Netflix’s ‘Stranger Things 5’ Documentary Finally Answers 1 Fan Question That Led To "Conformity Gate”

When Stranger Things finally came to an end in its fifth season earlier this month, one of the most debated mysteries was not about whether Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown) got to live out her days in Iceland or not; instead, it centered on something that never appeared at all. The new yellow-tinted dimension, the Abyss, is shown in Season 4 as the birthplace of the deadly monsters we’ve seen inhabit the Upside Down, but in the final battle, there were no Demogorgons, dogs, or bats.

Their exclusion became so debated online that it helped give rise to an outlandish fan-theory known as ConformityGate, which argued that the finale was deliberately artificial and that Vecna had succeeded in trapping the characters inside a fabricated reality. However, Netflix’s new documentary, One Last Adventure: The Making of Stranger Things Season 5, finally provides a clear answer as to where those monsters were hiding! They were not a secret clue waiting to be discovered, but were removed in a conscious creative effort as the Duffer Brothers were concerned about “Demo-fatigue.”

The Stranger Things Writers Worried About “Demo-Fatigue” After the Mac-Z Oner

The documentary shows that in early writers' room discussions, it was assumed that the monsters would appear in the Abyss. Writer Paul Dichter states directly that there had to be “some monsters” there and that it felt “crazy” for this newly introduced dimension to be empty. At this stage, the expectation was that some combination of Demogorgons, dogs, and bats would feature in the final battle. The Abyss brought with it new danger in the physical body of the Mind Flayer and a leveling-up in scale that seemed likely to include the “demos” who have ruthlessly killed fan-favorites like Eddie (Joseph Quinn) and Barb (Shannon Purser) in previous seasons. However, as the Season 5 scripts took shape, doubts began to surface about whether revisiting those creatures yet again would actually serve the story.

Co-creator Ross Duffer can be seen questioning the assumption that the final fight needed familiar monsters at all. Demogorgons had already played a major role in Season 5, Episode 4, "Chapter Four: Sorcerer," and the writing team was aware that repeating the same danger risked diminishing the impact of the Mac-Z fight. Writer and producer Kate Trefry questioned whether the audience would be experiencing "Demogorgon fatigue" at this point, and the idea resonated with the rest of the team, including Matt Duffer, who acknowledged that the season already featured extensive monster action earlier on.

This behind-the-scenes explanation complements what the Duffers had previously said in interviews, including with The Wrap, after the finale aired. Matt Duffer had explained that Vecna (Jamie Campbell Bower) did not need his “army of creatures” in the finale because the Mind Flayer itself was “the ultimate weapon.” Vecna was not expecting “a sneak attack on his home turf”, and once the fight reached that point, he was confident enough to handle the threat of the Party personally.

One Last Adventure also confirms that Demogorgons weren’t the only thing to get cut. A substantial midway battle had been planned between the Mac-Z and the final confrontation, which would have featured the characters fending off the familiar “demos” again before reaching Vecna. The Duffers ultimately chose to leave the helicopter explosion at Hawkins Lab in the middle to avoid stacking repetitive action on top of what was already going to be an enormous finale. Ross Duffer says in the documentary that he wanted the final fight to clearly focus on the “giant monster” because it was something new, while revisiting Demogorgons felt increasingly familiar. The team had also discussed including a field of Demogorgon eggs as a visual tribute to James Cameron’s Aliens in the same scene, but the finale was already dense. There was no room for every idea without overwhelming the episode.

The Absence of Demogorgons in the Abyss Was Not a Secret 'Stranger Things' Theory

What makes the Demogorgon explanation in the documentary notable is that it holds a mirror up to Stranger Things fans who have been wildly theorizing since the finale ended. The infamous “Conformitygate” theory treated perceived narrative deviations as intentional signs that the reality shown after the final battle was artificial. According to believers, Vecna ultimately won and placed the characters under a distorted illusion designed to pacify them. Hawkins appears healed, the characters graduate, and life moves on, but that resolution was noted as suspicious. The empty Abyss becomes part of that argument, a supposed clue that the world no longer follows its own rules.

One Last Adventure undercuts that interpretation by showing how practical and openly debated the decision really was. The absence of Demogorgons was not designed to unsettle viewers or hint at a hidden ending. It was the product of a writers' room trying to avoid repetition and to ensure that the final battle felt distinct from everything that came before it. By the end of One Last Adventure, the absence of the monsters is clearly explained and put to rest. The creative team chose to center the finale on the Mind Flayer and Vecna rather than relying on creatures the audience already knew well. The Abyss was meant to feel empty and ominous, creating a gap that fans interpreted as a hidden message, but it was a collaborative creative choice. Stranger Things did not remove its monsters to signal an artificial reality, but to make sure its final battle went out with maximum impact and without repeating itself one last time.