‘Stranger Things’ Season 4 Ending Explained
Now that we’ve all had time to process exactly what went down in Stranger Things Season 4 Volume 2 and what the Stranger Things Season 4 ending means for season 5. Let’s take a look at everything we know and what might be on the table for the series’ fifth and final season.
[WARNING: THIS ARTICLE CONTAINS DETAILED PLOT SPOILERS REGARDING STRANGER THINGS SEASON 4 VOLUME 2.]
Episode 7 sets up the ‘Stranger Things’ Season 4 ending
When we last left off in Stranger Things Season 4, audiences learned Vecna’s origin story. Both Nancy (Natalia Dyer) and Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown) watched as Vecna/Henry Creel revealed how he became the villain terrorizing Hawkins in season 4.
Henry Creel never died all those years ago, as Victor believed. Instead, when authorities arrested Victor for the murder of his family, they placed Henry in the care of Dr. Martin Brenner (Matthew Modine.) An adult Henry tells Eleven he never felt like he fit in as a child. He resented everyone else’s everyday lives and took out his rage on his family using his supernatural powers. While Victor took the blame for his family’s murders, Henry actually committed them.
When Dr. Brenner took Henry into his care, he experimented on him. Henry explained to Eleven that Brenner only wanted to recreate children with his same supernatural abilities. At some point, Brenner began to fear Henry because he couldn’t control him or his powers. When Henry tried to get Eleven to join him on his murder spree, she banished him to the Upside Down, which somehow transformed him into Vecna.
With Vecna killing people in Hawkins, it’s left up to Eleven and her friends to save the town.
What happens in volume 2?
The supersized Stranger Things Season 4 ending involved pretty ambitious plans from both the group in Hawkins and Eleven herself. Because Max (Sadie Sink) knows Vecna is still after her, she volunteers to use herself as bait to attract the monster’s attention again. When Vecna uses his powers on someone, he stays in his spider-like web as he traverses through their memories. While Max tricks Vecna into following her, Nancy, Robin (Maya Hawke,) and Steve (Joe Keery) plan to set him on fire in the Upside Down.
Eleven, in California, decides to venture into Max’s memories and then attack Vecna from there, hence the title of episode 9, “The Piggyback.” However, Jason (Mason Dye) shows up and throws a wrench in the plans when he delays Lucas (Caleb McLaughlin) from saving Max from Vecna. Once Lucas takes Jason out with a mean right hook, Max collapses to the ground with broken arms and legs and blood dripping from her eyes. Her eyeballs have turned a milky white, and she cries to Lucas about being unable to see or feel anything. She goes unconscious and dies before Eleven manages to revive her. However, after Vecna’s attack on Max, a giant rift starts to open in Hawkins as the Upside Down leaks into the real world.
What does the ‘Stranger Things’ Season 4 ending mean for season 5?
It’s clear there’s still big trouble brewing in Hawkins. With Max in a coma, Eleven attempts to go into her memories once more, but she finds them completely vacant. Most of the people in Hawkins hit the road as dark plumes of smoke bellow toward the sky. The kids use Hopper’s (David Harbour) cabin as a place to reunite, but when they look outside, ash-like particles fall from the sky – a telltale sign of the Upside Down.
The Stranger Things Season 4 ending clearly indicates the final battle will likely take place in Hawkins and the Upside Down. Even though Robin, Nancy, and Steve lit Vecna on fire, his body wasn’t on the ground when they walked out of the Creel house. Even though Eleven revived Max, it looks as though her temporary death was all Vecna needed to complete his mission to open the gates and take over the world. As the camera pans out in the final scene, we see our heroes staring out over the horizon as they realize the final battle has yet to come.
