Warning: Spoilers below for Season 5 of Stranger ThingsWhen Netflix released One Last Adventure: The Making of Stranger Things 5, the streamer not only shattered the hopes and dreams of “Conformity Gate” theorists, who believed it could be a ruse for a secret ninth episode, it also dropped some almighty truth bombs that fans were not expecting. The documentary offers an inside look at the years of collaboration and craft that went into the final chapter of the Duffer brothers’ generation-defining series, including behind-the-scenes conversations in the writers’ room, but one interaction left fans reeling as it uncovered why the show’s most iconic monster was absent from the Season 5 finale. The Stranger Things finale, Chapter Eight: The Rightside Up, proved divisive, as some fans took umbrage with its ambiguous ending, while others quizzed the choices that were made by the creative team – such as the glaring omission of Demogorgons in the final battle scene, which left people scratching their heads over how the Duffers landed on that decision. The documentary shows clips of the Demogorgon debate in real time, as writer Paul Dichter asserts, “There have to be some monsters in the Abyss,” to which Matt Duffer responds, “I agree.” Dichter continues, “There has to be [a] Demogorgon, bat, dog, something. It’s crazy if there’s nothing there.” However, Matt then expresses concerns over retreading the territory of Volume One’s climactic capper, prompting writer and co-executive producer Kate Trefry to concur, “I guess I maybe feel… wonder about Demo fatigue.” Ross Duffer acknowledges it is a “fair” point, adding, “How exhausting, right? It’s a lot.” Some documentary viewers were not entirely satisfied over how the writing team reached their outcome, as people instantly took to social media to express their anger over the reasoning. One person called the decision to exclude Demogorgons from the Vecna-fueled finale “the biggest screw-up of the series.”

Speaking to Variety, Martina Radwan, the director of the Stranger Things documentary, shared her view on the controversial Demogorgon debate exposed in the writers’ room scene. “I like that moment, and I like the conversation, because it obviously changed, right? And so having them sit there and really explore that – to me, the writers’ room is so fascinating, because you see them thinking,” she said before elaborating further:
“I love that they were so sure about the Demogorgons in the final Abyss — except Ross was like, ‘Mmm, maybe there’s some fatigue, Demogorgon fatigue.’ And Kate [Trefry] agreed. And you’re like, ‘Oh, OK — so this is not the last conversation. They disagree, and they will resolve it on some point.’ We, in the doc, left it open because, at the time the doc comes out, everybody knows there are no Demos in the Pain Tree.”

Netflix’s ‘Stranger Things’ Documentary Raises Contradictions

Millie Bobby Brown as Eleven in Stranger ThingsNetflix

The fifth season of Stranger Things featured a variety of memorable monsters, not least of which included the show’s fan-favorite Demogorgons, so their total absence from the supersized final chapter came as somewhat of a surprise. The Duffer brothers previously offered an explanation as to why they chose to leave the humanoid hunters out of the last big showdown scene – but instead of pinning it on fatigue, they explained that it was an intentional story decision because Jamie Campbell Bower’s Vecna was so oblivious to the impending attack that he hadn’t had time to devise a plan and rally his toothy troops for the final fight:
“Vecna was not expecting this sneak attack on his home turf. Never in a million years could he even imagine that. They’re there somewhere. We obviously discussed having a demo battle on top of the Mind Flayer battle, but it felt more right to us that why does he need the demos when the Mind Flayer is this giant thing and can attack them? He doesn’t need his little ant army to attack, he’s going to take care of this himself. It’s a giant, desolate planet. If you recall, you see Henry wandering the planet back in Season 4 and at some point in his journey, he does see a demo far in the distance, but it’s not like they’re hanging out in little huts. There’s not like a giant civilization of demos up there.”
The documentary offers a different explanation to the one the Duffer brothers provided, and fans were quick to point out the contradiction. “It went from ‘Vecna not expecting it’ to ‘Demogorgon Fatigue’??” one person quizzed. “I’m asking a genuine question: Does anyone on the Stranger Things team know what’s going on? Cuz this feels like a bunch of writers wrote it in separate rooms. Which would explain a lot of Season 5.”

While the Demogorgons playing hooky from the final episode of Stranger Things was one of the major talking points after the credits rolled, there have been a number of other controversies that have arisen from the show’s ending and its subsequent documentary, such as the revelation that the Duffer brothers began production on the fifth season without a finished script for the finale, as well as the suspicion that ChatGPT may have been used in the writing process – though this accusation is based on only a snippet of evidence.

All five seasons of Stranger Things are now streaming on Netflix.

Release Date

2016 – 2025-00-00

Network

Netflix

Writers

Kate Trefry, Jessie Nickson-Lopez, Jessica Mecklenburg, Alison Tatlock