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Here's what happens to every character in the Stranger Things ending
1 January 2026, 19:08 | Updated: 2 January 2026, 15:57
Who survives and who dies in Stranger Things 5? Here's what happens to Mike, Will, Dustin, Lucas, Max, Steve and the rest of the characters at the end of Stranger Things 5. [Spoilers ahead!]
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And with that, Stranger Things has officially come to an end, but what happened to each of the characters? Here's your full breakdown of the ending and where everyone ended up...
Right at the end of episode 8, there's a 40 minute epilogue set 18 months after the final battle against Vecna in which we find out what has happened to our Hawkins Heroes. (If you want to know who died, here's your answer.)
Explaining how they decided what happened to each character, Matt and Ross Duffer told Tudum they had "discussions with ourselves and also with the other actors, and everyone had very specific ideas of where their characters would end up. We wanted them to continue the journeys that they had all started [...] We wanted each of the characters to find happiness but in their own specific ways."
So, if you're dying to know where everyone ended up at the end of Stranger Things 5, here's a complete rundown. Spoilers ahead, obviously!
- Read more: Does Eleven die in Stranger Things 5? Duffer brothers address ending
- Read more: What happened to Vickie in Stranger Things 5? Fans spot Robin clue revealing truth
WARNING: Major spoilers ahead for Stranger Things 5!
This article contains spoilers for the final episode of Stranger Things. If you haven't finished watching the final episode yet and don't want any spoilers, bookmark this page and come back once you've watched it.
If you are here looking for spoilers specifically, then scroll away!
What happens to Mike?
Mike is the last person Eleven talks to before she disappears, and the effect her death has on him is still weighing heavy on him 18 months later.
In the epilogue, Mike almost doesn't make it to graduation but eventually finds the strength to attend after a heart-to-heart with Hopper who encourages him to find a way to accept what has happened, or spend the rest of his life blaming himself.
After graduation, Mike is joined by Will, Dustin, Lucas and Max in the basement of the Wheeler house where they play one last game of D&D. As the campaign wraps up, we see glimpses into the future of the party.
Mike becomes a writer, telling the group: "The storyteller keeps writing stories, stories inspired by his friends. One day, he hopes their tales of grand adventure will spread far an wide across the land so all can know of their great bravery."
In the final shot of Mike's future, he can be seen hard at work on his typewriter, with Will's painting on his wall and a photo of Eleven on his desk.
What happens to Will?
With Vecna defeated and the hive mind gone forever, Will is finally free. He graduates high school alongside his besties and has plans to go to college somewhere near or in New York, close to Jonathan.
"He travels far and long to the bustling city of Vallaki," Mike narrates. "It's overwhelming at first, so very different from the village where he spent his youth but it isn't long before he finds his place there. And with that, deep happiness and acceptance."
Will is shown sitting at a bar before meeting up with another guy, looking happy and content.
Explaining Will's ending, Matt Duffer said: "With Will, we like the idea of him going to a bigger city where he would be more accepted in a situation like that."
What happens to Lucas and Max?
Lumax made it, guys! Lumax made it! 18 months after the events of the final gate closing, Max is not only able to walk again but she's back on her skateboard and thriving.
Lucas and Max are still in a relationship, they graduate together and Max also appears to be living with the Sinclairs too.
In Mike's narration flash forward, we finally get to see Lucas and Max on their date at the cinema that was promised way back in season 4. He says: "The knight and the zoomer, they retire from battle and they settle down in a small village. With each passing day, their love grows stronger."
Expanding on their ending, Matt Duffer reveals that two went to see Ghost: "We filmed it. It was a very romantic scene from Ghost, but then it just kind of took away from their own moment. But that is the movie they’re seeing."
What happens to Dustin?
In one last tribute to Eddie, valedictorian Dustin delivers an absolutely killer graduation speech and does exactly what Eddie said he was going to do when he finally graduated.
Dustin joins the party for one last D&D game, where Mike narrates his future: "The bard, craving knowledge, makes his way to the Mage's Guild of Enclave where he spends his days in their vast library. Though deeply devoted to his studies, he still makes time for the occasional adventure."
Dustin heads off to college, around a day's drive away from Hawkins, but still meets up with Steve to head off on road trips together. Continuing that friendship with Steve was important, says Ross Duffer, "because they had a bumpy Season 5."
What happens to Steve?
Steve Harrington, the man that you are! Unsurprisingly, Steve stays in Hawkins and ends up working with kids because... obviously. He's a damn good babysitter!
Steve now coaches the school baseball team and teaches Sex Ed. He's hoping to be able to afford a house in Forest Hills, and as for his love life? He thinks he's finally found the one and may soon settle down and have kids.
On Steve's ending, Matt said: "It always made sense to us that Steve would choose to stay in Hawkins. He just feels like that kid that you grew up with that ends up staying in their hometown and that he would be working with kids. That’s something we’ve discovered he’s very good at. We like the idea that he would be teaching and coaching. He doesn’t have kids of his own, but as we have implied, that’s imminent, I think."
What happens to Robin?
Robin goes to Smith College in Massachusetts, which is a liberal arts college for women. Robin's ending was suggested by Maya.
It's unclear if Robin is still in a relationship with Vickie—she implies that Vickie may have been "overbearing" and part of the reason why she hadn't been back to Hawkins for so long.
And as for Vickie? She's not seen in the epilogue, suggesting that she has moved out of Hawkins for good.
What happens to Nancy?
Nancy Walk 'Em Down Wheeler has a somewhat surprising ending but it makes total sense for her character. in season 5, Nancy split with Jonathan because she still wasn't sure what she wanted in life.
