"Stranger Things": What Happened During the Final Season?

Stranger Things (2016-2025), a fan favorite, recently aired its final season on Netflix. The long-term fans eagerly awaited its arrival, only to be mostly disappointed with the results. This season has been trending on social media for what was wrong with it, rather than what people loved. Let's dive deeper into why the media and hardcore fans have been so disappointed... so much so that they've hoped it was a prank (yes, I'm serious). Starring rising actors Millie Bobby Brown, Finn Wolfhard, Noah Schnapp, Caleb McLaughlin, Sadie Sink, and Gaten Matarazzo, this series became a hit science fiction/horror show.

When the show's final season ended, many fans took to social media to complain about plot holes, horrible writing, and things that just didn't add up. On TikTok, Instagram, X, and more, the people were fighting back – completely thrown off by this complete change of story and plot. Let me go over some of the main things people noticed, as well as the things that took me aback while watching.

First, I'm going to point out something everyone noticed: it seemed the main character this season was a character who we never really saw, Mike's (Finn Wolfhard) younger sister, Holly. The previous seasons mainly focused on the friend group and the main character, Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown), who is seen less often. Everyone seemed confused by this sudden shift in characters; however, they weren't complaining, since it seemed to connect with events from the last four seasons. There were small details in earlier seasons suggesting that Holly might be connected to something bigger, especially when we see lights flickering around her.

Another thing fans noticed was the rushed and abrupt storyline. There was a lot missing – from character interactions, evolving relationships, to the physical creatures themselves. We did not get to see many characters interact personally with one another, nor did we see any evolving relationships (instead, we saw devolving ones). Even the sudden decision to have Will Byers (Noah Schnapp) come out was rushed and did not fit the story at the time. They made him come out to a group of people – including some he didn't know or didn't know that well – instead of making it an intimate moment. While some fans were happy about the coming out, they were disappointed with the execution. There was also upset about not seeing the main couple, Mike and Eleven, interact much throughout the season.

Through visual cues, the audience knows the creatures come from the Upside Down. This has been implied and shown throughout the previous four seasons; however, in season five, this seems to change. We no longer see Demodogs or Demogorgons everywhere in the Upside Down. Instead, this underground world seems to have no creatures at all, aside from the ones Vecna (Jamie Campbell Bower) sends to attack or kidnap people. Even in the Abyss, where it is said all of these creatures come from, is empty. When the group of friends goes there in hopes of saving the kids, they find a vast desert with no monsters to hurt them. This threw audiences off: they expected to see tons of creatures, but saw none instead. Since this was emphasized throughout the new season, they finally realized what they were dealing with, yet there was nothing in the Abyss like we were led to believe.

It even got to the point that the public believed this wasn't the final season, but rather an elaborate trick. As it turns out, sadly, the fifth season is in fact the final. Everyone believed that because it was so "poorly written" and had such great plot holes and inconsistencies, that this was a scheme of some sort, orchestrated by the Duffer Brothers. However, it was not a trick. Everyone had their hopes up for more episodes or some announcement for the following two weeks, only to be disappointed. It is safe to say this was their worst season, with most viewers voicing their opinions on social media.