The Stranger Things documentary was not the surprise episode fans imagined, but it was hardly pointless, largely because of the Duffer Brothers. Released on January 12, it documented the labor and pressure behind constructing the finale.

In doing so, it revealed a sharp disagreement between the Duffer Brothers over character fates, recalibrating expectations for closure.

The Duffer Brothers' kerfuffle over Eleven's fate

One Last Adventure: The Making of Stranger Things 5 gave the audience a sneak peek into Matt Duffer and Ross Duffer's conflict Eleven's fate. The question was whether she should survive, die or simply disappear.

“The whole episode has to be building towards ‘Eleven is going to kill herself,’” Ross Duffer insisted during the Writer’s Room session. His argument played on Kali, insisting that Eleven should delete herself to make sure no more experiments like them would exist again.

 “We keep it ambiguous. We keep it ambiguous to the moment…” Matt Duffer pushed back by reframing suspense as responsibility. He argued that selling death too aggressively would trap the character,

Although the two agreed that a set-in-stone ending was not in the books for them, coming up with a satisfying ending became quite a task. They weighed alternatives such as Eleven having a moment with Hopper after she got off the van and sacrificed herself.

The scene in the documentary ended with them exclaiming that God would only know how to play the ending they want. However, the Duffer Brothers did find the ending they wanted, as more than half of the world was left crying to 'Purple Rain' as Eleven sacrificed herself.

Were you satisfied with the ending of Eleven chosen by the Duffer Brothers? Let us know in the comments!

Written by

Iffat Siddiqui

Edited by

Hriddhi Maitra