The five-season saga of Stranger Things has come to an end, and fans with a Netflix subscription may have spent the first week of the 2026 TV schedule processing the finale in their own ways. Whether that means believing in the #ConformityGate theory of a secret extra episode, starting a rewatch, or analyzing scenes for hidden clues, there's been plenty to go over. We have many Stranger Things fans here at CinemaBlend, and since this series finale may be the most divisive since we weighed in on the Game of Thrones conclusion, we all had our own takes about Eleven's ending.
The series of course seemed to show El's death on screen, with her tragically sacrificing herself to end a cycle of abuse while all of her loved ones watched, with Prince's "Purple Rain" playing over the sequence. Mike presented an alternate theory in the epilogue, suggesting that the El they thought they saw die was actually just a projection of Kali's that she was able to maintain long enough to fake her sister's demise.