Nancy, who is now sporting a Hilary Clinton-esque haircut, reveals that she's dropped out of Emerson and now has a trainee job at the Boston Herald.
Explaining her ending, Ross said: "For Nancy, we never want her to take the obvious path. Even in Season 1 when she’s going down the trajectory that all these suburban girls go down, Nancy obviously has proven to be much more independent than that, which is one reason she and Jonathan aren’t together at the end.
"She’s still trying to find herself and what she wants from the world, so that’s why we wanted to give her that ending."
What happens to Jonathan?
Jonathan finally fulfils his dream of going to NYU ("NYU, Lonnie! NYU! He's wanted to go to NYU since he was six! years! old!") where he's studying filmmaking.
Matt Duffer went on to explain: "The teens had called us the day before we were gonna shoot that scene. I think Charlie, in particular, wanted some more specifics about what he was doing at NYU, so we all worked together to cook up this movie idea.
"Even on that day, we kept elaborating on what this movie is. The movie we made at film school in college was not an anti-capitalist movie, but it was a cannibal movie about a shape-shifting cannibal, so that was the idea behind that."
What happens to Erica?
Oh, Erica is thriving. She's still in high school and still excelling at science, but what happens to her next is a mystery.
"She’s absolutely going to be valedictorian," Matt said. "That is for sure. What happens beyond that, I don’t know. She can go where she wants to go."
What happens to Hopper and Joyce?
Did somebody say JOPPER ENDGAME?! Hell yessss! In the epilogue, Hopper and Joyce are shown living together at the cabin and they both attend Will's graduation as proud parents.
Later, we finally see their date at Enzo's where Hopper not only proposes that they move out of Hawkins to start a new life together in Montauk (that's an Easter egg—if you know you know!), but he also proposes to Joyce. She says yes and they slow dance to Etta James' 'At Last', finally together after 30 years.
Speaking about Jopper's final scenes, Matt explained: "That final scene with them had been planned for quite some time. It’s very difficult what Hopper went through, especially with Eleven, and we liked the idea of him and Joyce having an opportunity to start a new chapter in their lives. David [Harbour] liked the idea of sort of a Dickensian ending for those characters."
What happens to Murray?
Murray sticks around Hawkins after the events of the finale, and he's now found a new friend in Mr. Clarke. The Duffers add that Murray is mostly "doing his own weird stuff" while he's not in Hawkins.
What happens to Karen and Ted Wheeler?
Karen and Ted survived a brutal Demogorgon attack and lived to tell the tale. The Wheeler parents are seen alive and well at Mike's graduation, albeit with some gnarly scars from their attack.
Oh, and Karen has a brand new haircut... the same one that Nancy has. Mrs. Wheeler Diva status secured forever.
What happens to Holly?
After surviving that absolutely brutal ordeal at the hands of Henry/Vecna, Holly goes back to school with her friends and even becomes besties with everyone's new fave, Delightful Derek.
As Mike wraps up his final D&D campaign with the party, Holly and her friends (Mary, Derek, Josh and Debbie) go rushing down to the basement to start a game of their own. Holly takes up Mike's place as Dungeon Master as Mike watches on at the next generation.
What happens to Eleven?
Eleven's ending is purposely left on an ambiguous note. After making it back through the gate, Eleven appears to go through with her and Kali's plan to sacrifice herself in the Upside Down.
Despite Mike's desperate last minute pleas during their conversation inside the Void, the bomb goes off and El disappears as the final gate at the library closes once and for all. Eleven is gone forever... or is she?
In the epilogue, Mike keeps sensing that Eleven isn't truly gone, and after a heart-to-heart with Hopper, he finds a way to accept what has happened. In his final D&D campaign, he tells his story to the rest of the party: "The mage you saw die, was not real. She was an illusion."
According to Mike's theory, Kali was able to cast one last illusion before she died to help Eleven fake her death and escape. Eleven arrives back at the MAC-Z with the group and with Kali's invisibility powers manages to sneak into the tunnels and eventually escapes Hawkins, running away to a place far, far away from Hawkins.
El is finally free, and finally at peace. However, it's purposely not confirmed if Mike's story is true, leaving the party and the viewers to decide if they believe her ending.
What happened to Kali?
Thankfully, Kali was not a traitor like many fans had theorised ahead of the final episode. In fact, Kali ended up helping and seemingly saving El's life... if we're to believe Mike's story, that is.
After failing to kill Vecna within his memories with El, Kali (along with Hopper) end up being caught in the lab by Lt. Akers and a group of soldiers. Kali is held at gunpoint and all seems lost until Murray detonates a bomb and blows up a chopper with the sonar equipment used to block El and Kali's powers. However, Akers shoots her just as the bomb goes off.
According to Mike's story that he's choosing to believe, just before she died, Kali helped Eleven become invisible, allowing her to escape the MAC-Z and escape Hawkins. She also conjured an illusion of Eleven at the gate which is what the group saw disappear.
Kali was then obliterated along with the Upside Down when the bomb went off, destroying the Lab with her in it.
What happened to Dr. Kay?
The last we see of Dr. Kay is when she's standing in the MAC-Z as Eleven sacrifices herself. With Eleven and Kali now dead and the Upside Down gone forever, her mission has completely crumbled.
It's unclear what happens to her after that.
Read more about Stranger Things here:
- Jamie Campbell Bower is taking a break from villains after mental toll of Stranger Things 5
- Stranger Things petition goes viral as 300,000 fans demand release of "unseen footage"
- Stranger Things edits out major filming mistake in Holly Wheeler scene
- Stranger Things' Will Byers coming out scene was different in the original draft
- Stranger Things creators clarify 'confusing' Nancy and Jonathan engagement scene
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