There’s been a lot of speculation about what’s next in the Stranger Things universe, and today we may finally have a concrete new piece of the puzzle.
According to an exclusive report from Collider, the Broadway prequel Stranger Things: The First Shadow is officially being professionally filmed by Netflix for a future release on the platform. For fans who haven’t been able to make it to Broadway or the West End, this is big news. Up until now, The First Shadow — which explores the origins of the show’s central villain has been one of the most inaccessible pieces of the Stranger Things canon. In true Upside Down fashion, it existed… but just out of reach.
A lot of viewers were told — repeatedly — that seeing The First Shadow was almost required viewing before Season 5 of Stranger Things. And yet, many fans walked away from Season 5 feeling that the show didn’t strictly rely on the Broadway storyline after all. That disconnect left some hardcore fans confused about just how “essential” the play really was.
Still, this is undeniably cool news.
For those of us who wanted to get to the Broadway show but never quite made it happen, a Netflix release feels like the next best thing. And for the global fan base that simply couldn’t travel to see it, this opens the door in a huge way. Whether it ends up reframing Season 5 or simply adding texture and lore to the Stranger Things universe, making The First Shadow widely accessible feels like a win.
More answers may still be hiding in the shadows but at least now, everyone will get a chance to see them.
Season 5 of Stranger Things is now more than a month old–and still people are hoping a secret season finale episode will redeem what many thought was a less than strong conclusion to the long running show..
Matthew Modine, PAPA for fans, was replying to comments on Instagram when he .. well.. gave some seemingly off the cuff and blunt thoughts about the finale of the show he was a star in..
For your own enjoyment, it was a ‘nope’ heard around the upside down!
The same Matthew Modine of course who also posted an interesting video of himself walking down a hall to 11’s room only days after the season finale..
#conformitygate why aren’t we already discussing the fact that matthew modine (dr. brenner) posted this on his instagram with no context? pic.twitter.com/D49fO8Wa9e
The Stranger Things: Tales From ’84 trailer dropped… and it’s just not hitting for us.
We wanted it to hit. We really did. But something about it just isn’t doing the business — at least not yet. Maybe it’s because animation is meant for a certain type of storytelling. When you think about it, some of the greatest animated stories eventually became live-action movies or television shows. But when it goes the other way around — when something that started with real people becomes animated — it rarely lands the same way.
I think back to the A-Team cartoon and other 80s properties that began in the real world and then got swallowed up in the animated universe. They existed… but they never quite captured the same magic. Now, I’m not saying Tales From ’84 looks terrible. It doesn’t. The concept is interesting. The voice actors may be solid. Even the new character, while a little questionable, could surprise us. Maybe we’ll give it a try. Maybe we won’t.
At this point, once Stranger Things ended, it really ended for us. We haven’t even watched the documentary. Like everyone else, we hoped for that secret ninth episode but deep down we knew it wasn’t coming. So in a way, we moved on.
Maybe the cartoon will pull us back in? But the trailer didn’t.
The video itself is deliberately vague, but it’s heavy on tone and intent. It teases a new phase of WSQK “The Squawk”, promising something “immense,” “epic,” and seemingly ongoing, with repeated references to scale, longevity, and a launch date in mid-February. What it doesn’t do is explain exactly what that means .. no programming details, no clear roadmap .. just atmosphere, confidence, and anticipation.
What makes this more interesting is what’s happening in the comments.
Across several TikTok posts, commenters are stating that the official Stranger Things team is aware of — and okay with — this account, even suggesting that it has been given a blessing and isn’t facing any copyright concerns. While that alone isn’t formal confirmation, it does suggest this is something more than a knockoff or a fan-made spinoff, especially compared to the many unofficial “Stranger Things-inspired” projects that have popped up over the years.
The Squawk radio station was arguably one of the best aspects of the run-up to the final season of Stranger Things. As an avid radio listener myself, I found WSQK more endearing and more fun than even the show itself at times. It felt alive. It felt immersive. It felt like discovery.
Yes, there’s still debate about the show itself — and we’re not getting into that here.
One particularly interesting detail is that several commenters have asked whether this new Squawk has anything to do with Conformity Gate. That might sound laughable at first… except the account has responded with a simple but telling word: possibly. Is that just marketing? Very likely.
Could there be something real behind it? Also possible.
