The series finale of Stranger Things arrived on Netflix yesterday evening, wrapping up a show that launched on the streaming platform way back in 2016.
You can read a full breakdown of the final episode here, but as a reminder, Stranger Things concluded with Vecna's defeat, a happy ending for each of its young leads and an ambiguous, potentially tragic fate for Eleven, who seemingly made the ultimate sacrifice to stop the military's continued experiments.
Mike later imagined her escaping death to find peace far away from Hawkins, but it's down to the viewer to decide whether that's what really happens.
In an interview with Netflix's Tudum (via SFFGazette.com), Stranger Things creators Matt and Ross Duffer opened up on El's fate. While they refused to definitively reveal what became of the show's lead, they did elaborate on what led them to choose that particular ending for the teenager.
"What we wanted to do was confront the reality of what her situation was after all of this and how could she live a normal life," Matt said. "These are the questions that we’ve been posing this season that Hopper just doesn’t even want to think or talk about. Mike’s obviously talked about it a lot, but it’s sort of this fantasy version that would never work."
"There are two roads that Eleven could take. There’s this darker, more pessimistic one or the optimistic, hopeful one. Mike is the optimist of the group and has chosen to believe in that story."
Ross added, "There was never a version of the story where Eleven was hanging out with the gang at the end. For us and our writers, we didn’t want to take her powers away. She represents magic in a lot of ways and the magic of childhood. For our characters to move on and for the story of Hawkins and the Upside Down to come to a close, Eleven had to go away."
"We thought it would be beautiful if our characters continued to believe in that happier ending even if we didn’t give them a clear answer to whether that’s true or not. The fact that they’re believing in it, we just thought it was such a better way to end the story and a better way to represent the closure of this journey and their journey from children to adults."
"And the reality is, if Eleven is out there, the most that they could hope for is a belief that it’s true because they can’t be in contact with her. Everything falls apart if that were the case," Matt noted. "So if that’s the narrative, this is really the best way to keep her alive. And it’s about Mike and everyone finding a way to move past what’s happened."
Stranger Things also ends with Hopper and Joyce finally having their date at Enzo's, where she accepts his proposal to get married and move to Montauk. While Montauk is often the subject of conspiracy theories about military experiments, it doesn't sound like the Duffers were setting up a spin-off revolving around the happy couple by mentioning the town.
"We did the Montauk shout-out [where Hopper has a job offer] because the show was originally going to be set in Montauk," Ross shared. "It felt like a nice little wink to the superfans of the show who were aware of that nugget."
As for the decision to pick up with the gang playing their final Dungeons & Dragons campaign in the Wheelers' basement, Ross confirmed it was always the plan to end Stranger Things with a full circle moment.
"It was such a blast shooting, and it really reminded us of the first day on set when we filmed the kids playing D&D [in Season 1]. That was the first thing we ever shot, and it felt appropriate that this would be the last thing we ever shot," he explained. "We even tried to mimic with the camera what we had done back in Season 1 all those years ago."
Matt concluded by saying, "It was very emotional and nostalgic to shoot that scene. What was happening on the day [of filming] and what the actors were feeling and what we were feeling very much mirrored the scene. We’re really happy with how it turned out."
The Duffers have previously confirmed that, despite their deal with Paramount, they are closely involved with the Stranger Things spin-off that's in the early stages of development for Netflix.
There's been no word on which characters it will revolve around or even when it's set. However, we're not anticipating it revolving directly around anyone from the main series (an Eleven-led series, for example, would be welcomed by some fans, but risks dimishing this show's ending).
Stranger Things Season 5 is now streaming on Netflix in its entirety.