Warning: The below story doesn't really contain any spoilers, but beware if you're trying to avoid how it won't end.
As we get ready for the highly anticipated fifth and final season of Stranger Things, theories continue to swirl about how our supernatural adventure in Hawkins will end.
But at least we now know one way it won't end: no, it's not all a big Dungeons & Dragons campaign.
That's been a prevailing fan theory for some time now, but Stranger Things creators/showrunners Matt and Russ Duffer shot it down while speaking to Metro at the premiere of new play Stranger Things: The First Shadow.
Responding to the theory with a joke initially, Matt responded, "That is correct. That is the ending…. No."
"That would be the equivalent of, 'That’s all a dream.' No, I assure you that is not how we’re going to end the show," Ross jumped in to add.
While that might not seem like a big deal, that's been a popular fan theory for a few years now, and not just because the Hawkins kids are avid D&D players. As IGN even pointed out ourselves, the main cast resembles what a typical D&D party composition might look like - Eleven the Wizard, Dustin the Bard, and so forth - and each season could certainly stand as a campaign.
Plus, the crew even refers to the creatures they encounter in terms of D&D, including Mind Flayers (who are having a hell of a moment between Stranger Things and Baldur's Gate 3), Demogorgons, and, recently, Vecna. We should note that the creatures aren't exact copies of what you might find in a 5e Player's Handbook, but rather, points of reference that the gang uses - although even still, I see some similarities in the case of Vecna specifically.
Thus, many fans have gone so far as to take that "all a dream" approach and speculate that, at the end, we'll zoom out and see Mike or Eddie DMing. "Imagine if each character is actually a character in a game, controlled by players, and what we are actually watching is the campaign," wrote u/samdmh13 on Reddit years ago. "The whole series is 3 separate parties playing together."
Seriously, this fan theory has been around for quite some time.
So, while it's a fun thought, it turns out that Stranger Things won't end up just being a badass D&D campaign after all.
Ross Duffer went on to tell Metro that they've "known where we’ve been going for a while. And we feel comfortable with it; hopefully, it satisfies everyone. We’ll see."
Ross' comments are somewhat similar to what producer and occasional episode director Shawn Levy previously told IGN for our digital cover on Season 4.
“Since the day I read this pilot script that no one else wanted, I never once doubted that the brothers had a master plan,” Levy said at the time. “And it became clear many, many, many months ago that we needed to end things at a point where we felt confident we could stick the landing, and the brothers see that landing. And there was no point in hiding the endgame from the world."
And while we don't know when we'll be able to see that endgame, Season 5 is largely expected to begin filming in January after being delayed amid this year's actors' and writers' strikes.
Alex Stedman is a Senior News Editor with IGN, overseeing entertainment reporting. When she's not writing or editing, you can find her reading fantasy novels or playing Dungeons & Dragons.
