Netflix Addresses Stranger Things Secret Episode Theory After Finale

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This article contains mild spoilers for Stranger Things season five.

No, there will be no more trips to the Upside Down.

A rumor has been circulating online claiming that Stranger Things season five would unexpectedly include a seventh episode released on January 7th, continuing the story. However, Netflix has officially confirmed that this is not true and that episode eight was indeed the season finale.

On the morning of January 7th, the official social media pages for Stranger Things displayed a message stating, “All episodes of Stranger Things are now available.”

Despite many fans believing the series finale was unbelievably perfect – a sentiment that sparked online discussion called “Conformity Gate” – Stranger Things has officially reached its conclusion.

Just because the main story of Stranger Things has ended doesn’t mean that’s the last we’ll see of that world. Several spin-off projects are already being developed. A behind-the-scenes documentary called One Last Adventure, detailing the making of the fifth season, will be released on January 12th, and two other exciting projects are also planned for fans.

Later this year, a new animated series called Stranger Things: Tales of ’85 will be released. It’s set between seasons two and three of the original show and follows Eleven, Mike, Dustin, Will, Lucas, and Max as they investigate the secrets of the Upside Down. The characters will be voiced by a new cast of actors.

As a lifestyle expert, I’m always excited about what’s next in entertainment! I’ve heard whispers about a new live-action series from the minds behind Stranger Things – the Duffer brothers, Ross and Matt – and they’ve hinted it will finally give us some answers to those burning questions from season five. Specifically, fans like us are eager to learn more about Henry Creel, or Vecna, and exactly how he got his powers in that cave, and what that connection is to the Mind Flayer in Dimension X. It’s a deep dive into the backstory we’ve all been waiting for!

Matt explained to Variety that an upcoming spinoff will address audience expectations and clarify certain aspects of the story. However, he emphasized that this spinoff will explore a separate and distinct mythology.

He clarified that the show won’t delve deeply into the origins of the Mind Flayer. Instead, it’s a new direction that will, however, tie up some remaining unanswered questions.

Even though the new show is connected to the original series, don’t anticipate seeing Millie Bobby Brown, Caleb McLaughlin, Finn Wolfhard, Noah Schnapp, Sadie Sink, or Gaten Matarazzo appear in it. The creators, the Duffer brothers, have confirmed they are still working on the script.

“There are no familiar faces,” Matt said. “We’re thrilled to start fresh with entirely new characters, a new setting, and a completely original story and world.”

Even though the upcoming seasons will reveal more about the origins of the Upside Down and Dimension X, there’s still plenty to discover about the making of Stranger Things to keep fans entertained. Keep reading to learn more!

As someone who keeps a close eye on what’s trending in entertainment, I always find the origins of hit shows fascinating. Did you know the creators of Stranger Things, brothers Matt and Ross Duffer, actually started developing the idea while working on M. Night Shyamalan’s Wayward Pines? It was originally pitched as something called Montauk, but thankfully, it evolved into the phenomenon we all know and love!

Matt explained to The Daily Beast in 2016 that it’s incredibly difficult to convince people to accept a different title once you’ve become attached to one. He said that when they first proposed Stranger Things, it was a struggle to get others on board.

The creators of the show originally planned to film on Long Island, but it turned out to be too difficult to do so.

Matt told The Hollywood Reporter they chose Montauk as a filming location because of its beautiful coastal scenery, and because it inspired the town of Amity in their favorite movie, Jaws. However, they realized shooting on Long Island during the winter would be too difficult and costly, making the location impractical.

Atlanta ultimately became the home base for production.

Before Netflix decided to air the show, nearly 20 other networks rejected it, as reported by Vulture. Executives at those networks thought viewers wouldn’t connect with a series led by four child actors.

4. To play Eleven, then 12-year-old Millie Bobby Brown had to say goodbye to her hair.

In 2018, at PaleyFest, the actress shared that shaving her head was the most liberating experience of her life. She explained that letting go of her hair felt like revealing her true self, as she could no longer hide behind it. Looking in the mirror, she felt a responsibility to inspire others, realizing that beauty isn’t dependent on having hair.

She found inspiration for her role in both Charlize Theron’s performance in Mad Max: Fury Road and vintage yearbook pictures of her fellow actress, Winona Ryder.

She mentioned that Winona Ryder’s short, pixie cut was iconic and inspired her to try the style herself.

The British actress shared a surprising secret to perfecting her American accent: she studied Miley Cyrus’s show, Hannah Montana. She told Jimmy Fallon on The Tonight Show that the show was incredibly helpful, saying, “It’s so good…like the film, everything. Everything about it is amazing. And I got the American accent from it.”

