Stranger Things ends with divisive finale – as ‘disappointed’ fans bemoan ‘stupidest’ plot decision

Netflix’s hit sci-fi series Stranger Things has come to an end after nearly a decade – but the finale has drawn wildly polarised reactions from fans.

The final episode of the show, titled “Chapter Eight: The Rightside Up”, debuted on the streaming service during the early hours of New Year’s Day (in the UK), a week after the previous batch of episodes dropped.

Spoilers follow for the Stranger Things finale... you have been warned!

In the final episode of the show, the heroes from Hawkins, Indiana ultimately manage to defeat Vecna (Jamie Campbell Bower), thanks to the supernatural abilities of Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown) and Will Byers (Noah Schnapp).

After Joyce (Winona Ryder) cuts off the villain’s head, Hopper (David Harbour) and Murray (Brett Gelman) rig bombs on the interdimensional bridge to the Upside Down, with Eleven seemingly staying behind in the nether world to sacrifice herself.

With a large chunk of the episode still remaining, there is then a time jump to the year 1989, and we are shown what has happened to the remaining characters – the crew has started to move on from the traumatic events of the series, and Joyce and Hopper get engaged.

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In one of the final scenes of the show, Mike (Finn Wolfhard) claims that Eleven had actually faked her own death, and had managed to make it out of the Upside Down. As he speaks, we see an older Eleven wandering through a faraway place, before reaching a town.

It’s unclear whether Eleven really survived or not, with series co-creator Ross Duffer stating that “she lives on in their hearts, whether that’s real or not”.

Many viewers were critical of the finale, with the decision to eliminate Vecna so early in the episode frequently criticised on social media.

“Main villain killed halfway in, nobody important died, no explanation on henry creel origin story, & only 18 month time jump. Stranger Things finale was the stupidest f***ing ending i’ve seen right up there with The Umbrella Academy,” read one widely shared post on X/Twitter.

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“The biggest mistake they made was a whole 50 minutes of the episode just being the epilogue, the could’ve used those at least 30 of those 50 minutes to make the fighting scenes better,” another fan wrote.

“Am much disappointed to that extent that I don’t even want to talk about Stranger Things,” someone else remarked.

Others, however, were more positive on the conclusion, with one person writing: “Am i the only one who enjoyed that stranger things ending?”

“Me being happy with the stranger things finale and coming on twitter to see everyone complaining,” someone else joked.

Stranger Things is available to stream now on Netflix.