Stranger Things is soon heading into its final round with Season 5. However, some of the now-popular characters might not have made it this far if it had been up to the first ideas of the creators.
Stranger Things will receive eight new episodes starting November 26, 2025, but the big finale will not be released on Netflix until December 31. Then we will also know which characters definitely make it out of the story and who unfortunately meets their end – the first 5 minutes of the season have already been released.
However, it is a small miracle that two characters are still alive at this point. Matt and Ross Duffer, the creators of Stranger Things, have considered killing off certain characters at different points over the last four seasons.
Among them are two fan favorites, whose deaths many viewers would surely regret.
A Difficult Decision
Who narrowly survived? In a conversation with Entertainment Weekly, the Duffer brothers reminisced about the last seasons and shared which characters were close to dying.
Among them is the character Steve Harrington, Nancy’s boyfriend, who particularly appears as an antagonist in Season 1 and bullies the kids. It is not until Season 2 that his role becomes larger and more significant, and he behaves much less meanly, acting as an ally in the fight against the evil forces.
Steve was supposed to have met his end in Season 1. The only reason the character was saved? His actor, Joe Kerry, was simply too liked by the Duffer brothers. Therefore, they wanted to keep working with him. Had the actor not been so popular with the two showrunners, they would likely have let Steve die.
The second character whose death was discussed is Hopper. Specifically at the end of Season 3, which looks particularly grim for the character. He seemingly dies in an explosion at a Russian lab but returns in Season 4. The Duffer brothers explain:
There was a version in which he died at the end of Part 3. It’s been a while since we’ve had these discussions, but I feel he was closest to death. It would have been very easy to kill him, but Hopper still had to grow. We hadn’t finished telling his story yet. It’s important to us to conclude the stories we want to tell and not just kill people off for shock value.
Ross Duffer
The latter is also an important point that, according to the brothers, needs to be considered when contemplating killing characters. The series would quickly become very dark, especially with the death of important characters, and the event could overshadow other aspects.
Even with the death of supporting characters like in Season 2, they said they thought a lot about it and had lengthy discussions, the Duffer brothers recount.
Given these statements, it will be exciting to see who makes it alive out of the surely dramatic finale of Season 5. Who do you think has the worst chances? Feel free to write it to us in the comments. A character’s death could be the antagonist of the series: The villain from Stranger Things is inspired by two creepy figures known to every horror movie fan
