As Netflix fans know well by now, Stranger Things has come to an end.
Except… many of these same fans have been asking themselves a pressing question ever since the alleged series finale of this beloved drama hit the streaming service:
Wait, has it really?!?
Might creators Ross Duffer and Matt Duffer ever put the show back into production and make new episodes of the thriller?
“I feel like this season really, truly does close the door on this story,” Ross told Entertainment Tonight in an interview published January 2. “On the story of Hawkins, and the story of the Upside Down and the story of these characters.”
Fair enough. Sad, but fair.
Still, the executive producers won’t completely rule revisiting the original characters — including Mike (played by Finn Wolfhard), Will (Noah Schnapp), Max (Sadie Sink), Lucas (Caleb McLaughlin) and Dustin (Gaten Matarazzo) — in some way, form or fashion down the line.
“I guess never say never,” Ross also told ET, not sounding overly confident this will ever transpire.
“[Maybe] in 20 years, if we’re all broke and need some money [and] we’ve all talked about it,” the director added, noting that the idea is his and Matt’s “safety net.”
Stranger things premiered way back in 2016. It has aired a total of 42 episodes, the last few of which were all feature film length.
Some fans out there have believed a viral conspiracy theory that there is a secret ninth episode of the final season of Netflix series dropping on January 7 at 8 p.m. ET.
According to the Duffers, however?
They have made no official comment on the theory amid ongoing post-series-finale press interviews, but the show’s bios on Netflix’s Instagram, TikTok and X accounts stated as of Wednesday: “ALL EPISODES OF STRANGER THINGS ARE NOW PLAYING.”
Sorry, folks.
“The show has just grown so massive,” Matt Duffer previously said, speaking generally about the conspiracy-theory-addled segments of the show’s fandom.
“Online, there’s just so much misinformation. Just tons of it. We would be here for hours trying to bat down the stuff that was not true.”
Overall, meanwhile, Stranger Things has comprised a full decade in the lives of those involved in it. Most sound content with it being over.
“If there’s a story when we’re all in very, very different stages of our lives, maybe,” Finn told Entertainment Tonight of coming back for more installment. “But I think that the whole point of the show ending is because it’s run its course.”
It is worth noting, though, that the Stranger Things’ Universe isn’t completely closed.
In addition to a documentary titled One Last Adventure — chronicling the making of season five and set to be released on Netflix on January 12 — the Duffer siblings said before that there are two more related projects in the works… one of which is a live-action spinoff that will explore what exactly happened to Henry Creel in the cave.
“The spinoff is going to delve into that and explain that, and you’re going to understand it,” Matt told Variety in an interview published January 1. “But it’s a completely different mythology.
“It’s very fresh and very new, but yes, it will answer some of the loose threads that are remaining.”