The Stranger Things Creators Reveal How The Series Finale Sets Up The Spinoff
If you still have questions, don't worry.
Spoiler alert: This post discusses the Stranger Things Season 5 finale.
The Stranger Things series finale was meant to answer every lingering question fans had about the show’s multi-dimensional universe, but that wasn’t really the case. There are still some mysteries about Vecna, the Mind Flayer, and the Abyss — although the final episode did open the door to explaining how Henry Creel became a superpowered monster. And according to creators the Duffer Brothers, Vecna’s origin story is going to be fully explained in a spinoff they’re currently working on.
In the show’s final episode, Henry is forced to confront a painful memory from his childhood, when he encountered a mysterious man with a briefcase inside a cave. After the man shot at him, Henry killed the man and opened the briefcase to pick up a glowing stone with rune-like symbols on it. It’s implied that this is how Henry gained his psychic powers, and began his transformation into Vecna.
After the finale, Matt Duffer confirmed that the truth about this stone is key to the plot of an upcoming spinoff. “The spinoff is going to delve into that and explain that, and you’re going to understand it,” he told Variety. “But it’s a completely different mythology. So it’s not a deep exploration of the Mind Flayer or anything like that. It’s very fresh and very new, but yes, it will answer some of the loose threads that are remaining.”
Matt went on to confirm that while this strange rock will be part of the spinoff, almost nothing else from Stranger Things will play a main role. “It’s very exciting to work with a clean slate: completely new characters, new town, new world, new mythology,” Matt said. “No common characters.”
This statement shuts down another theory about a spinoff that’s popped up since the finale. In the episode, Hopper hints he might take a new job in Montauk (a reference to Stranger Things’ original working title). Some viewers took the mention as a tease for a spinoff following Hopper’s new adventures in the New York City, but Matt stated that’s not the plan.
“Ross wanted to put the Montauk thing in, and this is what I didn't want to happen, is people thinking that there's going to be a spinoff in Montauk. No,” Matt told Collider. “I'm glad we have it. But no, there's no spinoff. This is the end of the story of these characters.”
