"Chapter Eight: The Rightside Up" is the series finale of the American science fictionhorrordrama television series Stranger Things. The eighth episode of the fifth season and the 42nd overall, it was written and directed by series creators The Duffer Brothers. It was released on December 31, 2025, on Netflix and in select theatres across the United States and Canada. The episode's title is a parallel of "The Upside Down", the title of the season one finale.
In the episode, the group enter the Upside Down one last time in a desperate attempt to complete Operation Beanstalk, the plan proposed by Steve Harrington to save the world. While the others focus on rescuing the kidnapped children, Eleven, aided by Will, Max, and Kali, aim to confront and end Vecna once and for all.
"The Rightside Up" received generally positive reviews for its performances (particularly Ryder, Harbour, Brown, Wolfhard, Matarazzo, Hawke, and Bower), visual effects, the emotional tone and weight of the epilogue, and the closure on the characters and series as a whole.
Plot
Entering the Upside Down to begin "Operation Beanstalk", Mike, Will, Dustin, Lucas, Steve, Robin, Nancy and Jonathan climb the radio tower to reach the descending Abyss, while Eleven, Hopper, Murray, and Kali go to Hawkins Lab, where Eleven enters the sensory deprivation tank. She draws Kali and Max into Henry Creel / Vecna’s mindscape to search his memories.
As the others climb the radio tower, Mike apologizes to Will for being inattentive to his struggle with his sexuality, and the two affirm their friendship. The Abyss begins descending, destabilizing the tower and nearly killing Steve before Jonathan saves him. In the mindscape, Eleven’s group finds Holly and the other missing children in the Creel House. Kali hides them while Eleven attacks Henry, stopping the dimensional descent long enough for the tower group to enter the Abyss and search for Vecna’s lair. Vecna shows Hopper a vision of Eleven plotting with Kali to kill herself and manipulates him into thinking that he has shot her, prompting Hopper to pull Eleven from the tank and implore her to live. Meanwhile, Dr. Kay’s forces capture Max, Vickie, Erica, and Mr. Clarke.
In the Upside Down, Akers leads an assault on Hawkins Lab, threatening Kali to force Hopper to reveal Eleven’s location. Murray throws a grenade at the military's helicopter from the roof, causing an explosion that allows Eleven to kill the soldiers, but Kali is fatally injured. Eleven tells Hopper she must face Vecna directly in the Abyss and makes him promise to accept her decision.
In the mindscape, Henry pursues the children into the caves, forcing himself to relive his trauma. Holly leads the children into the mine and attacks Henry to buy time. In his memories, Henry sees his younger self open a briefcase and become corrupted by a fragment of the Mind Flayer.[a][b] Will tells Henry that he was a vulnerable child used by the Flayer and urges him to help destroy it, but Henry refuses, claiming he willingly submitted to the Flayer's influence and that he and the Flayer are one. In the Abyss, Henry's lair is revealed to be a physical body for the Mind Flayer, which rises as a giant kaiju and attacks the others. Eleven arrives and battles Vecna inside the Flayer's body, while Nancy draws the creature into position, allowing the group to bring it down using fire and explosives. With Will’s help, Eleven impales Vecna, enabling the children to escape and reunite with their families. Joyce finishes off Vecna by decapitating him.
Hopper and Murray prepare explosives to destroy the Upside Down. When the group returns to Hawkins, they are arrested by Kay and the military. Mike realizes Eleven stayed behind to sacrifice herself. In a final moment within her mind, Eleven tells Mike she loves him and asks him to help the others accept her choice. The Upside Down is destroyed and the gate collapses.
Eighteen months later, in spring 1989, Robin announces on the radio that Hawkins has recovered and the military has withdrawn. Mike, Will, Lucas, Dustin, and Max prepare to graduate. Mike struggles to attend until Hopper urges him to move forward rather than live in guilt.
Dustin, the class valedictorian, gives a speech honoring Eddie. Steve, now a baseball coach, reunites with Robin, Jonathan (now a filmmaker studying at New York University) and Nancy (now a journalist); despite their different paths, they promise to stay in touch. Joyce and Hopper finally go on their long-delayed date; Hopper proposes, and Joyce accepts. Hopper tells her has been offered a better-paying job as the police chief of Montauk, New York.[c]
During a final game of Dungeons & Dragons, Mike imagines the group’s futures: Lucas and Max grow closer, Dustin goes to college but keeps adventuring with Steve, Will leaves Hawkins to find acceptance, and Mike becomes a writer. Reflecting on Eleven’s fate, Mike suggests Kali may have used her powers to help Eleven escape to a small town. He admits he does not know if this is true but chooses to believe it, and the others agree. Karen calls them to dinner as Holly, Derek, and two of the rescued children begin their own D&D campaign.
