Netflix's Stranger Things would have likely been ruined if the Duffer brothers' original Stranger Things season 2 plans had gone ahead. The dying moments of Stranger Things season 4 bring the Netflix TV show's endgame unavoidably into view. Vecna, the artist formerly known as Henry Creel, is more determined than ever to put the Upside Down on a collision course with the real world, and the gates his creepy abductions left around Hawkins shatter the ever-thinning barrier between worlds. Stranger Things 5 is set to descend into a war between reality and the Upside Down, with Eleven, Will and their friends leading one side, and Vecna commanding the other.
Stranger Things' apocalyptic ending setup is a world away from the cute Halloween costumes and fun arcade rivalries of season 2. Arriving to massive hype, Stranger Things season 2 revealed the Mind Flayer - the assumed master of the Upside Down - who had possessed Will Byers and was attempting to extend its reach into the real world. The Mind Flayer would have succeeded were it not for those pesky kids, but Stranger Things season 2 was originally very different. According to the Duffer brothers, material being prepared for Stranger Things' ending was originally conceived for season 2.
How Stranger Things' Original Season 2 Would've Changed The Show
For fear of giving away spoilers for their Stranger Things ending, the Duffers decline to specify exactly which elements planned for season 5 were plucked from season 2. Whatever those delayed plot lines may be, however, dropping Stranger Things season 5 ending material so early would have massively altered the course of the show's narrative. The mall storyline, the Scoops Troop, Hopper's disappearance, the gang's separation, and the season 4 addition of guitar hero Eddie Munson all could have become impossible if Stranger Things' big, game-changing, Hawkins-busting climax began three seasons early. Such gravity would leave no room for messing around with ice cream and Metallica records.
In the same vein, Stranger Things season 2's original plans might have ushered the Netflix series toward a drastically different tone. With each passing run, the Stranger Things kids get more mature and the threat to Hawkins becomes more serious, but Stranger Things seasons 3 and 4 still successfully balance lighter stories about high school life in the 1980s with darker stories about monsters and alternate dimensions. Only in Stranger Things season 4's final moments does a true tonal shift occur, promising a much more severe season 5. Had the Duffer brothers' ending ideas happened in season 2 instead, Stranger Things would have risked becoming very serious very quickly.
Why Stranger Things Needed 5 Seasons
Ross Duffer claims that ideas originally intended for Stranger Things season 2 were saved for season 5 simply because the process of world-building after season 1 yielded significantly more narrative avenues than expected. The Duffers had perhaps anticipated bringing their Stranger Things story to a close sooner, but after the Netflix original became a global sensation, an opportunity to expand upon characters and storylines more organically presented itself, meaning that concrete endgame material being considered for season 2 could be pushed back.
Not only is Stranger Things densely rich in mystery and lore, the central characters - the youngsters, the young adults, and the adults - all invite audience empathy by being vibrant, layered creations who grow and develop like real people. The more shades Stranger Things adds to its characters, and the more the dynamic between those characters evolves, the easier they are to care about. In order to conjure that depth of character while still pulling at all the unanswered Upside Down mysteries, Stranger Things needed at least five seasons. Endgame-stage material in season 2 would have inevitably been far less meaningful than it will be in Stranger Things season 5.