The Ending Of Stranger Things Season 5 Volume 2 Explained

Contains spoilers for "Stranger Things" Season 5, Episode 7 — "Chapter Seven: The Bridge"

It's almost the end of the line for the Hawkins gang. Want to know more about the last chapter of Season 5 — and the final step before the series' grand finale? Click our video above and get ready to gear up for that last battle against Vecna (Jamie Campbell Bower).

"Chapter Seven: The Bridge" sees Will Byers (Noah Schnapp) finally step up and become the party leader he was meant to be — but before he can take on the menace of the Upside Down and rescue Holly Wheeler (Nell Fisher) and her classmates, he has something important to confess. He gathers his friends around him and admits that Vecna tried to manipulate him and frighten him by implanting horrible visions of what would happen to him if he confessed to everyone that he's been hiding a secret. He comes out, telling them all he's gay. He even confesses his crush on Mike Wheeler (Finn Wolfhard) to them. Every single person in the room has a loving, warm reaction to Will's truth, giving him the strength to carry on and do what he must to help his team's mission.

In the recesses of Vecna's abyss — where, during Season 5, Volume 1 of "Stranger Things," he managed to charm every child but Holly into believing he is the wholesome Mr. Whatsit — he holds a mock-séance. His hope is to finally collapse the wormhole and bring the abyss crashing down onto the real world. Though Holly tries to escape him, she and the other 11 children join the collective — which might spell doom for Hawkins.

Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown), meanwhile, is grappling with the knowledge that there might not be a happy ending lying in wait for her. Kali (Linnea Berthelsen) suggests to her that they stay in the abyss after Vecna is defeated. When the bridge blows up, the two of them will go up with it, staying on the opposite side of the wormhole and peacefully entering eternity. It would end a lifetime of being pursued by wicked authority figures and being used for their genetic materials to create yet another generation of psychic child soldiers. Kali — who has been used as a guinea pig, her blood being injected into a variety of pregnant victims — sees no possible better ending for them both. Will El sacrifice herself? Or will she survive?

Elsewhere, Jonathan (Charlie Heaton) and Nancy (Natalia Dyer) finally split up as a couple and — after their best-broship suffered some major wear and tear — Dustin (Gaten Matarazzo) and Steve (Joe Keery) make up and vow that if one of them dies, the other will follow. Can Will Byers' newfound powers change everything – enough to save the world? Who will live and who will become a memory thanks to the wrath of Vecna? Watch the video above and prepare to find out when the final episode of "Stranger Things" hits Netflix on New Year's Eve 2025.