Spoilers ahead for Stranger Things Season 5. In the first episode of Netflix’s Stranger Things, a young girl mysteriously appeared in the woods in Hawkins, Indiana. In its poignant series finale nearly a decade later, that same girl, Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown), disappeared for good, choosing to stay in the Upside Down as it was destroyed. Yet, many fans aren’t quite sure what to make of Eleven’s ending after her boyfriend, Mike (Finn Wolfhard), imagined a hopeful outcome in the show’s finale scenes.
Did Eleven Survive?
Stranger Things star Sadie Sink (Max) was a guest on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon on Jan. 5, and the host took the opportunity to ask her what she thinks happened to Eleven. Sink hesitated but then answered honestly. “I think she’s dead,” she admitted.
After asking if that was “a hot take,” Sink reflected on the show’s final minutes, in which Mike suggested to the gang that Eleven’s sister, Kali (Linnea Berthelsen), cast an illusion that enabled her to escape undetected and start a new life somewhere.
“I think Mike’s story is just one last story, and that’s like, then they say goodbye to childhood,” Sink said. “But that’s just one final tale. And that’s it.”
The actor described Mike’s version as “a coping thing” rather than reality and added that she finds the ending to be “stronger” that way. Still, she noted that she doesn’t know Eleven’s fate for sure. “That’s my interpretation,” Sink said.
What Do The Creators Say?
The masterminds behind the show, Matt and Ross Duffer (aka the Duffer Brothers), felt there was no way for the story to end without Eleven leaving Hawkins and closing their Upside Down chapter.
“There was never a version of the story where Eleven was hanging out with the gang at the end,” Ross told Netflix’s Tudum. “For us and our writers, we didn’t want to take her powers away. She represents magic in a lot of ways and the magic of childhood.”
Although fans have been debating the finale since it debuted on Dec. 31 and many have made the case that Eleven is still alive, the Duffers didn’t intend for anyone to be able to settle on one definitive outcome.
“We thought it would be beautiful if our characters continued to believe in that happier ending even if we didn’t give them a clear answer to whether that’s true or not,” Ross added. “The fact that they’re believing in it, we just thought it was such a better way to end the story and a better way to represent the closure of this journey and their journey from children to adults.”
Also addressing the ambiguity to Tudum, Ross said that Eleven “lives on in their hearts, whether that’s real or not.”