The Duffer brothers used scenes from the movie Stand By Me when auditioning young actors to find the four main child stars for their show.

Honestly, they were looking for someone to play Mike, but they hadn’t quite found him yet. Then Finn Wolfhard walked into the audition room, and everything changed. It was like… instant perfection. Seriously, the moment I heard Finn auditioned, I just knew he was the one. He is Mike Wheeler!

Matt explained to The Daily Beast in 2016 that Mike originally resembled the character Mikey from The Goonies – a bit of a dreamer. However, Finn Wolfhard brought a nervous energy to the audition, so they tailored the character to fit his personality.

Gaten Matarazzo, who played Dustin, also had a big impact on the show. According to Matt, they initially envisioned Dustin as a typical nerd, but after meeting Gaten, they rewrote the character to better suit his personality and talents.

After the show featured Eleven’s love for Eggo waffles, Kellogg’s experienced a noticeable boost in sales. They reported a 14 percent increase in consumption towards the end of 2017, coinciding with the release of the second season. October of that year also saw a record number of social media mentions for the product.

In early 2018, David Harbour became an internet sensation when he agreed to take a fan’s senior portraits for her. It all started with a tweet asking how many retweets it would take to convince him to do so. Harbour responded that 25,000 retweets would do the trick, with the added condition that he’d wear the school sweatshirt and hold a trombone. True to his promise, he followed through and took the photos.

I still crack up remembering what he posted on Instagram back then! He joked he was ‘most likely to hijack someone’s high school senior photos 24 years later,’ and honestly, it’s SO him. It perfectly captures his sense of humor!

Later that year, Harbour playfully offered to marry a fan if she could get 125,000 retweets and a piece of wedding cake. He became officially ordained and ended up performing the ceremony dressed as his character, Chief Hopper.

Fans often wondered if Eleven was actually Hopper’s daughter, but he ultimately became a father figure to her. A touching detail revealed in the season two finale showed Eleven wearing a blue braided bracelet – a bracelet Hopper always wore, made from a ribbon belonging to his deceased daughter – at her school dance.

Millie Bobby Brown, who plays Eleven, shared that her first kiss was with Finn Wolfhard (Mike) during the first season of the show. She described the experience as ‘strange,’ explaining that having a large crew watching made it feel overwhelming.

She shared what her co-star secretly said to her right before they had to kiss for a second time on the show.

She recalled that he told her he was about to kiss her, but in a very strange way. “He basically said, ‘I’m coming in,’ but he did this weird, almost puppet-like voice—it was so bizarre!” she explained on The Tonight Show in 2017.

Natalia Dyer and Charlie Heaton, who star as a couple on the show, started dating in 2016 and have generally kept their romance out of the public eye.

Natalia shared with Refinery 29 that she values keeping her personal life—especially relationships with family and friends—private. However, she also acknowledged that collaborating with someone you see outside of work can be enjoyable, saying, ‘It’s always really fun.’

Surprisingly, Joe Keery’s character, Steve Harrington, wasn’t originally intended to survive the first season of the show.

According to Ross, they quickly grew fond of the actor playing Steve during the first season. This led them to create a storyline where Steve teams up with Jonathan and Nancy to help resolve the central conflict. Originally, Steve was intended to be a stereotypical, unpleasant athlete, but the actor brought much more depth to the role.

18. Also slated to perish was Eleven. Yes, really. 

As a huge fan, I remember reading in the book Stranger Things: Worlds Turned Upside Down that the original plan was for Eleven to make the ultimate sacrifice. Apparently, that was how the story was supposed to end! But when they realized the show might continue beyond just one season, they had to rethink things. They quickly realized the show wouldn’t work without Eleven, and especially Millie Bobby Brown was just so incredible. They knew if Stranger Things continued, Eleven absolutely had to survive.

The seventh episode of the second season, “The Lost Sister,” nearly didn’t air. The Duffer brothers told Vulture they worried the episode—which focuses on Eleven searching for another child with similar experiences—would disrupt the show’s flow.

Matt explained that as they started writing the episode, they questioned whether it was even necessary. They seriously considered cutting it entirely, but the ending involving Eleven didn’t work without it. It just didn’t feel right. Ultimately, they decided the episode was essential.

20. Eleven’s sibling was written to be a boy, with the episode originally titled “The Lost Brother.” 

Once the audition was open to all young actors, Linnea Berthelsen was cast in the role. The episode then showed Eleven meeting her “sister,” Kali. According to Matt, Linnea and Millie (who plays Eleven) had a strong connection, and Millie specifically requested to work with Linnea.

