Netflix seemingly confirms there is no Stranger Things 'secret episode'

Warning: This story contains spoilers for the Stranger Things finale.

Netflix has ostensibly confirmed there is no “secret” Stranger Things episode set for release tonight, responding to fan speculation around a proposed finale unofficially dubbed “Conformity Gate.”

As of Wednesday morning, the show’s social media accounts were amended to read, “All episodes of Stranger Things are now playing.” It was seemingly a response to a conspiracy theory that swept through social media shortly after the series’ Dec. 31 finale. It posited that the supposed finale showed a fake ending — one that would be exposed and amended in a secret ninth episode. 

Using various “clues” identified throughout the show’s five seasons, fans suggested that the ending they saw on screen — in which the villain Vecna was defeated and the stars returned to the real world — was an illusion. 

The streamer hasn't replied to CBC News' request for comment.

While not on par with Game of Thrones' widely panned finale, the last Stranger Things episode was controversial, both for its many conflicting plot threads and its noncommittal ending that seemed more concerned with teeing up a spinoff than satisfyingly concluding its story. 

“Did Stranger Things stick the landing?” asked the Guardian’s Stuart Heritage. “Well, no, because in the big scheme of things, this doesn’t count as a landing at all.”

“Like so much else in Season 5, this episode felt like it was serving up a lot of stuff but very little emotional or thematic substance,” quipped the Hollywood Reporter’s Angie Han. “It seems loath to give definitive endings for any of the main kids.”

“It's possible to write ambiguous endings that work really well, but this one felt like a cop-out, an attempt to have it both ways,” added NPR’s Linda Holmes. 

“There's also a real danger in expanding characters' supernatural powers to the point where they can make anything seem like anything, so maybe much of what you saw never happened. After all, if you don't know that did happen, how much else might not have happened?”

It was that last sentiment that seemingly fuelled the “secret episode” theories. Given that Vecna can control people’s minds, the idea spread that the original finale was all a construction made to fool both the characters and the audience. 

It spread particularly on TikTok, but sprang up on Reddit, as well. Fans attempted to convince one another that the Duffer brothers’ supposed narrative failings were intentional, with “evidence” ranging from subtle wardrobe choices to particular doorknobs and even secret Morse code messages.

And when others noticed a clock set to 1:07 in the background of a promotional post, the theory seemingly became fact: Stranger Things would post an additional finale on Jan. 7, slated for an 8 p.m. ET release time, in accordance with when Volumes 1 and 2 came out. 

Instead, the above message was added to Stranger Things social media accounts, while Netflix released a Teyana Taylor-led trailer promoting their various upcoming releases. In an earlier interview, the Duffer brothers confirmed to the Hollywood Reporter that when it came to Stranger Things’ main characters, “this is the end of their story.”