The Duffer Bros. Say The STRANGER THINGS Finale Won’t Go Full Bloodbath on Fan Favorites
With just one episode left, Stranger Things is staring straight down the barrel of its ending, and fans are understandably nervous. The final season has been a rough watch for me along with other fans.
The storytelling hasn’t always landed, some creative choices have been divisive, and the overall quality hasn’t quite matched the high bar set by earlier seasons. There’s still hope the series sticks the landing, but heading into the finale, plenty of fans are bracing for emotional damage.
That anxiety mostly comes from one big question… Who’s going to die trying to stop Vecna? The show has spent the season flirting with tragedy, raising the stakes, and throwing up death flags left and right. With Hawkins hanging by a thread, it feels like anything could happen. According to the creators, though, fans shouldn’t expect a massacre.
The Duffer Bros. recently addressed the fear head-on, pushing back on the idea that the finale is going to wipe out half the cast just to make a point. Speaking with The Hollywood Reporter, Matt Duffer made it clear the show isn’t aiming for shock tactics.
“It’s not Game of Thrones. We’re not in Westeros. I love Game of Thrones, but it’s just a very different type of show than that. There’s not going to be a Red Wedding situation.”
That reassurance should calm fans who’ve been mentally preparing for a brutal goodbye tour. The brothers say their priority with the ending is resolution, not devastation. They want the finale to feel earned, not cruel.
“I think some things happen in the finale that are very surprising, but we’re not trying to shock or upset anyone.
“I hope by the time people get to the end of the finale that it just feels like there’s something inevitable about what happens, and that it doesn’t feel painful but feels satisfying. We’ll see.”
Of course, that doesn’t mean everyone is guaranteed to walk away unscathed. Sacrifice has always been part of the DNA of Stranger Things, and the possibility of losing someone important is still very real.
Fans have been especially worried about Steve Harrington, who has spent multiple seasons absorbing increasingly brutal punishment while somehow surviving every time. The jokes about his odds aren’t lost on the creators. Duffer joked:
“But as for Steve’s fate. I don’t know. I can’t say. It would be the next logical step. He keeps getting beaten up more and more. The only way we could take it further is death.”
Whether that’s misdirection or a grim hint remains to be seen. What we do know is that the Duffer Bros. want the final chapter to feel like the natural conclusion of this story, not a last-minute gut punch designed to leave fans miserable as the credits roll.
The final episode of Stranger Things premieres Wednesday, December 31 on Netflix, and I’m wtching it in the theater. After years in Hawkins, fans are about to find out if the series can close things out on a strong note, or if those creative risks end up defining how this story is remembered.