Duffer Brothers Explain Why Stranger Things Finale Avoided Game Of Thrones-Style Deaths

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Warning! This article contains spoilers for the Stranger Things season 5 finale.

The creators of Stranger Things, the Duffer Brothers, have explained their decision to avoid a dramatically deadly ending, similar to the finale of Game of Thrones. As the fifth and final season approached its last episode, many fans wondered which characters would survive the ultimate battle against Vecna (Jamie Campbell Bower) and the Mind Flayer, and who wouldn’t make it to a happy ending.

Many fans thought characters like Steve Harrington (Joe Keery), Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown), and Will Byers (Noah Schnapp) wouldn’t survive to the end of Stranger Things. Ultimately, only Eleven and her sister Kali (Linnea Berthelsen) weren’t included in the show’s optimistic final scene in Hawkins. Even Eleven’s fate wasn’t completely certain, though Mike (Finn Wolfhard) offered a hopeful explanation for how she might have survived.

Some viewers have questioned the lack of significant character deaths in the finale, especially considering the high stakes, and have drawn comparisons to the controversial ending of Game of Thrones. However, in an interview on the Happy Sad Confused podcast, creators Matt and Ross Duffer explained their reasoning. According to Matt Duffer, that type of ending simply wouldn’t have been consistent with the core of Stranger Things and the way they tell stories.

So, I was reading an interview with one of the creators of Stranger Things, and they were talking about how they really wrestled with who, if anyone, should die in the show. Apparently, they and the whole writing team spent ages brainstorming every possible character death, but nothing ever felt quite right for the story. It’s interesting to hear how much thought went into even that aspect of it!

When we’re writing, we brainstorm all sorts of possibilities – it’s not just about who might die. We really try to consider every direction the story could take and figure out what feels most authentic. Actually, we spend very little time focused on character deaths. That’s never been the core of the show. At its heart, it’s an adventure and a story about growing up. We could have killed characters, but that didn’t feel right for the show or its overall message.

Ross Duffer explained that they carefully considered the impact of every possible character death on the story’s plot, themes, and overall message. They would play out each scenario to its conclusion, but often found that killing off a character would ultimately break the core ideas and structure of Stranger Things.

Similar to his brother, Ross Duffer wanted to keep the core of what made Stranger Things unique. He said they were particularly inspired by TV series finales that remained consistent with the show’s original style and themes.

When considering how other long-running shows successfully ended, we realized the best finales remained true to their original spirit. Despite any pressure for shocking twists or dramatic events, we knew we had to stay faithful to what Stranger Things has always been since its first season.

We carefully examined every character and discussed their role. After that process, it became clear that certain choices didn’t fit the show, the story, or the characters, especially considering the overall coming-of-age theme we were aiming for.

Horowitz was curious if any of the actors requested their characters to die in the final episodes. However, according to Ross Duffer, none of them ever asked for that to happen.

No, that didn’t happen. None of the actors asked to be killed off like Harrison Ford supposedly did in Return of the Jedi. I think they all really loved their characters and were invested in them, so none of them ever requested their character be written out of the story.

Image via Netflix

While Eleven and Kali were the only characters facing immediate life-or-death danger, the finale of Stranger Things is particularly sad because of everything Dr. Brenner’s test subjects had already endured. Even though others weren’t likely to die, the characters still faced very risky situations.

Instead of simply eliminating characters, the show used dangerous situations to help them grow. For example, Jonathan saving Steve from a fall in the Upside Down allowed them to resolve their conflict, and Nancy bravely facing the Mind Flayer completed her transformation into a strong, capable fighter.

Surprisingly, the new character Derek Turnbow (Jake Connelly) made it through the dramatic events of Stranger Things season 5. This is unlike other fan favorites introduced in later seasons, such as Eddie (Joseph Quinn), Alexei (Alec Utgoff), and Bob (Sean Astin), who didn’t survive. Even though the finale didn’t have as many shocking deaths as Game of Thrones, it still managed to deliver some unexpected twists.

All episodes of Stranger Things season 5 are available to stream now, only on Netflix.

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2026-01-04 19:39