Production
The final table read took place on September 8, 2024 and was attended by series creators the Duffer Brothers, director/producer Shawn Levy and the cast members, and was the first time the cast had seen the script, allowing them all to experience the last episode together.[1]
Finn Wolfhard said that he was initially concerned the series finale could have a negative reception like the one of Game of Thrones (2011–2019), but when he read the script for the episode, he knew that "it was something special".[2] Despite their love for Game of Thrones, the Duffers felt Stranger Things was a very different type of show to theirs and made sure their own finale avoided excessive character deaths and gave the audience a feeling of satisfaction.[3]
Following the events of the Stranger Things: The First Shadow (2023) prequel play, it was hinted that that the Mind Flayer was the one who made Henry Creel accept his dark side and connection to the Upside Down, and Matt Duffer hinted that the series finale would finally reveal who "the real evil is".[4] The brothers also stated that the finale will show viewers the second half of the "core memory" from "Chapter Six: Escape from Camazotz", revealing what happened to a young Henry Creel in the mineshaft.[5]
Writing
The episode was written and directed by the Duffer Brothers, marking their twentieth writing credits on the show.[6][7]
The fate of Eleven, portrayed by Millie Bobby Brown, was purposefully left ambiguous by the Duffer Brothers.
The Duffers stated that some unused ideas originally conceived for the second season were implemented throughout the fifth and final season's storylines, and that the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic enabled them to completely outline the final season before the fourth season had even been filmed. Following the release of the fourth season, the team were able to rewrite some elements in response to feedback, particularly the finale, but noted that much of their original pitch to Netflix remained unchanged.[8] Levy recounted that the Duffers had pitched the season and its finale to him and others in the production team as early as 2023, showing them a diorama explaining the Upside Down's mythology and their plans to conclude the show "emotionally".[9] Leading up to the finale, the fifth season revealed the truth about the Upside Down and wrapped up a number of major character arcs in preparation for the final battle against Vecna.[10][5]
Of Vecna's backstory and ending, the Duffers explained that they did briefly consider having him turn on the Mind Flayer but, following discussions with the other writers and with actor Jamie Campbell Bower, but concluded that "he’s gone so far at this point to get here, he has to justify everything he’s done. And the only way to justify that is to go, “I chose this, and I believe in this still. Even though he is shaken by seeing this memory, he’s too far gone at this point to turn against the Mind Flayer." They chose to leave it up to the audience whether the Mind Flayer was controlling Henry from the beginning or whether young Henry chose to embrace the evil, noting that " it doesn’t matter because he chooses the side of the Mind Flayer at the end of the day".[11] They felt "it had to be Joyce" who delivered the final blow to Vecna, but that they considered multiple characters before coming to a decision, explaining, "Joyce was the one in the first season who's the first one to really take action, to believe that something strange was going on. And that fierce love she has for not only Will but her family and the others is a superpower in its own way. And so we thought if anyone is going to defeat this guy, it had to be Joyce."[12]
Regarding the ambiguous ending for Eleven, Matt Duffer stated, “there are two roads that Eleven could take. There’s this darker, more pessimistic one or the optimistic, hopeful one. Mike is the optimist of the group and has chosen to believe in that story.” Ross Duffer noted “there was never a version of the story where Eleven was hanging out with the gang at the end” and that they felt “Eleven had to go away” in order for the story and the rest of the characters to move on, adding that “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. 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”.[13] They added that Eleven's discussions with Hopper throughout the episode mirror these themes of coming-of-age, noting that "part of coming of age is leaving your parents and making your own decisions", and that Hopper has to finally accept that Eleven is her own person and move on from his guilt over the death of his daughter. They explained that Dustin's valedictorian speech was inspired by the loss of Eddie, adding that Dustin does a lot of the things Eddie told him he wanted to do at his own graduation prior to his death, and felt the speech summed up one of the major themes of the show, stating, "this is a story about outsiders and outcasts. It’s about banding together and embracing your otherness to defeat the evils of this world".[11]
Filming
Finn Wolfhard, who plays Mike, anchors the final scene, and has emotional scenes with several characters. His performance throughout the episode was praised by critics.
