⚠ Spoiler Alert! Stranger Things: Season 5 Volume 1 gossip so hot, even the Upside Down might melt!. ⚠
As we near the end of the fan-favorite series Stranger Things, created by Matt Duffer and Ross Duffer, it's impossible not to speculate how it will end. If you listened to our recent Watching Now Podcast recaps of Seasons 1 - 4 and 5 Volume 1 (featuring Iain McParland, Michelle Holstine, and me), we collectively had our fair share of theories. From demodogs with lost characters' faces to time travel to a creepy flesh wall similar to a spider egg sac and multiple Henrys (Jamie Campbell Bower), it's safe to say our theories covered all bases. We are only days away from the release of Volume 2! If you haven't seen the trailer yet, you can find it below.
The new trailer hints at dream and time travel, as well as the veil between Hawkins and the Upside Down collapsing. From Demogorgons to Vecna on a rampage to mysterious portals of energy and battles galore, it's safe to say this trailer completely blew my mind! I mean, I thought I was pumped before… BUT, now I need it to be Christmas Eve, like, yesterday. Someone needs to protect Steve Harrington at all costs!
Since recording our podcast and watching the new trailer for part 2, I've had a chance to revisit Volume 1 and have come up with a few more theories. But, before we dive in, let's review everything we've uncovered in Season 5 so far.
Hawkins is now far from normal. The government controls ABSOLUTELY everything. Hopper (David Harbour), with the help of Hawkins' finest, heads "crawls" into the Upside Down and helps train Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown) for her final fight. Vecna, aka Henry, 001, “Mr. What’s-It”, is wreaking havoc. Man, he's got a lot of names. Anyways… The Demogorgons are back with a vengeance, abducting kids, like Holly (Nell Fisher) and delightful Derek (Jake Connelly), for the Mind Flayer's ultimate plan.
After FOUR seasons, the entire Wheeler family finally faces the truth of what Hawkins has been facing… And, unfortunately, to Ted's (Joe Chrest) dismay, it's not the "commies". Boy, do the Wheelers know how to put up a good fight! From Ted with the golf club to Karen (Cara Buono) and her wine, it's clear where the Wheeler children get their strength and resilience.
Dustin (Gaten Matarazzo) is struggling to cope with depression related to Eddie's (Joseph Quinn) sudden, premature death, and eerily parallels Max's (Sadie Sink) narrative arc in Season 4. Nancy (Natalia Dyer) is caught in a "throuple" with Jonathan (Charlie Heaton) and Steve (Joe Keery) vying for her attention and approval.
Surprise twists also shook things up. Max made a comeback, trapped with Holly in a creepily sunny Henry mind-space. Plus, Kali (Linnea Berthelsen), aka 008 and El’s sister, is revealed to be a secret test subject of Dr. Kay's (Linda Hamilton) government-led experiments. Will's (Noah Schnapp) gifts finally came into fruition! In the climactic ending of Volume 1, Will channeled Vecna's own gifts when he faces off against three Demogorgons threatening Mike (Finn Wolfhard), Lucas (Caleb McLaughlin), and Robin (Maya Hawke), unleashing a devastating, fatal attack that takes out those three Demogorgons in a moment that left fans, like myself, stunned and squealing with excitement.
Time travel, wormholes, and the hint of possible time switches add even more mind-bending stakes this season. Hawkins isn’t just a sleepy little town anymore… It’s a dangerous, twisted puzzle, and no one is safe.
Phew! Now that's all covered, let's dissect some of my current Top 5 wild, emphasis on wild, theories. "Are you ready, Freddy?" Let's dive in!
Even though Dr. Brenner (Matthew Modine) hasn't made an appearance this season thus far, I feel we would be remiss to not mention this elephant within Henry's backstory. Now, we know Dr. Brenner was asked by Henry's mother, Virginia (Tyner Rushing), to evaluate Henry and his strange behavior at a young age. And after THAT major tragedy at the Creel House, Henry became Dr. Brenner's first subject at Hawkins Lab, where he hoped to replicate Henry's gifts. Fast-forward to when Eleven was a part of the experiments, there were roughly eighteen to twenty children who were test subjects.