Nicola Coughlan, known for her role in Bridgerton, originally tried out for the part of Robin. However, she later landed the role of Penelope Featherington. Maya Hawke ended up getting the role of Robin, and Nicola herself said Hawke was much more suited for it than she would have been.

Okay, so she said something so insightful! Basically, she was saying that as actors, we need to watch the roles we didn’t land. And it’s not because we’re bad or anything! It’s just… sometimes you’re perfect for a part, and sometimes you’re just not. It’s not personal at all! It totally makes sense when she puts it like that, and honestly, it’s a huge relief to hear her say it. It’s like, okay, it’s okay to not get everything, it just means something else is out there for you!

Before becoming known for her role as Sarah on the Netflix series Outer Banks, Madelyn Cline played the character Tina, a popular and somewhat unkind student, in the second season of the show.

To land the role of Billy, the rebellious older stepbrother of Max (Sadie Sink), Australian actor Dacre Montgomery created a playful, slightly edgy audition video. He told GQ he wanted to really impress the Duffer brothers, the show’s creators.

Dacre took a big chance by filming himself dancing to 80s hits like “Come on Eileen” and “Hungry Like the Wolf” while wearing very little clothing – just a G-string. He worried about sending the video, thinking it could end his career, but he hoped someone would recognize his talent and give him an opportunity. Luckily, his gamble worked out.

As the show began its third season, Deadline reported significant pay raises for the cast. The younger actors saw their per-episode salaries jump from around $30,000 to over $200,000, and potentially as high as $250,000. Winona Ryder and David Harbour were each earning approximately $300,000 to $350,000 per episode, while Natalia Dyer and Charlie Heaton were making between $100,000 and $150,000.

Priah Ferguson, who plays Lucas’s feisty younger sister Erica, was originally only meant to be in one episode of season two. However, the Duffer brothers loved her performance so much they kept adding her to scenes. She became a regular cast member in the next season.

Oh my gosh, it was SO hard for the costume people! Because the younger actors were literally growing up while they were filming, keeping their clothes consistent from scene to scene was a total nightmare! They had to constantly adjust and remake things, it was insane!

It was a real challenge keeping up with how fast the young actors were growing,” costume designer Kim Wilcox explained to TopMob News. “One child, in particular, seemed to outgrow his shoes every few weeks, growing half a size at a time! To solve this, we found brands that made similar shoes in a range of sizes. We’d buy several pairs of each size, so we’d always have a replacement when a child had a growth spurt.

The Duffer brothers, while inspired by films like The Goonies, E.T., and Stand By Me, made sure their references weren’t too obvious.

When we initially presented the project to Netflix, we created a nearly three-minute trailer that combined clips from around 20 to 30 films. The goal was to give a sense of the Stranger Things story, but these were just ideas we had in mind, explained Matt in an interview with The Daily Beast. Those films were a huge influence on us growing up and are deeply ingrained in our creative process. However, once we started writing the episodes, we rarely talked about other movies. We focused on telling the story and letting the characters drive the plot. Otherwise, it would have become confusing and disjointed.

The team aimed for a retro style by minimizing special effects, but they soon discovered that was harder than they thought.

Originally, we wanted to rely entirely on practical effects, but we quickly learned how challenging that would be. We really gained a new appreciation for the teams who created films like The Thing and Alien. Practical effects take a huge amount of time and preparation. We were writing scripts very quickly, but didn’t have the months needed to properly prepare those kinds of effects. When we got to set, many ideas that seemed great in theory just weren’t feasible given our time constraints.

As a longtime fan, it’s amazing to hear that the Duffer Brothers always had a five-season plan for the show! Netflix’s Matthew Thunell recently shared with Variety that a lot of what they originally imagined back in 2015 is finally coming to life as we reach the end. It also explains why Season Four was so epic – Variety reported each episode cost around $30 million to make! It’s clear they really invested in bringing their vision to us.

Although the creators of Stranger Things, the Duffer brothers, know how the show will eventually end, they aren’t finished with the story and its supernatural world just yet.

In an interview with Variety, the creators revealed they have a spin-off idea they’re really enthusiastic about, but it’s still in the very early stages – they haven’t even shared the concept with anyone yet. They did mention that Finn, one of the actors, had correctly guessed what the series would be about, describing it as ‘very, very different.’ They emphasized that Finn is the only person outside of the core team who knows the premise.

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2026-01-07 17:21