The production team managed to structure the filming schedule of the finale so every actor's last day of filming was their last scene in the show. Joe Keery revealed that everyone felt some "fatigue" after filming for a year, but described the material as "incredible". Some of the cast, such as Nell Fisher, had also filmed scenes from the finale prior to the table read.[1]
When filming the finale, the Duffers stated that one of their main goals was to "make sure that every character had something very specific to do" and have all of them contribute towards Vecna's defeat in a "meaningful way". The scenes in the Abyss were filmed on a quarry set in Atlanta that was based on scans and photos of a protected canyon in New Mexico, and the crew used an iPad with a digital version of the Mind Flayer, which was designed by Wētā FX, to help the cast and crew visualize and frame the battle scenes. The set for the inside of Vecna's lair took around five months to construct, and significant wire work was used for Brown and Bower to help them mobilize around the set during their final confrontation and make it seem realistic.[14]
The Duffers explained that the final shot, depicting Mike closing the door to his basement, was going to be the definitive ending "for a very long time", and stated that the final sequence of each of the party exiting the basement one by one symbolized "them leaving their childhood behind". They felt the party playing D&D one final time brought the series full circle, referencing the opening of the first episode, and consciously tried to mimic the camera shots from that episode. Matt Duffer praised Finn Wolfhard's performance, expressing that "you see him go through this real grief and sadness about leaving it behind" before landing on the "bittersweet happiness" of seeing Holly and her friends, a moment the Duffers considered a passing of the torch to the next generation of kids. They spoke to each of the actors when determining the ending of their characters, and ultimately felt that everyone was continuing "on the journeys they started" in season five, and expressed that the cast were all "content" with their resolutions.[15]
Prior to the episode's release, the Duffer Brothers teased that a song "never before seen in a television show" would be featured.[17] These songs were subsequently revealed in the episode to be "When Doves Cry" and "Purple Rain". Discussing this decision, Ross Duffer explained, "once we came up with the idea that the record was going to be the trigger for the bomb, we knew we needed an epic needle drop, and so many ideas were thrown around. I think there’s nothing really more epic than Prince". They noted that Prince's estate rarely allows his music to be licensed, and that they were told it was "a real long shot" that the usage of his songs would be approved. The Duffers stated that they strongly felt "Purple Rain" would "sum up the emotion of the moment" and credited the success of their use of Kate Bush's song "Running Up That Hill" in the fourth season as the primary reason they were able to secure the rights to Prince's music.[11] The Duffers explained that it was Joe Keery's idea to use Bowie's "Heroes" for the episode's end credits, believing it to be a fitting conclusion to the series.[11]
The fifth season of Stranger Things was released in three parts, with the first volume of four episodes releasing on November 26 and the second volume of three episodes releasing on December 25. "Chapter Eight: The Rightside Up" was released on December 31, 2025.[18][19] The episode also had a limited theatrical release in the United States and Canada until January 1, 2026. It was previously reported that the finale would not be released in theaters because a lot of people watched the series on Netflix and to give them "what they want" however, it subsequently was reported that the plan to release the finale in theaters had been "in the works for some time", with Ross Duffer stating that this had been the plan for over a year.[20]
"The Rightside Up" received generally positive reviews from critics, who praised its performances, emotional weight, and closure to the series' characters. Paul Tassi of Forbes felt the finale "stuck the landing", declaring that the episode "managed to take all the bad aspects of season 5, convoluted exposition, overbearing lore, a bloated cast and weave them together to create something great and memorable". He noted that while there were not a huge amount of surprises, this was not a disadvantage, and praised the "overwhelmingly happy" epilogue scene, which he felt "hit the hardest". Of the endings for each character, he wrote that "the decisions that were made were seemingly the correct ones", lauding how Henry was ultimately not redeemed and was killed in an "excellent three part sequence" and how Eleven's ambiguous ending was "less trite than riding off into the sunset with Mike would have been".[21] In a four star review, Ed Power of The Daily Telegraph wrote, "it might so easily have been another underwhelming conclusion to a beloved series, but across two hours it wore its feelings on its sleeves" and felt the finale was a "big, weepy send-off [that] justifies the hype", praising the epilogue for bringing "proper, poignant closure" to the characters.[22]
In a more mixed review, Alex Zalben of GamesRadar+ gave the episode three and a half stars, writing that "there was no way “The Rightside Up” could satisfy everyone. In fact, given the over two-hour length of the episode, it ends up hitting every note it possibly can in an effort to please everyone, showing off both the worst and the best of Hawkins". He was critical of the first half of the episode, feeling it was "a shoddily filmed mess that is mostly deadly serious and turns our characters into action heroes far from the Hawkins kids we know and love". Zalben cited Eleven's apparent sacrifice, some of the visuals, and the inclusion of the military subplot as the episode's primary weaknesses, but praised the performance of Jamie Campbell Bower as Vecna. In contrast, he declared the epilogue as "the best of Stranger Things" and felt that the show is brought full circle in an "emotionally satisfying way".[23] Similarly, Michael Walsh of Nerdist wrote that "“The Rightside Up” got a whole lot right. This final chapter ended this party’s campaign with a satisfying farewell. But like the rest of Stranger Things 5, a few bewildering decisions and some weird pacing kept Stranger Things’ series finale from true greatness". He noted that "every scene that took place 18 months later was good or even excellent" but felt that the epilogue did feel "tedious" at times, and was frustrated by the military subplot. He praised the visual effects during the final battle against Vecna and the Mind Flayer, and resolution given to each character, writing that "as it did all season, the show delivered on its characters’ arcs", particularly lauding the scenes between Eleven and Hopper, and Eleven's farewell to Mike, praising Finn Wolfhard's performance, and felt that Bower delivered his "best performance yet" as Vecna.[24]
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