Currently in Season 5, Henry sought to take twelve children and recruit them as vessels needed to complete the Mind Flayer's plan: 12 kids, 12 hands on a clock. Vecna is obsessed with time, but we'll get to THAT later. Going back to the experiments, what if, when Dr. Brenner first met Henry, the Mindflayer brainwashed Brenner into conducting the experiments to find and create 12 gifted subjects? What if this has been the master plan all along? And perhaps, not all of the subjects within the MKUltra subprogram - codenamed "Indigo" were utilized. Could Joyce have been a part of previous testing leading to Will's gifts? Could be.
Now, you might be saying, "Stephanie, 18 to 20 doesn't quite match 12…" And while this may be true, what if the goal wasn't to find the exact amount but to weed out the weakest until 12 remain? So, will we see more of Dr. Brenner and his past connection to Henry? Or has his storyline reached its penultimate?
First of all, I am SOOO glad this wall has not been in previous seasons (as far as we know) because it looks so gross. I mean, what even is it? And, why?! Anyway, now that I have gotten that out of my system, this monstrous wall surrounding Upside Down Hawkins is round, with Hawkins Lab at the center. Now my mind goes in two directions with this… Either Hawkins needs to call Sam (Jared Padalecki) and Dean Winchester (Jensen Ackles) from Supernatural (TV Series 2005–2020), or it is, in fact, a clock face. In which the hands will feature the 12 abducted children, including Will, as vessels to release some ungodly disaster. As seen in the trailer, we witness a field of energy spread across the Upside Down sky from the lab… Which isn't foreboding at all for poor real Hawkins up above. I'm sure they'll be fine… Said no one. So could this wall be housing all of the vessels who are, grossly, connected to the vines like in the vision Will has?
Now, what exactly is this wall, and why is it in the Upside Down? Well, if we know this realm, then it's safe to say that it's not just a wall. In Volume 1, our characters believe Holly is lost on the other side, and that is where Vecna is hiding. However, this plot point could be distracting us from the real fact that this is a honeycomb-like structure or a larger gate that will release a swarm of demogorgons onto Hawkins. Think of the Mind Flayer as the queen bee, Vecna as a worker bee, and the Demogorgons, vines, and demobats as the drone bees. One thing is for certain: I don't think I would want to be near that wall when whatever is inside is released.
In the world of Stranger Things, we as fans are used to the terrifying grip the Mind Flayer has on its subjects. In Season 2, we saw how horrific an experience it was for Will to be possessed by it, slowly diminishing his humanity. In Season 3, we saw the same and more with Billy (Dacre Montgomery) and how this monster truly disconnects the host, slowly destroying it like a parasite. So, how does this connect to Kali? Even though we only got a mere glimpse of her in the Volume 1 finale, when she saw El looking back at her, there was something off about her demeanor.
Could that just be surprise, exhaustion, depression, and even fear surfacing? Yes. But there is also the possibility that Kali, whether known or unknown by Dr. Kay, is currently under the possession of the Mind Flayer. We've seen that similar dark look in her eyes before with Will. That lost, empty glaze, almost inhuman.
It's clear she is being utilized for her gifts in some way, but could they also be conducting their own experiments on how the Mind Flayer affects a human host, especially one with gifts? The question also remains: how long has Kali been involved with Dr. Kay's experiments? And did Dr. Kay work with Eleven and other test subjects, like Kali, at Hawkins Lab with Dr. Brenner? It's clear that El knew who she was and had a significant disdain towards her.
While this reunion between two sisters was warm and heartfelt, I can't help but notice the sinister undertone that all will not end well.
