As we reported back on Monday, a fan theory called “Conformity Gate” has been sweeping through Stranger Things fandom ever since the finale aired, as fans have glommed on to various clues that “prove” that the show’s mostly happily ever after ending was a dirty trick being planted in the protagonists’ brains by psychic big bad Vecna. The theory went on to suggest that a real finale would air on January 7, 2026, because that’s Orthodox Christmas, and all of the other parts of the show’s fifth season have been dropped on holidays. (Note to wannabe conspiracy theorists: Maybe don’t hinge your hopes and dreams on Netflix scheduling folk knowing a lot about Orthodox Christmas.) As noted by Deadline, the lack of a sudden “real” finale coming to upend the established status quo, undo that final scene the Duffer brothers have been talking about filming for years at this point, and make fools out of everybody who paid to go see the actual finale in theaters on New Year’s Eve, has elicited a wide variety of reactions from true believers, from anger, to a rueful belief that the “Vecna mind-controlled everybody” twist could just be how the series ends, to a more general acknowledgement that holding tight to fan theories was a way to keep the show alive just a little bit longer.
What we’re seeing, in other words, is a generation of folks for whom this show was foundational, and constituted a lot of firsts, coming to terms with their first instance of highly relatable experience Your TV Show Just Disappointed You With Its Ending. As such, it’s hard to be too hard on the young folks signing Change.org petitions, putting together “proof” videos, and otherwise nerding out together to try to figure out why a show that’s been with them for a huge chunk of their lives just left them a little hollow feeling at the end. It’s a natural part of any evolving TV fan’s relationship with the medium: Endings are hard, relatively few projects can manage them with any elegance even before you factor in how many moving parts Stranger Things had there at the end, and coming to terms with the absence of a guaranteed satisfying resolution is a key part of maturing into someone who thinks critically about the art they consume. If that kicks out a few wild conspiracy theories and yarn-covered cork boards in the process, then that’s presumably just a byproduct of figuring out how to grow up in the upside down world of modern online entertainment.
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