Stranger Things Squashes Fan Theories About a Bonus Episode: ‘ALL EPISODES … NOW PLAYING’

Stranger Things is reminding fans that “ALL EPISODES” of the hit show “ARE NOW PLAYING.”

The Netflix show, which aired its finale on Dec. 31, 2025, currently has TikTok and Instagram bios that read “ALL EPISODES OF STRANGER THINGS ARE NOW PLAYING,” amid the viral Conformity Gate fan theory that another ending is on the way.

PEOPLE has reached out to Netflix for comment.

Stranger Things star, Noah Schnapp, recently went on the record that he believes the Stranger Things ending is complete. The 21-year-old actor, who starred as Will Byers from seasons 1 through 5 of the Netflix series, shared his thoughts on how the series concluded, in the wake of the viral theory that a final episode is forthcoming.

“I remember crying a lot at the final table read,” Schnapp said in a new interview with The Hollywood Reporter, published Tuesday, Jan. 6. “They had us read it for the first time all together and I just think it was perfect.”

Schnapp then went on to say of the Stranger Things finale that the co-creator brothers Matt Duffer and Ross Duffer “really left nothing more to be told.”

Set in 1980s Indiana, Stranger Things followed a group of young friends — Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown), Will Byers (Schnapp), Mike Wheeler (Finn Wolfhard), Lucas Sinclair (Caleb McLaughlin) and Dustin Henderson (Gaten Matarazzo), as well as Max Mayfield (Sadie Sink), Nancy Wheeler (Natalia Dyer), Jonathan Byers (Charlie Heaton), Steve Harrington (Joe Keery) and Robin Buckley (Maya Hawke) — in Hawkins after they witnessed supernatural forces and secret government exploits.

“Once I wrapped, I felt it was time to let Will go,” Schnapp said. “Now I’ve really made peace with it, and especially sharing these final episodes with the fans, the fact that these stories have been told and the journeys are done.”

Though Schnapp says “the story is over,” he shared, “I’ll take with me the lessons I’ve learned. I’m going to take the relationships with me forever, and I just hope this show can have a lasting, positive impact.”

Stranger Things debuted on Netflix in July 2016 and lasted for five seasons. 

The final season came in installments, which saw Volumes 1 and 2 arrive on Nov. 26 and Dec. 25, respectively.

On New Year’s Eve, the last episode dropped, but following its premiere, fans have expressed doubt that the ending is really complete. Stranger Things fans have been sharing a theory called Conformity Gate that posits the events of the finale actually didn’t happen.

According to the Conformity Gate theory, the Stranger Things series finale was a fake episode with the characters’ endings being an illusion — and the “real” ending will be revealed in a secret ninth episode that will air on Wednesday, Jan. 7.

The current TikTok and Instagram bios for Stranger Things however debunk this.

Schnapp also spoke to PEOPLE about the series ending, insisting that all loose ends had been tied — even his character’s longstanding crush on his best friend Mike (Wolfhard). 

“I did feel there was a little bit left unsaid with [episode 7]. And I did actually speak to the Duffers, and they included a scene in the finale that wasn’t originally there to kind of close that story properly,” Schnapp told PEOPLE.

The pair ended up agreeing to remain best friends. 

“If something doesn’t work, or if something feels not right, you can speak to them, and they will work with you,” Schnapp said of the Duffers.

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The final conversation between Mike and Will left things feeling “completely closed and satisfying,” the actor added. “I think the fans will be happy.”

Stranger Things is available to stream on Netflix.