Top Five Worst Possible Stranger Things 5 Twists

This is a speculative editorial. Earlier this week Netflix released the first real look anyone has gotten at scenes from Stranger Things’ fifth season, a teaser trailer that Matt and Ross Duffer claim contains no spoilers whatsoever (oh, we’ll see). While no one has yet to analyze anything earthshattering from it. there’s the implication in the air that not all of the lore has been revealed yet and we’re in for some kind of bombshell within the final eight episodes. I don’t know what we’ll see, but I know what I DON’T want to see. Here are five potential twists that could be giant mistakes.

In no particular order:

VECNA TURNS OUT TO BE ELEVEN’S BIOLOGICAL FATHER

After four seasons not only do we still have no idea who El’s real father is but the question has never even been brought up. And honestly, it doesn’t need to be. The show does not need it and not many viewers care. I don’t think El even cares either. But let’s say during his long involuntary tenure at Hawkins Lab, Henry Creel had a thing going with Terry Ives somewhere around 1971, and El is unknowingly the result of that relationship. ICK!

Not only would this be gross but it would be incredibly hacky and old hat. The “I am your father” twist was fresh in 1980 but we’ve seen it thousands of times since (including a repeat within Star Wars itself). It would also change nothing! As far as El is concerned her father is Hopper now, and Henry still killed over a dozen kids and tried to kill her too! El is not Luke Skywalker — she would not go easy on him even if they shared DNA! So let’s not do this!

THE WORLD DISCOVERS HAWKINS

If there’s anything we can say for certain about the ending of Stranger Things, it’s that it’s 2025 and we still have no solid evidence of other dimensions or psychic powers. So whatever happens can’t be so big that it gains national media attention, right? …Right?

The Duffers said in a past interview that it was “unrealistic” to have so many crazy things take place in one location and have nobody notice. That statement, coupled with the insane shot at the end of Season 4, had me concerned things were about to go public. How could the government possibly keep a lid on all that? ….well, the new teaser suggests they did, somehow, and kept that lid tight up to late 1987. If Vecna and the Mind Flayer explode out of those cracks, though…how could anyone not notice?

While Stranger Things has never attempted to be a realistic show, the public outing of its phenomena would divorce it from reality entirely. And what the Duffers were complaining about is actually a genre staple for shows like this. “Weird town” programs never have their secrets escape said town. They can’t. Otherwise there would be no secrets, and as a result, no intrigue.

EL DIES

Millie might call me a Sensitive Sally, but I want my favorite autistic-coded wonder to make it to the end. I’m sure we all have our “if this person dies we riot” sticking point. For some people this category might say “Steve Dies” or “Will Dies.” Then there are weirdos out there (you know who you are) who think the show doesn’t kill enough people. These tend to be the same people who want Eddie Munson to somehow un-kill himself in Season 5.

El’s plot armor will protect her up until the final episode and then…hooboy, I will have one nervous New Year. It’s possible the climactic moment is El sacrificing herself to save everyone, in a mirror scene of the climax to Season One, only this time “for real.” The fact that this makes sense worries me. But Will fans are also worried about the possibility that the climax is, instead, a mirror of the D&D game that opens the series, where Will makes a sacrifice to save the team. As for Steve, I dunno — maybe he has an accident with a can opener or something.

THE WHOLE THING IS A DREAM

This one has actually been debunked by the Duffers themselves, so it’s the one theory we can confirm is not happening, but I’m putting it here in case anybody is concerned about it. Apparently some people were worried the ENTIRE SHOW is actually taking place in the minds of Mike, Lucas, Dustin and Will, as a D&D campaign they’re playing. Holy St. Elsewhere, Batman!

What a lousy. unrewarding ending that would be for millions of fans. And fortunately, the creators agree. In fact, they’d never heard the idea themselves and instantly found it amusing: “Wow, you guessed it! Darn!” was Matt’s first reaction.

STRANGER THINGS LEAVES THE 1980S

I have other anxieties about story twists, but they did not make the cut since they don’t make sense from a narrative perspective and thus aren’t as likely. “Max never actually wakes from her coma” is one, but no one would want to see Lucas watching over her body for years without some kind of romantic payoff. “Mike leaves El for Will” is another of my worries, but having a character express this grandiose statement of love that he takes four seasons to spit out only to change love interests at the last minute is just really crappy storytelling. So…neither of those are truly plausible to me. An epilogue that spans decades, however, is.

Maybe this is just me but I don’t really want to see Hawkins exist outside of the 1980s — it’s too much of a part of the whole setting. The way the cheery pastel stuff collides with the gritty, slimy Upside Down is perfect. In the 1990s, when everything was gritty, it wouldn’t stand out as much. Heck, Nirvana would probably hold a concert in there.

WILL STRANGER THINGS REALLY END?

“But if it’s the epilogue, then it isn’t for very long,” you might be saying…well, here’s the OTHER problem. Matt and Ross Duffer think they’ll never return to the main Stranger Things storyline after this. They’re naive. We’ve seen time and time again that creatives who swear their most popular creations are OVER have a tendency to return to them, whether they can’t make anything else catch on, or they just end up missing it. So if you tell EVERYTHING, if you show everything everybody does in the 90s and 2000s and beyond, if you leave no possibility for anything to be explored years later…you see how that might be a mistake? You’ve written yourself into a corner.

It usually means a retcon. The Conners had to retcon the end of Roseanne (which was a complete mess anyway). Other recent revivals have had to do similar maneuvers. So if you see Dustin or Erica in their 40s at the end…don’t count on it staying canon!

HONORABLE STRANGER THINGS MENTION: EVIL EL

As of the release of the Season 5 teaser, I think we can finally put all concerns about the possibility of Evil El to bed. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, it’s what it sounds like — the fan theory that El would let her rage consume her and turn evil. Millie said in an interview that Evil El would be a terrible idea and I had to agree. I did NOT want it! So I watched with GREAT NERVOUSNESS as the producers trolled me through Season 4 by constantly and relentlessly teasing Evil El until right before the end of Part 1, they revealed the true villain and said “JUUUUUUST KIDDING!” Thanks for the ulcer, guys.

Now that I think about it, though, Evil El would make absolutely no sense. What chance would any of the others have without El? She’s their biggest and most indispensable asset. No one else has powers. El aligning herself with the Mind Flayer would tip the scales so hard winning would be impossible. El dropped the teen anger issues in Stranger Things Season Four Part 2 and looks perfectly non-evil in the Season 5 clips we’ve seen. So…it’s debunked. It still sucks for anyone who got named Khaleesi before Game of Thrones aired its final two episodes, but if you want to name your kid Eleven, you should be on safe ground (except socially).

Peter Paltridge is a writer and illustrator of multiple long-running webcomics at platypuscomix.com.

Key Takeaways

• Fan theories continue to swirl as Stranger Things nears its conclusion.
• Vecna as Eleven’s father would add nothing meaningful and feel dated.
• Public exposure of the Upside Down would hurt the show’s tone and mystery.
• Killing Eleven risks undermining the emotional heart of the series.
• The show should remain grounded in the 1980s for stylistic coherence.
• Evil El was never a good fit and has been officially ruled out.
• The Duffers claim the show on Netflix will end, but history suggests otherwise.
• Overexplaining the future may close doors to meaningful revisits.
• The dream ending theory is debunked but worth cautioning against.
• Final choices will shape how this generation remembers Stranger Things.