Stranger Things is now in its final lap, with the series finale arriving on New Year’s Eve. However, rather than upside-down, things have been heading a little south for the show as a large group of fans have taken issue with the latest run of episodes, leading to Episode 7 of the season becoming the lowest rated episode ever. Part of the divide, and possible reason for a sweep of review bombing of the season, seems to come from an online petition that has gained almost 300,000 signatures in a matter of days. Change.org has become the place to go for disgruntled fans of TV shows when things don’t go the way they want. Game of Thrones generated almost two million signatures for the final season to be remade when it did not turn out the way fans wanted, and now Stranger Things fans are demanding that Netflix should release “unseen footage” from the series that they believe was purposely cut from Season 5, particularly scenes based around Will and Mike’s potential queer relationship. The petition urges fans to “stand up and take the initiative to get the footage” because “fans should have a say in how the series should go.” A nice thought, but, unfortunately, not quite how TV and movie production works unless you are watching an interactive project like Black Mirror’s Bandersnatch (before it was wiped from existence). The petition continues, “Everyone is clearly dissatisfied with this season volume [2]. And the amount of clues and information from cast members and interviews are not matching up with the episodes provided. We want Stranger Things to have a legacy, not be seen as some show that couldn’t pull through due to it[‘s] bad writing.” The petition was started after a document of undisclosed origin was sent to several social media users detailing scenes that were filmed but not in the final cut of the episodes released so far. This included several that would have continued to develop a relationship between Will and Mike, all linked back to Will’s coming out scene and his crush on Mike. Many fans had already created the portmanteau of Byler (Byke was surprisingly not considered) for the couple, and now this is seemingly not going to happen, they believe the show has purposely been changed to eradicate scenes between the characters, and this has led to thousands of calls to review bomb the series as a result.
‘Stranger Things 5’ Is Playing Out as It Was Always Meant To

A close-up of Max and Holly looking scared in Stranger Things.Image via Netflix

It is no secret that the Duffer brothers said that they filmed a lot more footage than has been used in the final season, but this is just the usual nature of filmmaking. After the complaints that Season 4 was too long and bloated, Season 5 is now getting the exact opposite complaint of fans wanting more hours to be added. One person who has already debunked the idea that the document doing the rounds is truly genuine is Randy Havens, who plays Mr. Clarke in the series. Havens previously said in an Instagram story, “There is no Synder Cut of the show, please don’t believe everything some random ass tells you on the internet.”

You would think by now that people would have already learned this the hard way from the many “scoops” revealed on X that turn out to be either misinformed, misinterpreted, or complete and outright lies. While Season 5 of Stranger Things has had its flaws, how the series ties up with its final episode will be what really defines the series. The cast have warned of tears, so prepare for more petitions to rewrite the entire ending if certain fan favorites don’t make it out the other side.

Release Date

2016 – 2025-00-00

Network

Netflix

Writers

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