Ranking Stranger Things season five theories, from utterly ridiculous to actually likely

How will Stranger Things end? After a three-year wait since season four wrapped, expectations are painfully high, and the theories just get crazier and crazier.

No matter how iconic a show is during its run, its place in TV history is decided by the finale. Just ask Game of Thrones.

Credit: Netflix

According to Variety, the Duffer Brothers studied finales they loved while writing season five, including Six Feet Under, Friday Night Lights, and even The Sopranos.

“The best ones were very true to themselves,” Ross Duffer explained. “The shows that are trying to be super clever, I think that’s where it can go wrong really quickly.”

Naturally, that hasn’t stopped people from coming up with the wildest theories imaginable. Here’s a ranking of the most popular Stranger Things season five theories, from “absolutely not” to “this might actually happen”.

7. Nothing is real and it’s all just a Dungeons & Dragons game

Let’s start at the bottom.

One of the most cursed theories floating around Reddit is that Stranger Things will end by revealing that the entire series has taken place inside a Dungeons & Dragons campaign the kids are playing.

This would be the narrative equivalent of waking up and saying, “Wow, that was a weird dream.” It’s lazy, it’s unsatisfying, and it would instantly erase five seasons of character development. Given the Duffers’ very public aversion to being “too clever”, this one can stay firmly in the bin.

6. The real Will is still stuck in the Upside Down

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According to this theory, the Will Byers we’ve been watching since season two isn’t actually Will at all, but a Vecna-created clone, with the real Will still trapped in the Upside Down.

Yes, Will has an ongoing psychic connection to Vecna. Yes, that connection is unsettling. But if he were secretly a plant this entire time, you’d expect some kind of trail. Instead, Will has been consistently terrified, traumatised, and painfully human.

Revealing him as a fake now would erase everything his character represents, and retroactively ruin some of the show’s most emotional moments.

5. Vecna isn’t actually the real big bad

Credit: Netflix

What if Vecna… isn’t the final boss?

TikTokers have pointed out that Vecna isn’t the most powerful villain in Dungeons & Dragons lore. That title goes to an actual dragon called Borys. Since Stranger Things has introduced a progressively stronger monster each season, some people think season five could  unveil an even bigger threat.

Is it impossible? No. Is it likely? Also no.

Introducing a brand-new ultimate villain in the final season would feel rushed and emotionally hollow. Vecna is deeply tied to Eleven, Hawkins, and the show’s central themes. Swapping him out at the last second would be a strange choice.

4. Will loses an eye

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This one is weirdly specific, and weirdly convincing.

YouTuber Jenks has suggested Will Byers will lose an eye in season five, pointing to several visual clues throughout the series. In season two, there’s a lingering classroom scene about Phineas Gage, a man who survived a metal pole going through his eye and brain, with the camera repeatedly focusing on Will.

In season four, there’s also a suspicious shot where a pole lines up directly over Will’s eye as he sits in a car. Add in the Eye of Vecna artefact from D&D lore and promotional material that obscures both Will’s and Vecna’s eyes, and suddenly this theory doesn’t sound completely unhinged.

3. Eleven and Will are twins separated at birth

Credit: Netflix

This theory is… a lot.

The idea is that Terry Ives was unknowingly pregnant with twins during her time in Dr Brenner’s experiments, Jane (Eleven) and Will. Brenner allegedly kept Eleven for her powers and secretly gave Will up for adoption, leading Joyce to raise him as her own.

Supporters argue this explains Will’s connection to the Upside Down and Vecna’s fixation on him, suggesting he has dormant powers waiting to activate.

The problem? It requires multiple secret pregnancies, cover-ups, adoptions, and a very convenient series of events. Will having a heightened sensitivity to the Upside Down works. Turning him into Eleven’s long-lost twin superhero does not.

2. The Thessalhydra is the real season five monster

Credit: Netflix

Now we’re talking.

Every season of Stranger Things has been anchored by a different monster: The Demogorgon, demodogs, the Mind Flayer, and Vecna. So what’s left for season five?

People think the answer is the Thessalhydra, a multi-headed D&D monster that appeared in the kids’ campaign in season one. It’s also been hinted at through Will’s drawings and possibly even Nancy’s visions.

If season five ties the show back to its beginnings, the Thessalhydra would be a nice full-circle choice. It feels intentional, and suitably apocalyptic.

1. Vecna dies, properly

Credit: Netflix

This is less a theory and more a necessity. No redemption arc, Vecna needs to die.

Season five is shaping up to be about closure, for Hawkins, for Eleven, and especially for Will. Vecna represents every unresolved trauma the show has introduced, and anything short of his definitive destruction would feel like a cop-out.

Whether Will plays a bigger role, Eleven sacrifices something, or the Upside Down is sealed forever, one thing feels inevitable: Vecna does not survive the final season. Good riddance.

It’s not long until we find out which Stranger Things theories will actually come true, as volume two drops on Boxing Day, and volume three on New Year’s Day.

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Featured image credit: Netflix