- - “Stranger Things ”creators reveal debate over Eleven's fate in tearful making-of documentary

Jillian SederholmJanuary 5, 2026 at 7:32 PM

0

COURTESY OF NETFLIX; Niko Tavernise/Netflix

Millie Bobby Brown as Eleven on 'Stranger Things'; show creators Matt Duffer and Ross Duffer behind the scenes

Ready to return to the Upside Down for more Stranger Things?

The Netflix juggernaut just wrapped up its decade-long journey with an epic series finale that hit the streamer and theaters on New Year's Eve, but the decision for how to end things for the show's beloved characters — namely Millie Bobby Brown's Eleven — was not an easy one, as the creators reveal in a new behind-the-scenes documentary.

"At the end of the day, the audience cares most about the characters," Matt Duffer says in an onscreen interview alongside brother and co-creator Ross Duffer, in a trailer for One Last Adventure: The Making of Stranger Things 5, which premieres on Netflix next Monday, Jan. 12.

In a voiceover, the brothers admit that "there was a debate in terms of Eleven's fate." Behind-the-scenes footage then shows Ross at a tense meeting, exclaiming, "God, I don't know how to play this."

"Is she really gonna go through with this?" someone asks offscreen, as Brown can be heard saying, "I'm not ready to let go."

The 2-hour season 5 finale saw the series protagonist beat Vecna in a final face-off, only to later sacrifice herself to eliminate the violent military hunters tracking her down, led by Linda Hamilton's merciless Dr. Kay. As her friends and family watched, El stood in the wormhole connecting Hawkins to the Abyss and let herself blow up as the detonator went off, destroying the bridge. This completed a plan previously pitched by her sister Kali (Linnea Berthelsen), who argued ending their own lives was the only way to stop the government's psychic child program and destroy the Upside Down for good.

The final moments of the series call Eleven's true fate into question. After an 18-month time jump, Mike (Finn Wolfhard) gathers Will (Noah Schnapp), Dustin (Gaten Matarazzo), Lucas (Caleb McLaughlin), and Max (Sadie Sink) on their high school graduation night for one final Dungeons & Dragons campaign where he shares a theory on what really happened to his girlfriend. He poses that Kali actually survived a while longer after being shot and used her powers to only make it look like El died in the explosion, when in reality she escaped and traveled far away.

Atsushi Nishijima/Netflix

Millie Bobby Brown as Eleven and Noah Schnapp as Will Byers behind the scenes of 'Stranger Things' season 5

Matt and Ross Duffer previously spoke to Entertainment Weekly about Eleven's ambiguous fate and their debates that went into writing it.

"Our goal, our hope is to leave it up to the fans, ultimately, and the audience in terms of what they believe, just as we leave it up to our characters in that basement to decide what they believe or not," Ross told EW.

Matt added, "We spent probably more time talking about Eleven's fate than anything else as we were working on season 5. A lot of the dialogue you hear in the finale reflects the kind of debates that we were having in the writers' room. Hopper's [David Harbour] speech to her, he's expressing what a lot of us were expressing in the room, but then there was the flip side of that argument, which is what Kali was saying."

Get your daily dose of entertainment news, celebrity updates, and what to watch with our EW Dispatch newsletter.

One Last Adventure: The Making of Stranger Things 5, directed by Martina Radwan, offers an "inside look at the years of effort and craft that went into the final installment of the Duffer Brothers' generation-defining series," according to its logline.

Andrew Cooper/Netflix

Sadie Sink as Max Mayfield behind the scenes of 'Stranger Things' season 5

Elsewhere in the new trailer — which also features footage of numerous cast members shedding tears during table reads or filming the final episode — the Duffers share the moment creating the finale that affected them most.

"I remember more than anything just writing 'end series.' Writing those two words having the biggest impact," one is heard saying.

Watch the full trailer above.

Andrew Cooper/Netflix

Natalia Dyer as Nancy Wheeler and Charlie Heaton as Jonathan Byers behind the scenes of 'Stranger Things' season 5

One Last Adventure: The Making of Stranger Things 5 premieres on Netflix on Monday, Jan. 12. Stranger Things seasons 1-5 are on the streamer now.

on Entertainment Weekly

Original Article on Source

Source: “AOL Entertainment”