Stranger Things’ Season 4 conclusion left several main characters and the town of Hawkins in pure turmoil — to say nothing of the rest of the world at large — and it’s already been a long wait to see how the upcoming Season 5 will close things out for audiences with Netflix subscriptions. All forms of speculation abound, from logical assumptions to baffling guesses, but now co-creators Matt and Ross Duffer have spoken out about one of the most polarizing fan theories: nothing is real, and it’s all part of a Dungeons & Dragons campaign.
As it goes with seemingly every serious drama with a hint of mystery to it, Stranger Things has sparked theories that presume everything we’ve seen in the first four seasons is all just the mental machinations of one or more characters. Which is slightly different from the “the main character was dead the whole time” trope, but not too far off.
Speaking with Metro at the premiere of the critically acclaimed Stranger Things: The First Shadow stage show, the horror-friendly brothers were asked about the bonkers D&D hypothesis, and reportedly giggled quite a bit. Matt Duffer even stoked the fire a bit more with some initial sarcasm, saying:
That is correct. That is the ending…. No.
Thankfully, Ross Duffer followed his sibling up with some quick clarification, lest anyone take the joking confirmation at face value, and essentially soothed the paranoia of anyone dreading the possibility of a dream-based conclusion. In his words:
That would be the equivalent of, ‘That’s all a dream.’ No, I assure you that is not how we’re going to end the show. We’ve known where we’ve been going for a while. And we feel comfortable with it; hopefully, it satisfies everyone. We’ll see.
While The First Shadow stage play is digging back into some of the fan-favorite characters’ pasts to reveal important historical context for Henry/Vecna, Hopper, Joyce and more, Stranger Things’ Season 5 finale will presumably be used as a springboard to launch at least one spinoff. And I can’t imagine that fans would want to see any of these people again if the flagship series ended on a reveal of the O.G. foursome of Dustin, Will, Mike and Lucas sitting around and patting themselves on the back for crafting such imaginative story arcs. Presumably with all of the actors de-aged digitally.
Speaking of the play, I have to wonder how that whole flashback storyline would make sense to anyone who genuinely buys into the Dungeons & Dragons ending theory. The game wouldn’t have existed in the real world at that point in the timeline. But I’m sure someone has a way to explain it, even if it’s wrong.
The Duffers have revealed which characters’ stories are definitively ending with the fifth batch of episodes, but left the door open for others to enter the conversation. So in that respect, I fully expect the Season 5 finale will leave a few narrative threads left dangling for a follow-up series to pick up.
Stay tuned to learn when those dangling threads will be premiering on Netflix, with Stranger Things Season 5 expected to arrive in late 2025.
