Written by Giorgia Cattaneo
November 1987. A year and a half has passed since an earthquake tore Hawkins in two, and more than three years since we witnessed it happening. Vecna has been partially defeated, but his presence continues to haunt the town, and the crew prepares for the final battle. Stranger Things is undoubtedly one of the most successful television series of the last decade, and the long wait for its fifth and final season has raised questions among audiences about whether it was worth it. It’s too early to say, with only four of eight episodes released, but many observations — and theories — are already emerging.
Note: Major spoilers ahead!
Will Byers’ connection to Vecna and the Upside Down
This final chapter brings the story full circle, placing Will (Noah Schnapp) once again at the centre, and not merely as a victim and a survivor. The most striking revelation comes at the end of Episode Four, when Will gives proof of his ability to control Vecna (Jamie Campbell Bowers)’s actions, suggesting he has some kind of powers — we even see him wipe blood from his nose just like Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown).
Far from being simply Vecna’s reflection, as many have suggested, Will appears to function as a conduit to the hive mind itself. He seems capable of perceiving both what Vecna’s victims experience when their minds are controlled and what the Demogorgons (directly connected to Vecna) see while in action. Yet, the hive mind is a far larger, more complex identity that cannot be reduced to Vecna alone. From the very beginning, Will has been tied to this identity: he speaks about it and depicts it in his drawings. Moreover, when describing his experience while being connected to it, Will notes he went somewhere Vecna didn’t want him to go. He made this statement back in Season 2 as well, while under the Mind Flayer’s control, and Max did the same in Season 4 when entering Vecna’s mind. This opens up the possibility that Will represents a potential "soldier" of the hive mind, perhaps similar to Henry before he became Vecna. Such a reading accounts for both Will’s deep connection to the entity and the abilities he seems to derive from it. A further parallel emerges between Henry and Will: both were sensitive children, perceived as "different" and struggling to find their place in the world. This might explain why Henry, later Vecna, chooses Will as his primary target.
The recent narrative focus on Vecna obscures the fact that he is not the only antagonist at play. The hive mind exists as a separate, enigmatic force, and its relationship with Vecna remains ambiguous. The question then is not only what Vecna wants, but who truly is in control. And, if Will is structurally bound to Vecna or to the hive mind itself, would that mean he’s destined to perish alongside them?
Kali/008’s comeback
The Return of Kali/008 (Linnea Berthelsen) — Eleven’s sister — further confirms that Season Two’s events were far from incidental — in Stranger Things nothing ever is — and that the Duffers have been playing a long game since the very beginning. However, many narrative gaps remain surrounding her character: she appeared exclusively in one season, is known only to Eleven and is never referenced again throughout the series. This absence raises questions about whether her storyline was deliberately left dormant for future development or instead quietly abandoned, making any eventual reintroduction narratively risky.
Music as a Weapon
Music has always played a crucial role in Stranger Things. In Season One, The Cash’s Should I Stay or Should I Go becomes inseparable from Will’s journey as a prisoner in the Upside Down. In Season Two, Every Breath You Take by The Police scores the final sequence, in which the Mind Flayer looms over Hawkins — the lyrics (“every move you make, every bond you break, every step you take, I’ll be watching you”) transforming the song into an ominous declaration of surveillance and control.
Music takes an even more explicitly central role in Season Four, when characters discover it can be used to literally save lives — here Kate Bush’s Running Up The Hill enters the scene. In this season, Max (Sadie Sink), still trapped in Vecna’s mind, explains to Holly (Nelly Fisher) that the song almost succeeded in pulling her out of her coma before being cut off all of a sudden. The interruption feels deliberate, raising the question of whether someone — possibly Vecna — actively prevented it. Meanwhile, Henry, as Mr Whatsit (Jamie Campbell Bower), carefully selects a cassette of Tiffany’s I Think We’re Alone Now to keep Holly distracted in his house. He claims he knew that was one of her favourites "by intuition." Does this mean Vecna is learning to use music as a weapon in his favour?
Whether as a tool of survival or a method of control, what is certain is that music will keep its importance in the series until the very end. Several song choices in this volume deserve special mention: Michael Jackson’s Rockin’ Robin, highlighting Robin Buckley’s character (Maya Hawke), who plays a fundamental role in the season; Upside Down by the iconic Diana Ross (I was shocked to realise the songs has never been used before, despite its obvious resonance?); Abba’s Fernando, with its line “There was something in the air that night”, playing during the night Holly disappears.