What we do know is this: February 16 keeps coming up, and it appears that something is happening. A new Squawk is coming.
Is this part of a broader lead-in to other Stranger Things–related content arriving on Netflix this year, including the animated 1985 series? Or is it something different entirely? Right now, we don’t know.
But we do know it’s fun.
We’ve reached out directly to the official email address listed on the TikTok page and are waiting for a response. If we hear back, we’ll share whatever information is provided. Until then, this remains mysterious — but reassuring. Just like Contact.
Hopefully, the Upside Down is reaching out to us on the radio once again.
There were a number of rumors about David Harbour during the filming of Stranger Things 5.. Now the star is being interviewed and opening up in ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY about his personal mental health since 1999…
“I have been in therapy since I got sober in 1999,” Harbour shared in a Future of Personal Health article, per Entertainment Weekly. “When I quit drinking, it forced me to confront a lot of demons that rose to the surface,” Harbour added, emphasizing how important therapy has been for him in getting through.
The 50-year-old Netflix star noted he “has not had a manic flare-up since I started psychoanalysis with a good therapist.”
Describing those episodes, Harbour explained that his thoughts become “disordered and chaotic,” with meaningless details suddenly taking on significance.
He added that the flare-ups were accompanied by what he described as a “fundamental narcissism,” which made him feel like the center of everything.
According to Harbour, a recent change in his approach has made a significant difference. “Only recently have I started intense psychotherapy, and it has made a world of difference in my treatment,” he said.
So this might be our last Stranger Things post…at least the last one about the actual writing of the show.
Get this…we still haven’t watched the documentary on Netflix, and honestly we’re not even sure we will. Between clips circulating online and commentary from people who already watched it, we feel like we’ve seen enough to know that maybe we don’t want to sit through it. One of the most poignant parts of the documentary seems to be a discussion about the ending sequence…and that’s the part that bothers a lot of people, including us. There’s this notion being floated that fans would experience “demo fatigue”…that there are too many Demogorgons, that viewers would somehow be tired of them by the final episode. Matt Duffer and Ross Duffer apparently point out that there are six Demogorgons attacking the kids simultaneously and maybe that’s enough.
But someone else…an astute writer involved with the show…correctly points out that it would be crazy not to have Demobats or Demogorgons in the abyss, because that’s their native environment. The response? A simple “hmm.” And then it went away.
Somehow this idea of demo fatigue took hold, despite the fact that no one actually had it. By episode 8, a lot of us weren’t fatigued by Demogorgons at all. We were fatigued by what we were being put through in season 5. Listen…it’s easy to do 20/20 hindsight, Monday-morning quarterbacking, all of those familiar terms. But there’s real criticism worth sticking here.
One of the greatest cinematic finales ever is Return of the Jedi. That movie had multiple battles happening all at once across the galaxy…and guess what? Viewers weren’t fatigued. They were on the edge of their seats. You had Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker facing off, the Ewoks taking down stormtroopers with sticks and stones, massive space battles unfolding, and the Emperor overseeing it all. It worked.
Stranger Things season 5 episode 8 could have been that. There could have been military battles on Earth…simultaneous battles in the abyss…chaos in the Upside Down…all happening at once. And we would have eaten it up, because that’s what we were waiting for.
If the Duffers still wanted the graduation scene and the nostalgic ending with Dungeons & Dragons, nothing would have stopped that. Those moments could still exist. What’s troubling is the documentary’s implication that episode 8 was still being written while episode 8 was already being filmed.
That’s not a minor detail.
It feels like they didn’t fully watch their own show, or weren’t mindful of its most basic promises…like Hopper spending years promising Joyce Chianti at Enzo’s, not Chardonnay. Basic things, Duffer Brothers. Basic things.
At this point it’s done. We’ll probably debate season 5 for a long time, and some people will choose to treat season 4 as their personal finale. But if there’s one last thought worth leaving here, it’s this…hubris.
The idea that success, praise, and constant fanfare can make people feel invincible. And when you’re making a show for fans, even if you don’t want to admit it, maybe you talk to them. Maybe you listen. Yes, it’s your show…but it was also ours. Collectively, Stranger Things belonged to all of us.
And it feels like, in the end, the Duffers took that away.
