive

Of every theory floating around, this one has the strongest evidence behind it. In the Season 4 finale, Max is very much alive but her body is in an unreachable state , Eleven is unable to sense her in the Void at all. A poster for Season 5 depicts Lucas pulling Max’s body from a hospital as the Upside Down attacks, which confirms that she is still a major plot engine for the story.

The leading theory is Max’s consciousness is stuck in Vecna’s psychic labyrinth. If that’s the case, Eleven will have to stage a psychic rescue of her friend, which amounts to a mind invasion of Vecna’s mindscape in order to get her out. That would parallel their previous encounter with him and explains why the Duffers wouldn’t just outright kill Max… she has more story left to tell.

Nancy & Jonathan Get Pulled Into Dimension X

Piecing together evidence from the trailer, leaked behind-the-scenes photos and the pre-vis shot identified as taking place in Episode 4, one fan has developed an incredibly plausible theory: Nancy and Jonathan are standing directly beneath the explosion which creates the Dimension X gate at Hawkins Lab; they get vaporized and disappear in the blast, presumed dead by Steve and Dustin. The shots of the two later in the trailer, soaking wet and disheveled with missing jackets and noticeably different lighting, is a shot of them walking away from a different plane, having escaped. The theory also explains Holly Wheeler’s disappearance in Episode 2: if Holly falls into Dimension X, Nancy and Jonathan are right where they need to be to save her.

Steve Harrington’s Death Is Very Likely

The fandom’s biggest fear has quickly become one of its most well-supported theories. Steve’s virtual absence from the trailer, coupled with several shots of Dustin crying and clutching him, have understandably sent shivers down everyone’s spine. Steve’s entire arc redemption, leadership, sacrifice is the most typically “hero-death-poised” of the group. The Duffers have said the finale is “the biggest emotional swing we’ve ever written,” and offing Steve would do that in a heartbeat. Whether he actually dies or not, Steve is definitely in the crosshairs. The fans are steeling themselves for impact.

The Final Battle Will Rewrite Reality

With Hawkins on military lockdown and rifts appearing all over the place, the stakes of the finale feel too big for a simple monster fight. Fans are now thinking that the season’s final moments will bring about the ultimate convergence — collapsing the barrier between dimensions and merging Hawkins with the Upside Down to create a new hybrid reality. It would also tie together all of the visual teases in the trailer: the skies splitting open, the ground morphing, the church and lab melting, the “Dimension X” pre-vis footage.

If the final battle rewires the laws of reality, Eleven would lose her powers forever, giving up the supernatural for the chance at a stable life. It’s exactly the kind of bittersweet ending we’ve come to expect from the Duffers.