Stranger Things Season 5 finale ending explained: Is she dead?

The Stranger Things Season 5 season finale is finally out!!! The epic finale to the decade-old Netflix sci-fi drama ties all the long-running plotlines together. The streaming giant has indeed provided longtime fans with a holiday treat this 2025. Until this episode, the good guys haven't made their big headway against Henry Creel/Vecna.

Despite gaining new allies and a power wielder in Will, Vecna still manages to escape to "the Abyss" in the seventh episode of season five. Now, the Stranger Things Season 5 finale will pick up where the previous volume ended: the good guys driving the truck into the Upside Down to save the kids and kill Vecna.

"As Vecna prepares to destroy the world as we know it, the party must put everything on the line to defeat him once and for all."

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Stranger Things Season 5 finale ending explained:

Before getting to the ending, here are some of the major events in the Stranger Things Season 5 finale:

• Setting the stage

The opening minutes before the Stranger Things Season 5 intro are set right after the aftermath of episode 7. "Chapter Eight: The Rightside Up" opens with a guard being interrogated, where he tells them that he had nothing to do with the opening of the gates. No one believes it, but Dr. Kay considers that the guard might be telling the truth, as she considers that they were opened by someone else using a remote.

Meanwhile, Murray, Eleven, Kali, and Hopper get down from the at location inside the Upside Down as the others drive away. The four are observed by some soldiers led by Akers, who decides to pursue them without informing Dr. Kay. Then the episode shifts to the Abyss, as Henry is continuing the ritual with the other kids in a trance.

• Max, Kali, and Eleven team up

After the introduction, Dr. Kay and the soldiers take Mr. Clarke and Erica to a local building, where they find the WSQK van. Meanwhile, Will, Mike, Jonathan, Robin, Nancy, Joyce, and Lucas are climbing the radio tower in Upside Down. Mike and Will have a heart-to-heart talk and reaffirm their friendship. As that happens, Max and Vickie are together, and the latter is nervous.

She goes to the kitchen to eat something, and as that happens, Max realizes that she is unable to hear Vickie anymore. She begins to walk and is greeted by Eleven and Kali.

• The Abyss begins to descend

Will and the rest of the group make it to the top of the tower as they observe the rock of the Abyss, proving their theory from the seventh Stranger Things Season 5 episode right. Murray informs Hopper about this development, as the latter hopes Eleven is also successful with her part in the plan.

• Eleven manages to save the kids

Eleven, Kali, and Max have to traverse through Henry's memory as the planet starts descending into the tower. The pin doesn't sync into the rift, meaning the entire tower is at risk of collapsing if the pin comes into contact with the surface of the Abyss, which it does. The railings fall off, and Steve begins to fall, but Jonathan catches him, hinting at a stronger bond after Stranger Things Season 5.

Meanwhile, Max helps Kali and Eleven reach the house where Henry is holding the kids. El psychically throws Henry out as the kids are out of their trance, and the Abyss's descent is halted for now, giving the tower group climb up to Vecna's planet. Max convinces the kids by revealing Henry as the real monster, and she helps them escape. Meanwhile, Kali tries to deliver a killing blow to Henry as he disappears.

• The obstacles

Dr. Kay and some soldiers raid the WSQK headquarters, while Vecna shows Jim Hopper some devastating visions, including Kali and Eleven's plan to kill themselves after killing Henry. An angry Hopper shoots the tank, and he sees El bleeding out. But it is revealed to be a trick as she is just woken up, meaning she, Kali, and Max disappear from Henry's mind.

But the kids make it to the cave, and so does Henry, raising the stakes. As that happens, the kids run into the underground cave where Henry killed the mysterious scientist, meaning they are closer to escaping Henry's mind and getting back into their bodies. As that happens, Akers and his group raid the laboratory inside the Upside Down with Kali and Eleven's weaknesses.

But Marray manages to blow up the helicopters containing the sonic devices, giving Eleven his powers back. However, he is too late as Akers had already shot Kali, before Eleven uses her powers on him to shoot himself.

• Henry Creel's past revealed

Stranger Things Season 5 Volume II revealed a portion of what happened to Henry Creel inside the cave. As an adult Henry pursues Holly inside this cave, he is distracted by the memory of what happened. After he bashed the scientist's head, we see him open the briefcase, finding a mysterious black stone, which is the mindflayer that instructs the young boy to find it.

Will, observing this memory, reaches out to Henry out of sympathy, telling him that he, too, is a vessel to an evil supernatural entity. But Henry rejects the offer, and he makes the giant hand rise in the real Abyss, endangering Dustin, Jonathan, Nancy, Mike, Lucas, Robin, and Steve. Eleven saves them, but she has to fight the giant spider.

The group decides to help Eleven by attacking the spider from the outside, while Eleven fights Vecna inside the spider. Will assists El by controlling Vecna's body, and Eleven pushes Vecna into a protruding bone inside the spider's body. Meanwhile, the non-powered group manages to bring down the spider. The group rescues the kids as Henry gains consciousness, but Joyce delivers the killing blow.

• The Army still holds the good guys at gunpoint

The good guys manage to kill Henry one hour into the Stranger Things Season 5 finale. As they are in a celebratory mood after setting up the explosives inside the Upside Down, they manage to drive into the real world. As that happens, the group is held at gunpoint by the army. As that happens, the group is unable to locate Eleven.

They initially believe that she escaped, but soon see her at the entrance of the Upside Down. Mike tries to run towards El, but she takes him inside her mind and requests that he convince the others of her choice. She tells Mike that she loves him, and as he returns to his body, the bombs detonate, and she vanishes along with the portal, suggesting her death.

• Time jump

The Stranger Things Season 5 finale then sees an eighteen-month time jump as Will, Dustin, Mike, Max, and Lucas graduate from high school. Hopper proposes to Joyce, which she accepts. Will is graduating, Jonathan is a film major, Nancy has dropped out of Emerson for an opportunity to work in a paper, and Steve is a coach and a teacher.

Mike is still mourning Eleven on his graduation, but a talk with Hopper brings him back to his friends. Dustin is the high school valedictorian, and he gives a rousing speech that earns the respect of everyone. But this scene is not the end of the Stranger Things Season 5 finale.

• D&D

The closing of the Stranger Things Season 5 finale is a throwback to how the sci-fi series began: the group playing Dungeons and Dragons. This time, Max, Dustin, Lucas, Mike, and Will are playing a game at Mike's basement. The group loses, but soon Mike brings up Mage (Eleven's role).

Mike brings up an alternate theory as to what happened to Eleven. He says that the Eleven we saw vanish was just an illusion cast by Kali, as Eleven stealthily escaped Hawkins to an unknown location. However, Mike also says that it may not be real. So, the Stranger Things Season 5 finale does not confirm whether Eleven is dead or not.

“The fall of 1987. Hawkins is scarred by the opening of the Rifts, and our heroes are united by a single goal: find and kill Vecna. But he has vanished — his whereabouts and plans unknown. Complicating their mission, the government has placed the town under military quarantine and intensified its hunt for Eleven, forcing her back into hiding. As the anniversary of Will’s disappearance approaches, so does a heavy, familiar dread. The final battle is looming — and with it, a darkness more powerful and more deadly than anything they’ve faced before. To end this nightmare, they’ll need everyone — the full party — standing together, one last time.”

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The Stranger Things Season 5 finale, "Chapter Eight: The Rightside Up", is streaming on Netflix.