Fans have been watching for breadcrumbs, but at this point it’s clear: there’s no bread at all. Last night, the big Stranger Things documentary aired on Netflix. You can watch it for yourself—and yes, we’re going to spoil it for you. It’s a documentary..
There was one revelation that is just shocking to really think about. The Duffer brothers did not have an ending for the show when they started filming episode 1. Think about that, 400 million and 3 years to film this and that is saying they do the ending for years. But this documentary showcases quite an office at story. But it’s also just a documentary.
That alone spoils a lot for people who were holding out hope for a Wes Craven’s New Nightmare–style twist, or that faint dream that Conformity Gate was finally going to happen. The goalposts keep moving, the dates keep getting reset, but with each passing “event,” Stranger Things continues to conclude itself more definitively. Conformity Gate is starting to feel no different than false prophets claiming different calendar months for the end of the world. I’ve already heard there’s a new date,January 14th, to look forward to. But at this point, it might be time to hop off the train.
Don’t get me wrong.. this has been fun. We were genuinely enticed by the idea that the documentary itself might pull a New Nightmare, that it might blur reality and fiction, that Vecna could still be alive and well in some meta, fourth-wall-breaking way.
And honestly? The hints were there. In the final season, many of the things fans pointed out—plot holes, unresolved threads, lingering imagery—were completely fathomable. It wasn’t crazy to think they could justify some kind of wrap-up, an Episode 9, or at least a tighter conclusion. But the documentary was just that: a documentary. Clean. Straightforward. And to be fair, it was a good one. Strong behind-the-scenes footage, thoughtful perspectives from the cast and crew, and a well-told story about how the show came together.
It just wasn’t what many fans were hoping for. What’s interesting is that the Duffer Brothers have said, multiple times, including in the documentary, that a bad ending can ruin an entire show. And while there’s a group of fans who believe Stranger Things ended exactly the way it should have, there’s also a sizable group who don’t. Even among those who were okay with the ending, plenty still wish it had been handled differently—more cohesively, with fewer dangling threads, or without such strong suggestions that Vecna was still in control.
And if I’m blaming anyone for Conformity Gate, it’s not the fans, and it’s not the Duffers. It’s the social media arms of companies like Netflix. The vague posts. The wink-wink captions. The algorithmic breadcrumbs that felt like confirmation. That’s where the gaslighting happened. Those accounts made it seem like something really was coming, like the prognosticators were onto something, like the Upside Down door was still cracked open. They’re the real villains here.
They took us all into the Upside Down for something that was never going to happen… just to keep us watching a few days longer.
For about seven days now, we’ve been hunting for clues—freezing frames to see what the clock says behind Mr. Clarke, talking amongst ourselves, making videos, sharing memes, and convincing ourselves that the secret ninth episode of Stranger Things was coming today, January 7th.
Even last night on The Tonight Show, the actor who played Vecna did a fake aerobics video that was exactly one minute and seven seconds long. The stars appeared to align. Except… they didn’t.
All of the people who said Conformity Gate was a go are now looking a lot like Papa—confident, mysterious, and ultimately wrong.
And here’s the reality check: though Netflix and creators Matt and Ross Duffer have made no official comment on the theory amid ongoing post–series-finale press interviews, the show’s bios on Netflix’s Instagram, TikTok, and X accounts all clearly state that all episodes are now playing. So that’s a wrap.
Despite the Duffer Brothers remaining silent, all we really have left to look forward to is the January 12th special—and maybe, if we’re lucky, we’ll get a little Wes Craven–style meta twist with that. But let’s be honest: no hopes that that is real either. Conformity Gate was fun while it lasted.
Listen, official pages are having a little too much fun with Stranger Things. Fans are already going wild over this whole Conformity Gate situation, but here’s the interesting part.. today, we actually tested something, and it does happen.
On Stranger Things’ official TikTok page, when you go to certain videos and type “I believe,” a dice pops up with a number. On another video, when you type “fake ending,” an image appears of the kids from season one hugging. So at this point, are we being gaslit… or is it possible that Conformity Gate is based on something real that’s still coming?
It’s also pretty much known at this point if you go to Netflix and search for fake ending one of the results that comes up and actually the only result that comes up will be Stranger Things season 5.
