Five times ‘Stranger Things’ foreshadowed its own ending
If there is one thing the Duffers love more than causing major emotional damage, it is long-term setup. We all know Stranger Things as the show that is not just a sci-fi thriller but an interesting story filled with tiny references and clues that feel random when you first watch them, but hit completely different the moment you rewatch the series.
And now that we have all watched volume one and the rest of the finale is close, looking at and analysing every old moment suddenly looks like a hint we missed. The best part? Some of these hints have been right in front of us since day one.
You see, Stranger Things has always been a circular story. It started with something small, which then expanded into something terrifying and is now circling back to the beginning like it’s all a loop. The creators have even said that season five returns to the mysteries of season one, which means all those moments that felt “cute” or “coincidental” might have been blueprints the whole time.
Fans love to hunt for hidden clues, but these ones are not subtle. They are woven into character arcs, D&D games, drawings, monologues, and group dynamics. These moments shaped the story before we even realised they were doing it. When you put them together, they point toward a finale that feels like the show closing its own loop.
So here are the five biggest foreshadowing moments that Stranger Things dropped across the seasons. These are the moments that told us how this story would end, even when we were not paying attention.
1. Will’s fireball choice in episode one
The very first minutes of season one give us the boys playing D&D, with Will choosing “Fireball” against the Demogorgon. He misses the roll, everyone panics, and then the real Demogorgon appears that night. It feels like a fun intro at first, but the ritual-like setup makes it one of the clearest hints that Will’s final battle will mirror his very first move. What starts as a dice roll becomes a real fight years later.
The ending of Stranger Things is expected to circle back to the beginning, and nothing circles cleaner than letting Will finally land the metaphorical “fireball” he missed in episode one. And now that we have seen he has got powers at the end of volume one, there is a lot more yet to come. The boys’ game set the emotional blueprint, and the finale might close the story exactly where it opened: with Will facing the monster he has been running from since 2016.
2. Eleven as the final weapon
She opened it. She might end it. Every season has ended the same way so far: Eleven steps in and shuts down the threat. She destroys the Demogorgon, seals the gate, pushes back the Mind Flayer, and fights Vecna inside Max’s mind. The show keeps repeating this pattern because it is telling us something. It is Eleven who decides where this story goes. She opened the first tear between worlds, and all signs point to her finishing the job in the finale.
Characters around her have been saying the same thing from the start: Hopper, Owens, Murray, and Brenner. Someone always tells her she is the one who can stop all of it. Stranger Things never treats its emotional lines casually; that is what we have learnt so far. When a character is repeatedly positioned as the final hope, that placement is not a coincidence; it is foreshadowing. Eleven is the show’s closer, and she has been from day one.
3. Mike as the heart and the monster painting
A lot of people believe that Mike is the leader nobody saw coming. Will’s painting in season four shows Mike leading the entire group into battle, facing a three-headed beast while the others stand behind him. This is not a random drawing. Will literally calls Mike “the heart” and explains that their strength comes from him. That speech was not just emotional support. It was the show spelling out Mike’s ultimate role in the final fight.
Even though Eleven has the powers, Mike has always been the emotional anchor. Whenever she falls, he is the one who brings her back. Stranger Things loves pairing emotion with power, and the painting makes that dynamic official. Mike, being the one in front of the monster, is not just symbolic but a preview of how the last stand might look.
4. The whole party is finally together
Every season until now, split the cast into mini-teams doing their own thing: the kids in one corner, the teens somewhere else, the adults across town, and Eleven in a different storyline entirely. Then they all meet near the finale to compare notes. That formula is gone in season five. For the first time ever, everyone starts the season understanding what they are facing, who the enemy is, and what the goal needs to be.
And sure, they might all be working in different zones, but they are connected. This shift matters because it signals the shape of the final battle. This time, there will not be scattered missions or late-game reunions. The entire cast being united from the start is a structural clue that the finale will be one giant confrontation, not a puzzle with pieces all over Hawkins. The story is no longer about discovery but about finishing what they already know.
5. It started with Will… It might end with him
Yes, they said “story is a full circle” theory. Will Byers is the reason the story begins. His disappearance reveals the gate, exposes Hawkins Lab, brings Eleven to the group, and sets off every chain reaction that follows. Across every season, he remains the only character with a direct link to the Upside Down. Be it the tingling in his neck, the visions, the possession, and the sense of Vecna’s presence. Those traits did not disappear. They were the setup.
The Duffers have said season five returns to the mysteries of season one, and Will is the biggest mystery of all. The show began with Will being taken, and now every sign points to the ending involving him again. Whether he becomes the key, the final link, or the person who breaks the connection, the story opens and closes with Will feeling exactly like the kind of narrative symmetry Stranger Things loves. So far in volume one, we have only seen makers addressing the happenings of season four, but volume two is expected to answer the most questions.
