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Stranger Things Creators Reveal Who Actually Knows the Show’s True Ending
The ending of Stranger Things answered many of the biggest questions from the show’s five seasons, but it also left some things more ambiguous. The most prominent example of this is how they dealt with Eleven’s story, as the show presented one ending and then the possibility of another ending depending on whether you believe Mike’s bombshell explanation from the finale. The Duffer Brothers obviously know the true ending and what is real and what’s not, and they just revealed who else knows the true ending of the show.
Matt and Ross Duffer were asked if they had the definitive answer to Eleven’s ending during an interview with Josh Horowitz, and that’s when they revealed the people who actually know that ending. “I mean you’re writing from a point of view of understanding of what the truth is, right, and the reality is,” Matt said. “So yeah, Ross and I know, and we were just talking to Millie about it, but I don’t, it’s just I think it takes away the power of the ending if you tell people what you were thinking as you were writing that.”
Matt then revealed that they just told her, saying, “Yeah, I mean literally we were texting with her 30 minutes ago.” When the topic of keeping that ending secret came up, Matt added, “Millie swore herself to secrecy.”
Why Did The Duffer Brothers Keep Eleven’s Stranger Things Ending Secret?
As for why they are keeping the actual ending to Eleven’s story secret, there are a few reasons, and they wanted to make sure to support the open-ended nature of Eleven’s ending with enough proof to support either theory.
“Obviously, we left it ambiguous for a reason. We want the audience to be in the shoes that Mike and the whole group are in, which is it’s up to you choose whether to believe or not. I mean, there’s evidence that could point in both directions. That’s the intent of the scene,” Matt said.
“I can also get into, there are a couple things. You can talk about it thematically, that there was this element of Eleven representing the more fantastical elements of the show. I mean, she’s superpowered. You know the Upside Down, the monsters. Like if she existed, with them, she would still be part of the fantasy and the magic, and would still be a part of their lives,” Matt said. “And to us, in a way that represents childhood and imagination and wonder, and that is leaving with them as they transition from young adults to adulthood, and closing the door on that part of their lives.”
There was also the practicality of figuring out a happy ending for Eleven, which presented several challenges. “So we like that from a thematic point of view, and as far as Eleven and the character of Eleven, that was really the initial conversation that we were having, is, from a realistic standpoint, how does she continue to exist in the world? And we had that debate and have characters having that debate throughout the season,” Matt said. “It’s like, what could that look like? Is a happy ending possible, like a fully happy ending where she’s married to Mike and they’re living a perfectly happy life and the government has completely laid off them and they’ve ended their lab and their experiment, and we just couldn’t figure out a way for that to work.”
“We love Eleven so much, but then there’s Hopper’s point of view, which is also extremely valid. So we had Kali representing the point of view I just talked about, and then we had Hopper representing the other point of view, which is also very valid,” Matt said. “I guess the question was is there an in-between for her, and that’s what Mike lands on at the end, and his answer is yes and that’s what she chose, and whether the audience believes that or not is up to them, and we like leaving it up to them.”
Stranger Things is streaming on Netflix.
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