We all have our ideas about the Stranger Things ending. It has been seven years since our first trip to Hawkins introduced us to the horrors of the Upside Down, and now we’re staring down the barrel of a goodbye. But show creators the Duffer Brothers have stepped in to reassure fans that one of the more outlandish fan theories won’t come true.
Some Stranger Things fans have theorized that the final installment of one of the best TV series around will conclude with the big reveal that everything we’ve seen has actually been a Dungeons and Dragons campaign played by the Stranger Things cast. It would certainly be a bold move for one of the best Netflix series ever to take.
The Duffers, however, made it clear this won’t happen in a new interview with Metro, looking ahead to the Stranger Things season 5 release date. “That would be the equivalent of ‘that’s all a dream’,” said Ross Duffer.
He added: “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.”
The Duffers have talked frequently about the importance of the Stranger Things season 4 part 2 ending, which saw the core characters experience true defeat. Vecna was able to wreak havoc and devastation, leaving our heroes with a mountain to climb in the final season.
We actually think the DnD theory has a lot of benefit to it. Dungeons and Dragons has, of course, always been intimately linked to Stranger Things and so it would be a neat thematic twist. There’s probably also a way of handling it that would maintain some of the impact of whatever happens in the story. It needn’t feel like a cheap “it was all a dream” fake-out.
But heck, we’re sure that the Duffers have something pretty spectacular in store to round off one of the best sci-fi series ever. They’ll have a great chance to stick the landing and, if nothing else, we know it’ll be glossy, slick, and truly epic.
For more from Hawkins, find out how Dungeons and Dragons inspired the Stranger Things monsters. You can also read our Dungeons and Dragons movie review and look ahead to the Dungeons and Dragons 2 release date to explore the tabletop world.
Or for even more DnD, head over to our pals at Wargamer for everything you need to know about DnD classes and DnD character creators.