Hawkins between Past and Present
As shown previously, The Upside Down is not a random alternate dimension, but it is deeply intertwined with Hawkins’ events and people. Through one of Henry’s memories, we learn that in 1959, Hawkins High hosted a school play directed by Joyce and starring Hopper (David Harbour), Karen (Cara Buono), Ted Wheeler (Joe Chrest), Alan Munson (Eddie’s father) and Henry himself in the lead role. The play was also scheduled for November 6th, the same date as Will Byers disappears in Season One.
Moreover, just as Henry/001 was collected, studied and exploited as a child by Dr Brenner (Matthew Modine), Vecna is now gathering and imprisoning children for his own purposes, marking yet another connection between the past and the present.
The Time Travel Theory
This season offers numerous hints pointing toward a potential time travel narrative. Before being taken by Vecna, Holly is reading A Winkle in Time (the same book Mike (Finn Wolfhard) notices in the children’s room at the hospital). Vecna’s identity as Mr Whatsit mirrors the book’s Mrs Whatsit, a guide teaching the kids how to travel across space and time using a "tesseract." This concept is visually reinforced when Derek (Jake Connelly) is shown building a tesseract in class.
There are also multiple Back to the Future references: Robin mentions the “flux capacitor”, the device that makes time travel possible in the film; Steve (Joe Kerry), Dustin (Gaten Matarazzo) and Jonathan (Charlie Heaton) attempt to reach 88 decibels on their tracking device, a parallel to the DeLorean having to hit 88 miles per hour to jump through time; Mr. Sandman by The Chordettes, the same song that accompanies Marty’s arrival to the past, plays during the credits of Episode 2. Even the dialogues, with repeated lines such as "Great Scott!" and "Precisely," unmistakably reference Doc Brown’s vocabulary. This suggests Vecna may be manipulating time dimensions, trying to rewrite fate — and the characters may do the same.
Memory itself, as part of the mind, becomes a temporal space that can be revisited, reshaped, weaponised even. As Max observes, Henry is also a prisoner of his own mind, trapped by a past he cannot escape (the past exemplified by the caves, of which Henry has a deep fear). While the Duffer Brothers are known for drawing inspiration from and paying homage to elements of past pop culture, the series has always resisted being a mere imitation of something else. We should then expect these motifs to be used (if so) in unexpected and innovative ways.
And What About the Squad?
Robin maintains the central role she established in Season Four, now serving as the key that unlocks Will’s powers, helping him acknowledge his sexuality and accept himself ("It was never about [them]. It was always just about me"). Dustin remains the heart of the series, his appearance increasingly echoing Eddie’s as he struggles with his death — the Hellfire Club t-shirt proudly worn at school, the longer, messier hairstyle, and the rings all serve as a way to honour his friend while keeping his memory alive. We see Dustin at his most vulnerable, yet he never loses his spark, proving why he is one of the most affectionate characters (and possibly the most misunderstood). Hopefully Volume 2 will give him the narrative space he deserves. On the other hand, Steve’s arc feels inconsistent at times, with some choices difficult to reconcile with the emotional intelligence he has displayed in previous seasons. I really hope Volume 2 will redeem him and, above all, bring back my favourite Henderson-Harrington duo. Jonathan, as well, once one of the pillars of the show, is now largely reduced to a love triangle with Steve and Nancy (Natalia Dyer), struggling even to stand up for himself. It’s sad to see him so emotionally disconnected from everyone around him. As always, Eleven carries the weight of the entire series on her shoulders. She deserves her happy ending more than anyone.
The two new additions to the cast — Nell Fisher as Holly Wheeler and Jake Connelly as Derek Turnbow — immediately stand out. Holly’s kidnapping and Max’s return create an unexpected dynamic between the two, forming another duo we didn’t know we needed. Too many questions remain unanswered — many from this volume itself: how did they manage to create a whole new base in the Upside Down, and to work/live there in general without Vecna interfering? What is Kali doing in Doctor Kay’s laboratory? What is Vecna planning with the children behind the wall — a place not even Eleven can reach using her mind? One thing is for sure: it won’t be long before we find out. Meanwhile, you can keep rewatching Volume 1, now streaming on Netflix, and look for more details to make up your own theories.
Stranger Things 5: Volume 2 premieres December 25th, with The Finale coming on the 31st.
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