⚠ Additional Spoiler Alert! The following contains narrative details from the prequel stage production Stranger Things: The First Shadow. Read at your own discretion.⚠
Henry. The Man with so many names, and yet we still don't fully know who he really is, truly. What do we know? Henry moved with his family to Hawkins in 1959 from Rachel, Nevada, to escape their dark past. Now this is where we dive into the spoilers.
A little backstory, within the stage production, there are two important facts you should keep in mind. In Stranger Things lore, this was not the first time the cave had appeared. The cave refers back to a memory of Henry's time in Nevada, whilst he was on an adventure exploring caves and equipped with his favorite spyglass. There, he came upon stolen equipment from Dr. Brenner's top-secret CIA-backed Nevada Experiment and ended up in Dimension X, an alternate dimension very similar to the Upside Down. It's noted he vanished for 12 hours, and upon his return, he was completely different and possessed a new and unique blood type.
So, how does all of this relate to the current Henry? There is a possibility that the Henry we know is not the REAL Henry Creel. In fact, Vecna could be a changeling of Henry. For those who don't know, a changeling often refers to a child who has been abducted by a non-human creature and replaced by a supernatural entity. Which means we might not have one… but two Henrys! Well, a supernatural entity is taking on the form of Henry.
This all came into fruition after Holly found, while looking around in dreamscape, Henry's room, an old photo of Henry and his family in Nevada. What struck me as odd is that the Henry we see is not the same young Henry (Raphael Luce) we met in Season 4. Now, you might be saying, "It's just a photo, and perhaps they needed to recast Henry…" Yes, that is likely possible. Perhaps the previous actor aged too much, and they needed to find someone who looked similar to him. This isn't unheard of at all in Hollywood production standards… BUT! Could it have been an intentional change? Or are the Duffer Brothers just teasing us with false narratives?
If this WERE true and there were two Henrys, stay with me, what if the REAL Henry is trapped in the caves within Vecna's mind realm? Another child, the first victim to suffer from the MindFlayer's ultimate plan being spearheaded by Vecna.
This leads us to my number one and final theory…
When it comes to this season, there is one common underlying theme. Time. Specifically, wormholes and alternate dimensions. So, how does this connect to Holly? Well, Mike refers to her as a Cleric, which in D&D lore suggests that Holly could open portals to other realms, such as her present-day Hawkins. Additionally, this season has made nods to Back to the Future (1985), Madeleine L'Engle's A Wrinkle in Time (Published in 1962), and Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (Published in 1865). These all connect to the same theme.
Now, presently, Holly isn't in another realm, so to speak, but in Henry's mindscape. Here she is trapped with Max in a dreamlike Hawkins. Which begs the question, are they the only ones stuck in this mind loop? And what else is hiding in this realm and Henry's memories? Can Holly save her classmates by opening a portal out of this loop to safety?
This leads me to my theory surrounding time travel. This may be a bit out there, but I believe Eleven will travel through time to Dimension X and reverse time events so that Henry never gets controlled by the Mind Flayer, that the experiments at Hawkins lab never happened, and that Eleven will erase herself from the story completely in an effort to save Hawkins and everyone she loves. I imagine this occurs due to a Thanos (Josh Brolin) snap event, a la Avengers: Infinity War (2018), in which Vecna's plan is completed and results in a devastating attack that kills a majority of Hawkins. This will thus cause Eleven to embark on a time travel journey alone at the start of Volume 3.
I know, I know this theory is a bit bonkers and a little been there, done that already… BUT it makes so much sense! Right?! Now, there is a question of how it affects the current time period. Which could easily be that everyone will remember the events before, and all the negative entities will be erased from our realm.
One thing is for certain: I have plenty of questions needing to be answered and so little time until the final episodes are released. If you need me, I'll just be here mulling over all of these endless theories.
Stranger Things Volume 5 Part 2 premieres December 25th, and Part 3 December 31st, at 5 pm PST/ 8 pm EST only on Netflix. What do you think will happen? Did we get it right? Let us know what you think will happen in the comments below.
The worst theory I've heard is the "It's all a D&D game" theory. I would hate that so much