Did the Stranger Things Cast Just Drop a Game-Changing Vecna Reveal on Hot Ones—and Yank It Right After?

Well, that did not take long. Volume 1 of Stranger Things season 5 just hit Netflix, and Noah Schnapp may have immediately let a major plot point slip while eating progressively evil hot wings. The internet caught it, the video got trimmed, and now we are all side-eyeing our rewatch notes.

Where the slip happened

Schnapp was on the Hot Ones video podcast with his co-stars Finn Wolfhard, Caleb McLaughlin, and Gaten Matarazzo. At one point, the host challenged them to recap the story from the beginning. Schnapp sped through some lore at warp speed and, in the process, appeared to confirm two big things that the show has been dancing around for years.

What he seemed to confirm

• Vecna is not the top dog. He is being controlled by the Mind Flayer.
• Will Byers built the tunnels under Hawkins, likely using his now revealed powers.

Shortly after the episode went up, that portion of the video vanished from the official upload. Too late. Fans had already clipped it and passed it around like contraband VHS.

Why this matters (and why some folks are shrugging)

There is a wrinkle here that not everyone knows: the stage prequel Stranger Things: The First Shadow has already suggested that the Mind Flayer empowered Henry Creel, nudging him toward becoming Vecna. If you have seen the play, Schnapp's comments line up with that. If you have only watched the series, it hits more like a reveal — especially the Will-built-the-tunnels part now tied to his powers in season 5.

Plenty of fans are treating this like a bombshell. Others are firmly in the 'this was obvious' camp, pointing to Dustin's 'Vecna is the Mind Flayer's five-star general' explanation and Will's season 2 tunnel drawings as the receipts.

'You literally see Finn almost throw up and its not from the hot sauce.'

Another reaction summed up the counterpoint: neither of these ideas are new if you were paying attention — the Mind Flayer has always been the big bad, the one that gets inside people (Will, Henry, Billy), and the tunnels have been tied to Will since the map-on-the-walls days. One more fan said they just assumed the Mind Flayer invaded Vecna's mind the moment Henry got hurled into that shadow realm.

So, when do we actually get answers?

Netflix is stretching the final season across three volumes for a holiday rollout. The finale is getting its own drop and it is officially feature-length at two hours and five minutes.

Stranger Things season 5 Volume 2 lands on December 25, and Volume 3 follows on December 31.