WARNING: Spoilers for Stranger Things season five
Netflix’s Stranger Things released the first four episodes, Volume 1, of its fifth and final season on November 25th, 2025. Fans had been eagerly awaiting the arrival of season five since summer of 2022.
The end of Volume 1 left viewers on the edge of their seats as Will Byers (played by Noah Schnapp), one of the main protagonists, discovers he has powers when he kills three demogorgons that were attacking his friends. His powers were channeled from Vecna, the main antagonist, which has led to many theories in the fandom. We asked South students what their predictions and hopes for Volume 2 are.
Junior Hailey Ladaker said she ‘loves that [Will] has powers now” but she can’t help “comparing him to Eleven (another character in the show with powers, played by Millie Bobby Brown).” She’s interested to see how Will and Eleven’s dynamic will be moving forward.
Ladaker predicts that Robin (Maya Hawke) will die, and possibly Steve (Joe Keery) too, who are two characters that have gained a lot of love from fans throughout the show. But she also took a closer look at the premier, noticing that Sadie Sink, whose character Max on the show is currently in a coma but living in Vecna’s memories, was the only actor wearing white. Ladaker thinks this could be hinting at either Max dying, or everyone dying but Max.
Senior Daniella Grimes said that Volume One was “the best thing she had ever seen” and that Will’s powers have “already made him more significant than Eleven.” Grimes has heard a lot of rumors that Steve might die, which she thinks might be possible, but she is really hoping that Lucas (Caleb McLaughlin) makes it out alive.
Junior Bridgette Santiago-Gonzalez found Volume 1 “a little confusing at first” but after getting into it more, she described it as “wow.” She expected Will to gain powers as she had noticed some “foreshadowing at the beginning [of the show] with [Dungeons and Dragons].”
Santiago believes that someone is going to die in Volume 2 and “Steve and Dustin (Gaten Matarazzo) are going to be separated,” who are an iconic duo on the show. She has also seen some theories online that Eddie (Joseph Quinn), a character who died in season four, might still be alive, just stuck in the Upside Down, the alternate dimension that started it all. She said she “would be so happy” if that theory was correct.
Senior Lucy Parker has been a longtime fan of the series and had in depth vision for the end of the show:
I think that [the final episodes] will revolve around the group trying to figure out how to sever the connection between Will and Vecna, so that when they try to close the gate, it won’t kill Will. But I don’t know if this will work, so Will might end up sacrificing himself.
