Into the Upside Down One Last Time: Stranger Things Through the Years (SPOILER ALERT)

The popular show Stranger Things on Netflix has been taking the world by storm since its debut in 2016, and is now coming to an end with its fifth and final season.

The first four episodes of the fifth season came out on Nov. 26; another three will be released on Dec. 25, and the season finale will show on Dec. 31. This series has repeatedly claimed top spots in Netflix streaming charts, and its Season 5 premiere achieved the biggest opening week ever for an English-language show on Netflix.

This story started with Matt and Ross Duffer, who wrote, directed, and produced the show. It’s set in Hawkins, Indiana, during the 1980s, and the first season starts with four boys, Will, Mike, Lucas, and Dustin, played by Noah Schnapp, Finn Wolfhard, Caleb McLaughlin, and Gaten Matarazzo.

One night, Will disappears, and his mom, Joyce (played by Winona Ryder), his brother, Jonathan (played by Charlie Heaton), and the town’s police chief, Jim Hopper (played by David Harbour), launch a search. While Will’s friends search, they find a mysterious girl named Eleven (played by Millie Bobby Brown), who has psychic abilities, and reveals that Will was taken to the Upside Down, an alternate dimension, by a monster called a demogorgon.

High school couple Nancy Wheeler and Steve Harrington, played by Natalia Dyer and Joe Keery, are also introduced, and they help in the search. The season ends with Joyce and Hopper rescuing Will from the Upside Down, and Eleven sacrificing herself to save Mike, Lucas, and Dustin.

Season two introduces step-siblings Max Mayfield and Billy Hargrove, played by Sadie Sink and Dacre Montgomery, as well as Hawkins Lab as the center of research on the Upside Down. Will starts having visions, and a new threat, the mind flayer, is introduced. Meanwhile, Eleven, who survived the season one finale, is secretly living with Hopper in a cabin, uncovering more about her past, including her mom, Terry, and “sister” Kali. 

The season culminates when Eleven closes the gate to the Upside Down, while others in the group fight demogorgons, and free Will from the mind flayer.

Season three introduces Starcourt Mall, Robin Buckley (played by Maya Hawke), and Erica Sinclair (played by Priah Ferguson). The mind flayer escapes the Upside Down once again and possesses Billy to build an army of townspeople. Steve, Dustin, Robin, and Erica uncover a Russian base beneath Starcourt Mall with a gate to the Upside Down, and plan to destroy it.

The season ends in a showdown where Billy sacrifices himself, Eleven loses her powers, and Hopper is almost killed. After the mind flayer retreats, the Byers family moves to California with Eleven, and the town returns to normal.

Season 4 features the Byers and Eleven in California, while a serial killer from the Upside Down named Vecna (played by Jamie Bower), is loose in Hawkins.

Eleven leaves to regain her powers, and Joyce tries to find Hopper in Russia. In Hawkins, Max becomes Vecna’s next target, and the group plans to kill him.

Using Max as bait, and with help from characters in Russia and Nevada, they attempt to capture and kill Vecna, but he escapes.

Season five, so far, shows the group gearing up to kill Vecna while trying to save Hawkins. Two new characters are introduced: “delightful” Derek (played by Jake Connelly) and Holly Wheeler (played by Nell Fisher).

There are several Santa Barbara High School students who have watched this show and voted for their favorite season, character, and predictions for the end. Out of 14 students, season three won the most popular with six votes, season five took second place, and season one came in last, with zero votes.

11 different characters were voted favorites, and out of 14 votes, Max won with three, and Steve took second place. There was a tie for the winner of the most popular ending prediction between Eleven dying to kill Vecna and Will and Vecna dying together.

However the Duffer brothers decide to finish the story, it will bring this epic adventure to a close and mark the end of the beginning of many of these actors’ careers.