The One Mike Theory That Could Fix Every Plot Hole In Stranger Things Season 5
Stranger Things fans are buzzing over a viral theory that flips the Upside Down on its head: the entire series is a book written by Mike Wheeler, played by Finn Wolfhard, a twist that could tie up nearly every lingering plot hole.
Stranger Things season 5 chatter is getting loud again, and this round hits three notes: a wild fan theory that tries to stitch the whole show together, the Duffers finally putting one early-episode mystery to bed (mostly), and a gnarly tease about the final season’s body count. Oh, and Netflix quietly turned the finale into a holiday rollout.
The bold fan theory: Mike wrote the whole thing
There’s a theory making the rounds from Instagram user @ashnappp that is equal parts gutsy and oddly tidy. The pitch: the entire series is a book written by Mike Wheeler (Finn Wolfhard).
In this version of events, the real timeline goes sideways in season 1 when Will Byers is actually found dead. Mike spirals, and to cope, he starts writing a story where Will survives. That imagined narrative becomes the Stranger Things we’ve been watching: supernatural, scary, but ultimately hopeful because Mike keeps choosing the version where his friend lives.
The theory maps each season to a stage of grief, with season 5 landing on acceptance. It even points to the finale’s episode title, 'The Rightside Up', as the moment Mike finally faces what really happened. There’s also an on-set image floating around that fans think hints at Hopper guiding Mike through that grief, which would mirror Hopper’s own loss of his daughter, Sarah. It’s a big swing, but it does explain a lot of the show’s emotional throughline.
The Duffers clear up that silhouetted figure (and still tease Vecna)
One long-standing fan debate has been the shadowy figure Will sees on the road in the very first episode. Some people swear it was retroactively meant to be Vecna. Ross Duffer says nope: that was the demogorgon, and Vecna wasn’t even on their whiteboard back in season 1.
"But that was, I swear, the demogorgon."
That said, Ross also pointed to a very nerdy detail that keeps the Vecna-in-season-1 idea alive: the locked door at Will’s house that opens via telekinesis. Demogorgons don’t do telepathy, which suggests something else powerful was in play even if the plan for Vecna came later. So the silhouette wasn’t Vecna, but the breadcrumbs might have been there anyway.
Season 5 will feature the show’s most violent death
Matt and Ross Duffer are calling the final chapter more emotional than season 4, but apparently not bloodier overall. Still, there’s one death coming that they say tops anything the show has done before.
"I would say season five is not as violent as season four, but it has the most violent death of any season."
They didn’t name the victim, obviously. The brothers also admitted they’ve intentionally dialed back on excessive gore over the years, and at one point Netflix even blocked a particularly graphic death they wanted to include.
Release plan
- Part 1: November 26, 2025
- Part 2: December 25, 2025
- Finale: December 31, 2025
So where do you land? Buying the 'Mike wrote the whole story' angle, or is that a bridge too far? And who do you think gets that most violent sendoff in the endgame?