Warning! Spoilers ahead for Stranger Things season 4
Matt and Ross Duffer, the creators of Stranger Things, confirm that Joseph Quinn's beloved Eddie Munson is definitely dead. After first hitting Netflix in 2016, the horror/ fantasy series returned this past May with season 4. Stranger Things season 4 quickly became a hit for the streamer, shattering viewership records and introducing a brand new threat for the show's heroes to deal with in the form of Jamie Campbell Bower's Vecna.
Season 4 saw the return of beloved characters like Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown), Mike (Finn Wolfhard), Max (Sadie Sink), Steve (Joe Keery), and even Hopper (David Harbour), despite the character's apparent death at the end of season 3. In addition to all the returning familiar faces, Stranger Things season 4 also introduces a number of new characters, including Quinn's Eddie, the leader of Hawkins High School's Hellfire Club. After spending much of season 4 on the run, mistakenly pursued by the police and the vengeful Jason Carver (Mason Dye) for Chrissy's (Grace Van Dien) murder, the Stranger Things season 4 finale saw Eddie sacrifice himself in an attempt to distract Vecna, ultimately seeming to die in Dustin's (Gaten Matarazzo) arms.
In a new interview with Josh Horowitz on the Happy Sad Confused podcast, the Duffer brothers reveal that, yes, Eddie is definitely dead. Despite the show's habit of faking out audiences with "deaths" only for those characters to then return later on, the comments from the Duffers suggest that Eddie's fate is quite definitive in the season 4 finale. Check out the comments from each of the Duffer brothers below when asked if Eddie is truly a goner:
Matt Duffer: Yes.
Ross Duffer: Sadly, yeah.
While, unfortunately, it would seem that Eddie won't be coming back in Stranger Things season 5, fans hoping for his survival are certainly not without precedent. Back in season 1, Dr. Brenner (Matthew Modine) was seemingly killed by the Demogorgon in the final episode, but season 4 saw the return of the character, albeit with a few battle scars on his face. Similarly, it appeared that Hopper, Hawkins' beloved police chief, was vaporized at the end of Stranger Things season 3, only for season 4 to reveal that the character was very much alive in a Soviet prison.
The fact that Eddie's death, which appeared to be fairly definitive, needs clarification at all speaks to the problems that arise when a show routinely brings back characters from the dead. While many fans are undoubtedly happy to see Hopper return in Stranger Things season 4, the character's surprise survival ultimately takes away from the impact of his noble sacrifice at the end of season 3, and could potentially cheapen future character deaths. Stranger Things season 5 is shaping up to be the biggest season yet in terms of the threat Hawkins and the main characters face, but, sadly, fans can now be sure that Eddie will not be coming back.
Source: Josh Horowitz/ Twitter