After Teasing Big Deaths, Duffer Brothers Cool the Bloodbath: Stranger Things Season 5 Finale Won’t Go Full Game of Thrones

If you were bracing for Stranger Things to wrap up with a massacre, you might be able to unclench a little. The Duffers are dialing back the doom talk for the final stretch, even after months of teasing a tearjerker of an ending.

Quick reality check: this show rarely kills its mains

• Across five seasons, the list of named, memorable deaths is short: Barb, Bob, Eddie, and Dr. Brenner.
• There were casualties like Chrissy and a few others along the way, sure, but the core group? Still standing.

They teased carnage... then pumped the brakes

Heading into the last chapter, Matt and Ross Duffer talked up an ending designed to make you cry and said this season would feature the most violent death the show has ever done. Naturally, fans started drafting eulogies for their favorites.

But after Volume 2 dropped, Matt Duffer told The Hollywood Reporter not to expect a Thrones-style bloodbath in the remaining 2 hours and 8 minutes of story.

"It is not Game of Thrones. We are not in Westeros... There is not going to be a Red Wedding situation. Some things in the finale will be surprising, but we are not trying to shock or upset anyone. By the end, we want it to feel inevitable and satisfying rather than painful."

About Steve Harrington (because everyone is worried)

If you poke around the Stranger Things hashtag for half a minute, you will see the same fear on loop: do not take Steve Harrington from us. The Duffers are not giving away his fate, but they get why the fanbase is nervous. Matt even joked that after years of making Steve the human punching bag, the only way to escalate would be, well, the worst-case scenario. Translation: they know the stakes, and they are keeping it quiet on purpose.

The finale math, if you are confused

The timing here is a little funky. The comments above came after Volume 2 hit, but there is still 2 hours and 8 minutes left before it is all over. Read that as: we are heading into a supersized endgame, but not necessarily one designed to whack half the cast.

Ending a four-quadrant phenomenon is messy

Matt Duffer also called the finish line "challenging" because Stranger Things is a giant tent with wildly different viewer priorities. Some people are here for the monster mayhem, some for the kids, some for the teens, some for the adults, some for the romance, some for the nostalgia. When everyone is watching for different reasons, trying to please every camp becomes impossible. So their plan? Tune out the noise, trust their gut and the writers they have worked with forever, and hope that what feels right to them lands with the audience.

For now: Stranger Things season 5 Volume 1 and Volume 2 are streaming, with the finale still ahead. Buckle up, but maybe not for a slaughter.