When season 4 volume one was released, it seemed as though the first half of the new Stranger Things season was setting up a perfect ending. Then, while watching the final minutes of Chapter Nine, that feeling slowly disappeared. The gates to the Upside Down were ripped open, Max was put into a coma, and Vecna escaped with what seemed to be mild injuries.
The setup for these final two episodes gave the illusion that all the conflicts from all four seasons would conclude, and that audiences would be left with a satisfying sense of closure. Yet, the Duffers made the executive decision to continue the plot for another season. Why?
Season 4 had all the characteristics for a perfect series finale. Many of the main characters had reached the peak of or completed their arcs, the history of Eleven's involvement with the Upside Down was revealed, and the creation of the Upside Down was perfectly explained from Vecna/Henry's own point of view. The finale gave audiences answers to questions they had been asking since Season 1, as well as providing one of the most climatic fight scenes in the history of the show (Robin, Nancy, and Steve fighting Vecna alongside Hopper and Joyce fighting the Demogorgon). Up until Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown) revived Max (Sadie Sink) using her new and improved powers, it seemed as though Season 4 would be the end. Then, it was revealed that Vecna was still alive. As the four gates he created ripped Hawkins apart, it showed that Netflix and the Duffer brothers planned on making yet one more season.
With the way Season 4 ended (the shot of Eleven looking out at the dying field with the Upside Down breaking into Hawkins), it feels like the decision to continue into Season 5 was a late decision, and that a few plot details were changed to keep everything going for one more adventure. The series could have ended during the fight between Steve, Nancy, Robin, and Vecna. Instead of discovering that he was still alive, it would have potentially been more pleasing to find Vecna's corpse lying at the foot of the steps to the Creel house. This would have given a more satisfying conclusion to the countless fights and self-discoveries that the Hawkins gang has gone through over the years learning how to properly fight the Upside Down-beings. They learned early on that fire is the best way to kill beings such as the Demogorgon, the Hive Mind vines, and even Vecna.
Yet, when the trio show up to kill him off, he runs away with, according to Will's connection to him, very mild injuries. While Vecna is technically the "God" of the Upside Down, and should be harder to kill than your run-of-the-mill Demobat, it feels unsatisfactory that the gang has learned to fight these beings only to be disappointed that he got away, and will be able to reign terror in the "right side up." The fact that so much of the season was dedicated to figuring out who Vecna was and how to destroy him feels as though it was all for nothing, now that Max is in a coma and Hawkins is a giant portal.
However, this is not the first time a plot build-up was explored in a following season. When the Mind Flayer was introduced in Season 2, it did not receive a physical form until the end of Season 3, where it faced off against Eleven and the rest of the Hawkins kids. Many fans consider Season 3 to be one of the best, which may have given the Duffers some incentive to keep exploring Vecna as a villain in Season 5. With the backstory already explained in Season 4, they might be allowing themselves to explore more character arcs and potentially some development for Henry in Season 5, as teased in his interaction with Eleven before Max was "Vecna-ed."
However, this does little to provide incentive for another season. Aside from a few loose ends that could have easily been left to the viewer's imagination (or completely cut, like the military plotline), Season 4 had a distinct feeling of being conclusive. Eleven regained her powers, Nancy was getting ready to go to college, Jonathan had decided on his future, Steve and Robin were making plans, Hopper and Joyce finally got together, and the kids still had high school to finish. Like many TV shows, not everything needs to be explicitly shown on screen to know that a happy ending occurred. Similar to how the hit series Friends ended, fans did not need to see all of them move on with their lives to know that they lived to be "happily ever after."
Now, however, it feels as though the Duffers will use Season 5 to kill Vecna, save Hawkins, and show the characters getting their fairytale endings (with what can now be a very expected death, similar to Bob and Eddie). Not everything needs to be tied up neatly with a big red bow in order for audiences to understand how these characters that fans love will continue with their lives. Much of their futures can be happily interpreted by audiences as they choose.
Even though Season 4 could have been the perfect ending, fans are no doubt just as excited for Season 5 as they were for all the previous seasons. Now that even more questions have been created by the Season 4 finale, fans are anxiously awaiting the answers that Season 5 will hopefully provide. While the Duffer brothers will not begin working on the script until later this summer, it is projected that Season 5 will be released in 2024. Hopefully, it lives up to the hype and success that Season 4 has already laid out.
All available seasons of Stranger Things are now streaming on Netflix.