Stranger Things Season 5 Almost Had a Three-Hour Finale
Stranger Things' final season nearly featured a three-hour episode packed with demogorgons and a nod to Aliens, but the idea was scrapped to keep the story focused and avoid 'demo fatigue.'
Fans of Stranger Things may have noticed something missing from the season 5 finale: the infamous demogorgons and demodogs. While their absence stood out, it turns out that wasn’t always the plan. The Duffer Brothers, creators of the series, once considered a much longer ending that would have brought these creatures back in a big way, along with a clever reference to the classic film Aliens.
Early Plans for an Epic Showdown
During a recent interview, the showrunners revealed that there was a point when the finale was imagined as a sprawling three-hour episode. This extended version would have included a dramatic encounter with Vecna ’s monstrous allies. When asked about the missing demogorgons during the group’s arrival at The Abyss, Matt Duffer explained,
Mainly it’s just that Vecna was not expecting this sneak attack on his home turf. Never in a million years could he even imagine that.
He went on to say,
[The demogorgons] are there somewhere. We obviously discussed having a demo battle on top of the Mind Flayer battle, but it felt more right to us that why does he need the demos when the Mind Flayer is this giant thing and can attack them? He doesn’t need his little ant army to attack, he’s going to take care of this himself. It’s a giant, desolate planet. If you recall, you see Henry wandering the planet back in Season 4 and at some point in his journey, he does see a demo far in the distance, but it’s not like they’re hanging out in little huts. There’s not like a giant civilization of demos up there.
Cutting the Demogorgon Battle
Despite these early ideas, the Duffer Brothers ultimately decided against including a massive demogorgon fight. They shared that there was a version of the finale where the group would stumble upon a vast field of demo eggs, echoing a memorable scene from Aliens. Matt Duffer recalled,
We did at some point have that they were going to come across a giant field of demo eggs in kind of an Aliens thing, but you can’t get all your ideas in there.
His brother Ross confirmed,
Yeah that’s in the three-hour version of the finale, which was never written.
The plan was for the demogorgons to hatch from the eggs as the group passed by, but the showrunners worried this would lead to what they called "demo fatigue." Ross Duffer explained,
One of the other things we talked about was just demo fatigue. I felt like we did everything we wanted to do with them in Sorcerer, and wanting to keep the focus on Vecna and the Mind Flayer, who’s been absent this season.
Focusing on the Main Threats
By leaving out the demogorgon battle, the creators aimed to keep the spotlight on the season’s central villains. The Mind Flayer, who had been missing for much of the season, took center stage in the finale. The Duffers felt that adding another monster fight would have distracted from the main story and lessened the impact of the final showdown.
The entire Stranger Things series is now available to stream. For those looking for more, there are plenty of other top shows to discover and new releases to keep up with.