Is Stranger Things trying to replace Eleven with Will? Details explored

The biggest plot twist of Stranger Things Season 5 is that Will has powers. He not only has powers, but when he is close to the hive mind, he can get inside Vecna's mind and control his actions. This is definitely a great character arc for Will, whose disappearance started off the show, and who has thereafter been overprotected by his mother. Giving him telekinetic powers has changed the show in a major way.

While it is great that Will has powers now, Stranger Things also seems to be focusing on him a lot in Season 5 and not giving enough attention to Eleven: the character who has been actually fighting Vecna with her powers from the beginning. It makes one wonder if the show is trying to replace Eleven with Will.

Why it seems that Stranger Things is replacing Eleven with Will

It is common knowledge that Eleven is one of the most popular characters of Stranger Things. She's the one who had powers from Season 1 (due to Dr. Brenner's experiments) and was helping the crew protect themselves and Hawkins from the evils of the Upside Down. Other characters like Will, Dustin, Lucas, Mike, Max, Nancy, Johnathan, Steve, Robin, Erica, Hopper, Murray, and Joyce have also played significant roles in fighting the creatures of the Upside, but none of them were any match for Vecna's supernatural powers except Eleven. That is purely because Eleven shares the same blood as Henry aka Vecna, and has honed her skills over the years.

But in Stranger Things Season 5, we see Will has telekinetic powers too, and his are connected directly to the hive mind. While Eleven and Kali get their powers from Henry's blood, Will can tap into the hive mind, and control parts of it from within. We see him get inside Vecna's mind in Stranger Things Season 5 Volume 2, and snap his leg, causing him to actually limp. Will going from having no powers to having such intense power is great for the Hawkins crew trying to defeat Vecna, but it is a little unrealistic. The show has been emphasizing that Stranger Things has always been about Will and thus it makes sense why he is capable of so much power. But him going from no power to straight up being able to control Vecna, even though temporarily, seems a bit forced.

Moreover, ever since Will was made the central character of Stranger Things Season 5, Eleven has been given the back seat. She's struggling to do basic things like lift a truck, and hasn't been given much action scenes in the first two volumes of Season 5. All she has been made to do is get into people's minds and find answers or find where someone else is.

It is important that Eleven does these things, but with Season 5 being the final season, she was expected to be at her full potential, at her strongest. Which hasn't been the case so far, and all we've seen is Will's powers getting all the attention. The problem isn't with Will having powers and using them. It is with Eleven been sidelined like she's a side character.

While Will has been quite central to Stranger Things' story, no one can deny that Eleven's powers and the strategic teamwork of the entire crew has played a huge role in making the show what it is. Thus, by focusing too much on Will and his powers, and almost sidelining Eleven, it seems like the show is trying to replace her with him. Moreover, Kali has been acting suspicious ever since she met Eleven because she thinks her and Eleven need to die so that after killing Vecna, no one can use their blood to create more people like Henry.

Eleven seems to be on board for that plan, but the Duffer Brothers will most likely not kill Eleven and ruin the show's ending. But if it does happen, and Eleven sacrifices herself while Will becomes the hero that saves the day, fans are going to be disappointed. There is already a general dislike towards Kali due to her double suicide plan, and if the Duffer go through with that, most fans won't be happy, and a great show will have a not-so-great ending.

Since the final episode of Stranger Things is still left, and it has a runtime of over two hours, we will hopefully see Eleven actually use her powers and fight Vecna. If the creators have used both Eleven and Will's full potential for the finale, we might just get one of the best finales in television history.

Stranger Things Season 5 Volumes 1 and 2 are streaming on Netflix. Volume 3 will be released on Netflix on New Year's Eve at 5 pm PT.

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