And then this…
WTF! Acabo de buscar "Stranger Things" en el buscador de google y te sale un dado de D&D. Cuando tirás siempre sale el 1 (Henry) y se da vuelta la pantalla como en el Upside Down. Ojo, creo que elijo creer en la teoría de #conformitygate#StrangerThings5pic.twitter.com/ryyM5CbMMw
…But hear me out for a second and go with this interesting possibility, which probably also won’t happen.
Remember Wes Craven’s New Nightmare? That movie was about the making of A Nightmare on Elm Street, until it slowly turned into something very real, where Freddy actually was real. Now here’s the kicker: there’s a special coming out on January 12th about the making of Stranger Things on Netflix.
What if they pulled a Wes Craven stunt and gave us more than we expected?
Again, this is hypothetical. At this point, it’s basically fan fiction. There’s no indication that some secret finale is dropping in theaters or on Netflix on January 7th. But the Easter eggs keep piling up, fans keep hunting, and people are increasingly convinced they’re seeing something—just like Joyce Byers staring at those Christmas lights back in season one.
The Stranger Things creators, the Duffer Brothers, have now been interviewed talking about how they kind of wish they didn’t do interviews immediately after the Season 5 finale aired. At least one of them was fighting off the flu. Give us some slack, they contend.
And maybe that would land better if this wasn’t happening at the exact moment when Conformity Gate is spreading so fast on social media that even news networks are beginning to notice it. But here’s the catch. Despite Conformity Gate fanatics believing, wholeheartedly, that a brand-new show and a “real” final episode is coming tomorrow, there’s pretty much no evidence that this is true. As time goes on, there are no trailers. There are hints people are finding in various places, vague Easter eggs, and maybe even a wrestling crossover that might occur tonight — but we have yet to see any proof of a massive, secret finale event.
Don’t get us wrong. It would fun and fulfilling.. It would be cutting-edge. It would be a historic television moment. But we’re just not seeing the evidence that it’s actually going to come to fruition..
And that takes us back in time, to another television show that was one of our favorites years ago, and still is today: The Office. You might still be watching it. We are. Its enduring legacy continues through generations. But there was one specific episode that stands apart.
Scott’s Tots.
In that episode, Michael Scott, the lovable but delusional boss from Dunder Mifflin, visits a high school in Scranton. Years earlier, he had promised a group of third graders that if they stayed in school and graduated, he would personally pay for their college tuition. The promise became legend. Graduation rates improved. Teachers told the story. Parents believed in it. The students believed in it. When Michael finally arrives, the kids sing him a song, proudly talk about the colleges they’re attending, and explain how his promise inspired them to stay focused, stay motivated, and believe their dreams would be fulfilled — because Michael Scott would come back and make good on what he said. Except he doesn’t have the money.
He never did. And instead of scholarships, all he has to offer are laptop batteries.
The episode is brutal. Painful. Almost unbearable to watch. We all sat there and winced. Some of us literally covered our faces. It’s widely regarded as one of the most uncomfortable episodes in television history — so much so that many Office fans skip it entirely on rewatches. They know it’s fiction. They know it’s fake. But it’s so well done, so emotionally precise, that we all grimace as Michael sits there desperately trying to figure out what to say to kids who built their futures around his promise. And that’s where we are now.
Because sometimes, good intentions don’t change how it feels to be on the receiving end of unmet expectations. So I wonder if the Duffer Brothers are starting to feel something similar. Listen .. there are tons of rumors floating around. We’re told the last couple of episodes were terrible because one of the Duffer Brothers’ ex-wives supposedly ghost-wrote earlier seasons and wasn’t involved this time. We’re told the writing fell apart. We’re told plot holes exist because the creators simply gave up keeping track of their own mythology.
What we do know is this: We have a show that many people loved. We have a show that many people didn’t love. And we have a rapidly growing segment of fans who believe what we watched wasn’t real at all. That it was an illusion. That it was Conformity at its best ..or worst. And that a “real” Episode 9 is coming to clear everything up.
We’re waiting with bated breath and anticipation. Just like the kids waited for Michael Scott to walk into that school and fulfill their dreams. So yeah.
We’re Duffer’s Tots. We’ve got songs planned.
We’re standing in the auditorium. We’re watching Netflix refresh. And predictably when Episode 9 never uploads it’s going to feel a lot like watching Michael Scott walk in with laptop batteries and say, “I tried.”
