The Stranger Things Line That Could Foreshadow How Season 5 Ends

Contains spoilers for "Stranger Things" Season 5, Episode 1 — "Chapter One: The Crawl"

The first half of Season 5 of "Stranger Things" is now available, but fans will have to wait a little longer to see how everything plays out. Instead of dropping all episodes of a new season all at once, which is a Netflix trademark, the remaining episodes will come out on December 25 and 31. However, there's a line in the first half that might reveal what's in store for the Hawkins crew. 

During Season 5, Episode 1 — "Chapter One: The Crawl" — Mike (Finn Wolfhard) and Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown) share a moment before she enters the Upside Down. She wonders what will happen if they kill Vecna (Jamie Campbell Bower), and Mike tells her that in his Dungeons & Dragons campaigns, the heroes can never return home because they're too traumatized from the journey they've been on. Therefore, they must find a new place to call home. 

One of the most interesting and persistent "Stranger Things" fan theories is that the entire show is one long D&D campaign that the young boys are playing. It would be anticlimactic if that's how this whole thing plays out, but that doesn't mean the ending can't take inspiration from the game. Mike's line hints that the team will, in fact, kill Vecna, but they won't stay together after that. They all may need to go their separate ways to find meaning, or to ensure more monsters don't crop up elsewhere.

Series co-creator Matt Duffer has already spoken about how the end of "Stranger Things" Season 5 won't make everyone happy. That's due to the fact the show will leave the door open for spinoffs with its finale, so while there might be a sense of closure for most, there still needs to be room to milk this franchise for all it is worth. What's more interesting is who seemingly won't get a spinoff. According to Matt and Ross Duffer, speaking to Josh Horowitz for his podcast Happy Sad Confused, an Eleven spin-off is definitely not in the works.

Notably, the Duffers don't mention Mike in that statement, and Mike is the one who foreshadows how heroes in D&D campaigns can never return home. Assuming he doesn't die (and he better not), Mike may feel like Hawkins is too small for him now. He could be the one searching for adventure elsewhere, or maybe he wants to find a place that doesn't have a bunch of bad memories of the time he and his friends were almost killed by vicious Demogorgons. 

Then again, there's also a lot of speculation that Eleven may die by the end of "Stranger Things" Season 5. Perhaps the only way to get rid of Vecna for good is for her to sacrifice her life. That would undoubtedly make Mike depressed, goading him into getting as far away from Hawkins as possible. It would be a downer conclusion, but it could also set the stage for a spinoff centered on Mike down the road.

"Stranger Things" Season 5, Volume 1 is now available on Netflix.