Stranger Things Season 5: This fan theory claims that Derek waved at Mike since he couldn’t see Eleven in the truck

The final season of Netflix’s Stranger Things ended on New Year’s Eve 2025, leaving viewers emotionally shattered and talking endlessly about one of the most unclear endings in television history.

Nine years and five seasons later, the Duffer Brothers purposely left the ultimate fate of Eleven ambiguous, resulting in endless fan theories of whether she really sacrificed herself in the Upside Down or has somehow escaped to freedom. One of these theories in particular has made a curious point to eagle-eyed viewers. It includes the scene where Derek Turnbow was waving at Mike Wheeler in Murray’s truck.

The Stranger Things finale, which lasted two hours, was titled The Rightside Up to which the Hawkins crew finally overpowered Vecna and destroyed the Upside Down permanently. This emotional climax had Eleven seemingly die by choice as she stayed in the crumbling dimension, while her friends fled.

Nonetheless, in the epilogue of the finale, Mike Wheeler offers his own theory to his friends in their final Dungeons and Dragons game, in which he proposes that Kali had made an illusion of Eleven’s death, and she could flee unnoticed.

Stranger Things Season 5: The Derek wave theory

The Stranger Things fan theory that has been rapidly spreading on social media focuses on a short but possibly meaningful moment of the escape out of the Upside Down. As the group was driving out of the Upside Down in Murray’s truck, celebrating what was apparently their victory, Derek Turnbow, Holly Wheeler’s friend who was freed by Vecna, was waving to Mike Wheeler.

According to the theory, Derek was waving at Mike because he could not see Eleven, who was supposedly sitting in the truck.

This observation validates the general fan theory that Eleven had already fled and that all the things that everyone saw in the truck were part of an illusion created by Kali. According to TV Tropes, the adorable gesture that Derek made when he was waving at confused Mike at the back of the truck was reported to be an odd aspect. But it was interesting to the viewers since many thought this could be something significant. In case Derek specifically waved at Mike and apparently did not see Eleven around, maybe she was not there physically in the truck. She was merely an illusion created by Kali to help El get away.

In order to see the full picture of the Derek wave theory, one must realize the course of the events that transpired in the Stranger Things finale and how Mike tries to explain what he thinks has happened. Once the group defeats Vecna and detonates the bomb that will destroy the Upside Down, they go through the MAC-Z gate and are again ambushed by Dr. Kay and the military. The soldiers are searching for Eleven, but she has apparently disappeared among them.

As Mike explains in the last D&D game, his theory is that Kali did not die when she was shot, but she had enough time to deploy her illusion magic one last time. Mike explains that it was impossible to use her powers to save herself because of the suppressive machines of the military, which emitted rays that blocked her psychic powers. Rather, Mike theorizes that Kali created an illusion that Eleven was at the gate to the Upside Down, which made it look as if she was killed in the explosion, while the actual Eleven got out unseen.

Duffer Brothers affirmed to ComicBook that Eleven never communicated to Mike after the gate incident, so Mike is drawing his theory from his own observations and not direct confirmation by Eleven herself. Matt Duffer clarified that the narrative of Mike is about his healing process and search for hope, but the creators deliberately left it unclear whether the theory was real or wishful thinking.

The truck scene in the Stranger Things finale is important when discussing the period of time that Eleven might escape. An analysis of hidden clues presented by Winter Is Coming suggests that the finale’s verified sight of Eleven before she is seen at the Upside Down gate is when she is being pulled off the truck with Mike, who then is launched against the car.

By the time Mike recovers, Eleven is gone. The analysis raises the question of how Eleven would have been able to move back into the Upside Down after being in the truck without anyone noticing. All this implies that some supernatural influence, namely, the illusion powers of Kali, had to have played a role.

It is at this point that the Derek wave theory comes into play. Supposing Eleven had been utilising the illusion powers of Kali when she was riding a truck out of the Upside Down, that would be why several anomalies occur.

First, it would explain how Eleven apparently transported herself out of the truck into the gate without anybody noticing her entry. Second, it would answer the question of why Derek would have made a particular gesture at Mike, in case he really could not see Eleven in the truck because she was not there.

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