On Nov. 26, 2025, the first volume of the fifth season of Stranger Things was released on Netflix, and it’s safe to say that long-time fans are excited and now even more anticipatory for the next two volumes. This sci-fi horror has topped Netflix’s charts for almost ten years, and every season is currently in Netflix’s top ten shows on a global ranking, with season five at number one, coming in with over 23M views.
Relating to my last Stranger Things article, there are several fan theories that were scarily accurate to the events of this first volume, and many that came to correct conclusions with alternate ways of getting there—as well as plenty of new predictions to address.
The first idea I discussed in my last article, which I’ll call the “spy theory,” suggests that Vecna allowed Will to be rescued from the Upside Down in season one so that Will could be his spy in the real world, or—as they’ve begun to call it in season five—the Right Side Up. While there is still no evidence of Vecna knowing of Eleven’s presence when she attempted to locate Will from the void, or that he sent the Demogorgon to interrupt her, Will was confirmed to be a spy in season two, though his friends and family assumed that power was exuded from him in season two “Chapter Nine: The Gate.” This season, however, Will has gained incredible insight into Vecna’s mind, both while Vecna is controlling his pawns from the Upside Down and when he uses his powers to possess people. In “Chapter One: The Crawl,” the audience is first shown this new manifestation when Will seems to have a dizzy spell; he can sense that Vecna is close, getting goosebumps like he has in the past, but it appears as though he’s possessed for a moment. The sky spins, he feels what the person Vecna is possessing feels and sees what they are seeing. As we find out later on, Will was seeing Vecna’s possession of Holly through Holly’s eyes. I know, it’s all very complex. But if Will is able to see Vecna’s mind so long as he is within a certain proximity, it would make sense that he can also see Vecna’s acts of possession. We also get an intense and horrifying sequence in “Chapter Three: The Turnbow Trap” during which Will sees through the eyes of a Demogorgon, who is controlled by Vecna, as it threatens to attack his mother, Joyce. These visions paralyze Will, and the only thing he can do is watch as each sequence of attacks plays out.
Another theory that I had named the “long lost sister” plotline was an insane prediction. This theorist took a Dungeons & Dragons game, crossed it with a winning basketball shot, and speculated that Kali, a.k.a 008/Eleven’s sister, would make her return. And, they were correct. In “Chapter Three: The Turnbow Trap,” Eleven uses her powers to enter the mind of a soldier who is working for Dr. Kay, the Major General who decided it was a brilliant idea to put a lab in the Upside Down. Eleven knocked this soldier unconscious after he and a few others were attempting to track her down and stop her with a new tactic that leaves her incapacitated: radio waves. The frequency of these waves acts as a suppressor to El’s mind and powers, but doesn’t affect anyone else. As soon as Hopper destroys the machine emitting the radio waves, Eleven attacks, and they interrogate the soldier. In his mind, El finds a heavy, bolted door that she cannot get into; whatever is behind it, the soldier has been extensively trained not to reveal it to anyone, though El can feel that it is producing what she calls her “kryptonite,” those radio waves. She immediately assumes that the military has somehow trapped Vecna, as someone with similar powers would be the only one strong enough to restrict her to that extent, though it would be impossible for Vecna to then be possessing Holly and the other children. What we find in “Chapter Four: The Sourcerer” is that it is not Vecna but Kali instead, who is connected to a myriad of wires and test tubes, appearing exhausted as she and El share a brief and open-ended moment of reunion before the viewers see Vecna for the first time this season.
The last 15 minutes of that fourth episode hold an ending that not many fans predicted beforehand: Will gains powers. They had made the correct connections between Will, Vecna, and stories from D&D of “The Eye of Vecna” and “The Hand of Vecna”—we see Vecna’s deteriorated and regrowing body, his left hand showing the most extensive regeneration as it is the one he raises when using his powers. Whenever the Demogorgons have been close to Will by Vecna’s command, Will has only been able to see what they are seeing because they are only an extension of Vecna. But, when Will is within the vicinity of Vecna himself, he discovers in an act of desperation to save his friends from Demogoron attacks that he can harness Vecna’s abilities. He does so after an emotional sequence of reliving childhood memories, Robin’s powerful speech of self acceptance and trust playing in the background. As a queer person, it was inspiring and tear jerking to watch and hear the stories of these two queer characters intertwining, leading Will to a cathartic realization that he still is the boy he’s always been, and that embracing the truth in himself was the most powerful thing he could do. In that moment, he finds both the metaphorical and physical powers within himself, saving the ones he loves—those who have always accepted and understood him, despite what he may have been feeling himself.
