Stranger Things ends with two-hour series finale after five seasons

The Duffer brothers concluded Stranger Things on Jan. 1, 2026, with a two-hour series finale titled "The Rightside Up," bringing to a close a five-season run spread across nearly a decade on Netflix.

The finale sent the core group back into the Upside Down and the Abyss to stop Vecna/Henry Creel’s plan to draw the Abyss into Earth. Operation Beanstalk froze the Abyss long enough for the team to jump across; Eleven entered Vecna’s mind and later leapt into the Abyss to confront him while Hopper and Murray planned to blow a bomb to sever the connection.

The Upside Down’s destruction appears to kill Vecna/Henry, and Kali is shot dead protecting Eleven. Eleven seems to be swept away in the explosion as well, though the ending leaves her fate ambiguous: a closing scene in the Wheeler basement has Mike propose that Kali may have created an illusion of Eleven’s death and that Eleven might have slipped away.

The episode jumps ahead 18 months to spring 1989, showing Max and Lucas still together, Hopper proposing to Joyce and planning to move to Montauk, Jonathan going to N.Y.U., Steve becoming a schoolteacher, Robin attending Smith and Nancy leaving Emerson to work at the Boston Herald. The finale offers glimpses of the characters’ futures, even as the ultimate status of some figures remains uncertain.

Key Topics

Culture, Stranger Things, Duffer Brothers, Netflix, Eleven, Vecna