ORLANDO, Fla. — Fans of the wildly popular Netflix series Stranger Things are theorizing that the show may not be completely over, and that a secret final episode may be premiering tonight.
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The fan theory, dubbed ‘Conformity Gate,’ has gone viral on social media platforms like TikTok and X, with fans alleging that the Season 5 finale that premiered on New Year’s Eve wasn’t actually the end of the show.
Despite the fact that the episode appeared to bring plotlines and character arcs to a clear end, fans have pointed to “Easter eggs and hidden clues” sprinkled throughout the final episode, “The Rightside Up.”
These clues, according to TikTok sleuths, all seem to point to the idea that the ending of Season 5 is all an illusion crafted by the series’ villain, Vecna.
X user @67gate, who credits themselves as “the creator of #conformity gate,” posted a nearly 10-post thread going into minute detail on the theory. They provide screenshots of the show alongside explanations of what they think each of the so-called “Easter eggs” mean.
THREAD OF #CONFORMITYGATE EVIDENCE (my third eye is open) 🧵
— jess𓂃۶ৎ (@67gate) January 1, 2026
A TikTok from user @stkvhh explains some of their reasons for believing in the fan theory. That video has garnered over 14.3 million views, and 1.3 million likes.
The comments are staunchly divided, with some fans agreeing with the poster’s observations, with others saying to believe in the theory is “delusional.”
This division is best evidenced by two of the topmost comments. One from user @bluesnow0830: “[T]here’s more proof for conformity gate than it being just a bad ending.” And another from user @clementineamidon1: “When the final season is so bad it sends fans into mass psychosis.”
This isn’t the first time that fans of a globally revered show have reacted poorly to its ending. The bungled finale of How I Met Your Mother has traumatized sitcom fans since its premiere in 2014, and in 2007, the abrupt ending of The Sopranos had viewers calling their cable companies en masse, thinking their TV connections had suddenly been terminated.
And in perhaps the most dramatic fashion, in 2019, following the final episode of HBO’s fantasy drama series Game of Thrones, embittered fans took to Change.org and created an infamous petition to “remake Game of Thrones Season 8 with competent writers."
As of January 2025, that petition has almost two million signatures.
But despite heavy speculation and hundreds of X posts and TikToks, it’s unlikely that this “secret final episode of Stranger Things" actually exists. Neither the streaming giant nor the Duffer Brothers, Stranger Things‘ showrunners, have acknowledged the theory.
The franchise is, however, expected to continue in another way. An animated series called Stranger Things: Tales from ‘85 is set to premiere sometime in 2026.
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