Shifting to the vein of new theories, fans, including myself, are beginning to return back to the initial season five trailer. The majority of the scenes we were shown occurred in this first volume, but one stands out in particular, especially after seeing Max in her nearly-successful attempt to come back to the Right Side Up with the aid of Kate Bush. In the trailer, there is a brief clip of Lucas carrying Max’s comatose body through the hospital, slamming elevator buttons, trying to get the doors to shut faster as a Demogorgon runs towards them. When Holly encounters Max in Vecna’s dreamscape of a prison, she runs in fear of “monsters” and drops the spyglass she found in Henry’s room. She discovers that Max is not a threat, but that it is Henry who’s putting her in danger. What sparks concern is that spyglass becoming evidence, as Henry told Holly never to go into the woods. He knows that Max is out there, hiding from him, and she has a good chance of interfering with his plans again. My speculation is that Henry discovers this spyglass and pieces together what happened, realizes the threat Max poses to him, and as Vecna sends a Demogorgon after Max’s physical body in the hospital. How would Lucas know to come to her rescue? Will’s powers. In locating Max to attack her, Vecna would have to possess her mind, and Will now knows how to determine whose eyes he’s actually looking through. Should he figure out that Max is the one possessed, he would immediately warn Lucas to run to her rescue.
My favorite theory by far may be a bit of a stretch, but I believe it would solidify the incredible imagination and writing of the Duffer Brothers if it were to be true. I was skeptical about the concept of time travel—or rather, the warping of time—being an addition to the close of the storyline, but hearing more people contribute their theories to it online has convinced me. Holly mentions time travel to Max briefly in episode four, suggesting that her travelling through Henry/Vecna’s memories was similar. But time traveling doesn’t have to do with either of the girls. In episode three, Steve, Dustin, Nancy, and Jonathan are shown driving like a bat out of hell through neighborhood yards in an attempt to successfully track the path of a Demogorgon. During that sequence, a little less than an hour into the episode, Steve runs right over a few garden gnomes, destroying them. Shortly after, he rips through a swiftly closing entrance to the Upside Down, something he theoretically should not have been able to do. In season one, “Chapter One: The Vanishing of Will Byers,” one of the first reports Hopper receives is a complaint from a man in town that his garden gnomes went missing, the day after Will had gone missing. Season five takes place just a few days before the anniversary of Will’s disappearance, which Lucas points out in “Chapter Two: The Vanishing of Holly Wheeler” and states, “I don’t know about you guys, but… I don’t believe in coincidences.” Other factors line up as well, like power outages, clones, and characters feeling deja vu. Mr. Clarke is even seen teaching Erica’s science class about wormholes and draws a sketch ironically similar to the one Will paints onto the walls of the barn after having another episode in Vecna’s mind. Furthermore, the novel A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle is a prominent detail in the season, as Holly is seen reading and discussing it several times. The name ‘Mr. Whatsit’ also comes from that same novel—the nickname Holly gave Henry, or that he gave to himself to help connect to the children who have been reading the book in school.
Finally, a more lighthearted observation I noted was the frequent references to Christmas and Santa Clause throughout the four episodes. Murray calls himself Santa because of his constant delivery of requested supplies to the WSQK group, Hopper mentions Santa and the Demogorgon bringing Holly to Vecna as some kind of an “early Christmas present.” The next volume of episodes is set to release on Dec. 25 at 8PM EST, and I wonder if the extensive emphasis on the holiday is a hint to the importance of these next few episodes.
To be a die-hard Stranger Things fan is to apparently be excessively observant of coincidences. If this show has demonstrated anything so far, it’s that those wild hunches or seemingly improbable explanations are just as likely to solve the mystery—or in this case, almost spoil the ending. The timer is soon to hit the two week mark as fans count down to the next release, hoping to preserve the lives of their favorite characters and to be fulfilled by such a highly anticipated closing.