There's a reason fans weren't satisfied with the Stranger Things finale.

After what has felt like a lifetime of waiting, Netflix's Stranger Things has finally come to a crashing end.

Created by the Duffer Brothers, the Stranger Things finale featured the return of the whole gang, including Millie Bobby Brown, Finn Wolfhard, Winona Ryder and David Harbour reprising their iconic roles.

The plot centres around the Hawkins kids banding together to stop Vecna and the encroaching Upside Down once and for all. As the barrier between dimensions thins, the group is forced to split up: the teenagers venture into the heart of the shadow realm, the adults launch a sabotage mission.

Meanwhile, Eleven must confront her past and decide whether she'll make the ultimate sacrifice for the sake of her friends and family.

Watch the trailer for the final season. Post continues after video.

The finale marks the culmination of the gang's decade-long struggle against the supernatural forces of Hawkins, with the episode's epilogue shifting from a hectic battle into a touching testament to the friendships started and strengthened along the way.

It's the kind of heartfelt ending that's impossible to watch without hitting you right in the feels. I cried. I cried a lot.

That said, not everyone is happy with the finale.

Warning: there will be plenty of spoilers in this story!! You've been warned!!

Between the odd pacing, Vecna being defeated relatively easily and the lack of dramatic character deaths, there was a lot of criticism of the finale — especially among some of the most vocal fringes of the Stranger Things fandom.

Some have slammed the CGI, particularly the Mind Flayer scenes, which many felt looked like an amateurish green-screen creation.

Other fans felt robbed of answers with numerous unresolved plot holes, such as the government mysteriously letting the group go at the end, plus multiple characters simply vanished without a second mention.

This stupid ass ending #StrangersThings5 pic.twitter.com/p2ZC937o4g

— marija 🌼 (@holysasmaz) January 1, 2026

wills birthday actually being forgotten, joyce forgetting his age, vickie not even mentioned once in the epilogue, the painting was never addressed, and wtf happened to the military? like girl what is this writing??? #StrangersThings5 pic.twitter.com/kR7R950nR6

— alex ✵ (@portersluvv) January 1, 2026

In recent interviews following the finale, the Duffer Brothers addressed some of their narrative choices that have sparked debate, particularly regarding the connection between Joyce, Hopper and Henry Creel (aka Vecna).

Many fans were confused about why Joyce and Hopper never acknowledged that they went to high school with Henry Creel. Their response? The brothers said that Joyce and Hopper did realise the connection… it just happened off-screen.

In the same interview, they suggested that any unfinished storylines could be picked up in a planned "spinoffy" next project.

Matt Duffer later said he regretted some of these explanations.

"I really shouldn't have done any of these postmortem interviews. I am not in a good place. Like, why the hell did we do any of them yesterday is beyond me. I'm, like, fried. I was getting over the flu," he told the podcast Happy Sad Confused.

"Anyone mad at any answers we gave you yesterday, just cut me some slack."

But when it comes to fandoms in the millions with almost a decade of personal investment — slack is rarely cut for anyone involved.

There is one reason that played a larger part in some of the criticism: the fact that there was a three-year buildup to the finale. While largely out of the hands of the creators due to the Hollywood writers' strikes, this extended wait only made the stakes so much higher for the finale.

This wasn't any finale; the movie-length episode had to prove that it earned the right to take so long to come out.

this was the big finale they thought about for years? #StrangersThings5pic.twitter.com/YgXFLoijs8

— 🤍🐥 (@miminiboo) January 1, 2026

So we killed Vecna an hour in in a very anticlimactic fight…then spent an hour making everyone think there would be more when really it was just spent closing out everyone’s stories all while El maybe lived. I expected far more with the hype. Major letdown. #StrangersThings5 pic.twitter.com/sgcewLNe5O

— Jeremy (@dudeitsjeremy) January 1, 2026

This made it almost impossible for the finale to satisfy everyone.

It was the same story for Game of Thrones, a groundbreaking show with a finale that was universally despised. This finale was supposed to air its final eighth season in 2018, but it was pushed to 2019. Despite each and every GoT season dropping annually, this left a dramatic two-year gap between the show and its final season.

Whether conscious or not, this made fans' expectations all the higher, naturally assuming that the longer showrunners David Benioff and D. B. Weiss had to make something, the higher the quality. 

Of course, I'm not saying GoT finale was perfect, but the multi-year wait no doubt impacted the season's reception. As soon as Season 8 started to air, there was a clear shift, with rising cynicism and negativity in a fandom with too much time on its hands. 

Stranger Things 5 wasn’t perfect but it is not even remotely in the same stratosphere as the disaster that was Game of Thrones Season 8

— Matt Ramos (@therealsupes) January 1, 2026

For Stranger Things, the time-lapse creates confusion in viewers who expect these characters to move on with the times, when, in actual fact, no time has passed for them. That said, between Season 4 and Season 5, the actors have practically evolved from teens to adults.

The wholesome jokes and nostalgic '80s tropes that once felt fresh and new for TV in 2016 now feel out of step with other sleek and edgier sci-fi offerings like Severance and The Last of Us. 

Disney Channel ass dialogue lmfao https://t.co/LYZbocHm5k

— Ellie | BLM | 🍉 🏳️‍⚧️ (@BonesAndEllie) January 1, 2026

The finale's loudest critics seek to silence what the show got so, so right in the finale.

Eleven's ending might be controversial, but it was a bold choice to give the show's main protagonist such an unexpected and ambiguous fate.

While some demanded more dramatic deaths, it was a brave and bittersweet move not to give Eleven and Mike their happy ending despite their love story looming over the entire series.

The 18-month time-jump halfway through the finale gave the episode space to showcase these characters back at their best and not overshadowed by trauma. This was a necessary reminder of why we fell in love with these characters to begin with, and it felt like the perfect bookend to a story that was shaped by humour, friendship and the fragility of childhood.

10/10 ending.

Gave everyone beautiful endings, the upside down + abyss is gone, they’re all grown up on their own path, and (possibly) left room for either a sequel or a prequel.

Thank you Duffer Brothers for an incredible 9 years.#StrangersThings5 #StrangerThings pic.twitter.com/bZWKIepa4Y

— Nems (@8_nemss) January 1, 2026

#StrangerThings started with some kids in a basement. #StrangersThings5 ends with a new generation making their own stories in the same basement that holds the tapestry of love, loss, trauma, survival, and family. What a storybook ending pic.twitter.com/hhQb6ucZZY

— Kay Harrington (@oh_kayx) January 1, 2026

Overall, the show has transformed in the past decade from a wholesome little sci-fi surprise hit to such a huge beast that it was nearly impossible for the finale to leave everyone satisfied.

And for the people still unimpressed, some of these unanswered questions will likely be resolved in a potential spin-off that the Duffer brothers have teased.

If this season's record-breaking numbers are anything to go on, Netflix would be upside down to not greenlight one asap.

Feature image: Netflix.