Did the Duffer Brothers Just Doom Steve on Stranger Things? Fans Think So

Stranger Things fans are bracing for heartbreak after a coy Tonight Show tease from the Duffer Brothers seemed to paint a bullseye on Joe Keery’s Steve Harrington, stoking fears he won’t survive the final season.

Well, that escalated quickly. The Duffer brothers went on The Tonight Show and managed to send Stranger Things fans into full panic mode about Steve Harrington, using nothing but a handful of Funko Pops and a mischievous grin.

What they did on Fallon

Matt and Ross Duffer joined Jimmy Fallon to play a coy little game of 'let's tease the ending without really saying anything.' Instead of giving a straight answer, they arranged Funko Pop figures in a way that felt less like a spoiler and more like performance art. For clarity, here’s how their diorama of doom went down:

• Ross picked up Barb, wondered out loud why she was even with the others, and then put her on the floor. Fallon reacted like he’d just seen a ghost, and even tossed out the idea that the long-dead Season 1 victim could somehow show up in the final season.
• They placed Eleven in a glass of water like a sensory deprivation callback.
• They stacked Will on top of Henry (as in Henry Creel, aka One) and then put Vecna on top of Will. Yes, Henry and Vecna are the same guy. Yes, they did it anyway. Yes, that felt intentionally confusing.
• They set Steve at the edge of the table. Then Ross casually shoved him off. The crowd screamed. Subtlety was not invited.

Fallon sealed the bit with a line that was clearly a joke, but didn’t exactly calm anyone down:

'And that is how Stranger Things ends.'

Then he rolled an exclusive, unreleased clip from Season 5 Volume 2, because of course you follow toy-based chaos with actual footage. The Tonight Show account posted the tease on December 18, 2025, just to keep the anxiety fresh.

Fans caught every crumb

Reactions were immediate and dramatic. Some pleaded not to kill Steve. Others were all-caps outraged. One viewer floated a theory that Steve takes a brutal hit, everyone thinks he’s dead, and then he pops back up for a teary Dustin hug. Another argued the brothers were only feeding a popular fan theory on purpose and would never actually off him.

So... did they just spoil Steve?

Short answer: no. This reads like pure troll-y misdirection. If the creators were going to reveal a major death, they probably wouldn’t do it by yeeting a Funko off a desk on network TV. The Barb fake-out, the Will-Henry-Vecna stack, the glass-of-water Eleven — it’s all cheeky iconography designed to wind everyone up without giving away the real moves.

When we actually find out

Fortunately, the wait isn’t long. Stranger Things Season 5 Volume 2 hits Netflix on December 25, 2025. The final episode drops December 31, 2025. If Steve is doomed, we’ll know by New Year’s Eve. Until then, consider the Funko stunt exactly what it was: a loud nudge to keep you guessing.