Just as mysteriously as Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown) arrived in Hawkins, she was gone.
In the final episode of Stranger Things, the teen sacrifices herself to break the dangerous cycle of military scientists using supernatural children for evil. She decides to stay inside the crumbling Upside Down so her blood can’t be used to open more portals.
“As a young girl, I couldn’t find my inner voice, and I could relate to Eleven in that way,” Brown says. “I think this season she is able to find her voice and make a decision that’s far greater than any she’s ever made before.”
Eleven’s choice to remain on the bridge was “so beautiful and cathartic” and something Brown had wanted for a “very long time.” She explains, “I just think it’s incredibly important that it all ends for her, and the suffering and the pain end.”
Before stranding herself inside the disappearing wormhole, Eleven puts up a fierce, powerful fight against Vecna, attacking him in Camazotz and stopping her brother from merging the Abyss with Earth. She’s not alone — the rest of the Hawkins crew are pulling their weight and fighting Vecna right alongside her.
“Everyone contributes in some meaningful way … in that sense, it also feels very much like the climax of a Dungeons & Dragons campaign, where every character has a special skill, and they’re able to bring it to this final fight,” co-creator Matt Duffer tells Tudum.
In order to finally kill the source, Brown explains that Eleven needs to “harness” an energy she’s never tapped into before. “It’s very new to me because I think I know there’s finality in it,” she says.
Eleven bids a last farewell to Mike (Finn Wolfhard), who lets out a wailing scream as she vanishes. Caleb McLaughlin (Lucas) remembers Wolfhard taking his performance “to another level” while shooting that scene. “Hearing his scream, it was very piercing, and I was really proud of him,” McLaughlin says.
But is Eleven really gone?
In Episode 8’s final moments, Mike spins a different story about his girlfriend’s fate. While sharing one last game of D&D with the Hawkins gang, he speculates that Kali (Linnea Berthelsen) could have cast an illusion before Eleven’s death, and Eleven could be hiding far away in a small village where no one can find her. She’s safe and sound and surrounded, of course, by waterfalls — just like she and Mike had imagined.
“I kinda love that ending, that there is just such a bigger purpose to Kali’s powers,” Brown notes. “Everything has a purpose, and everything is there for a reason.”
The Duffer Brothers wanted to leave Eleven’s fate up to the viewer.
“There was never a version of the story where Eleven was hanging out with the gang at the end. For us and our writers, we didn’t want to take her powers away. She represents magic in a lot of ways and the magic of childhood,” Ross Duffer says. “For our characters to move on and for the story of Hawkins and the Upside Down to come to a close, Eleven had to go away. We thought it would be beautiful if our characters continued to believe in that happier ending even if we didn’t give them a clear answer to whether that’s true or not. The fact that they’re believing in it, we just thought it was such a better way to end the story and a better way to represent the closure of this journey and their journey from children to adults.”
“And the reality is, if Eleven is out there, the most that they could hope for is a belief that it’s true because they can’t be in contact with her,” Matt Duffer adds. “Everything falls apart if that were the case. So if that’s the narrative, this is really the best way to keep her alive. And it’s about Mike and everyone finding a way to move past what’s happened.”
All eight episodes of Stranger Things 5 are streaming now on Netflix. Test your knowledge of Stranger Things with our superfan quiz.
