Over $6 Million Has Been Bet on Netflix Releasing a Secret 'Stranger Things' Episode That Doesn't Exist

5 days ago 11

Closeup of Derek smirking and looking to the side.

Adam Blevins began working in the entertainment industry in 2022 as a Staff Writer for Agents of Fandom, where he progressed to Senior Editor and interviewed talent from Marvel Studios, House of the Dragon, and Planet of the Apes. He joined Collider as a News Author in April 2024, was promoted to a Senior position in December 2024, and has written over 3,000 articles for the site, including exclusives relating to Avengers: Doomsday, The Penguin, Star Wars: Skeleton Crew, and more. He primarily writes about the latest box office numbers and the hottest movies and TV shows on streaming, while also covering superhero and sci-fi news. He has completed a set visit for The Chosen and even has several months of experience writing Gaming Features at ScreenRant. You can find him on X, LinkedIn, and Muckrack.

There has been yet another development in Conformity Gate, the ongoing Stranger Things conspiracy: another episode will be released tonight at 8 pm EST on Netflix. The gambling app Polymarket, which allows people to bet on obscure props, opened up a prop allowing its users to bet on whether there would be another episode of Stranger Things released tonight. At the time of writing, fans have bet almost $6 million that there will indeed be a ninth episode of Stranger Things, despite show stars and creatives confirming that the series ended with Episode 8. Most of these bets are only for pennies, but this is still an absurd total nonetheless.

Conformity Gate was born mostly out of fans so unhappy with the series finale of Stranger Things that they convinced themselves that another episode had to be coming to wrap things up. The basis of this conspiracy is that the final episode wasn’t real and happened inside Vecna’s (Jamie Campbell Bower) mind, and that the real series finale will show fans what actually happened in the Abyss and the Upside Down. There is no factual evidence to support the claim that a ninth episode of Stranger Things will arrive tonight, but that hasn’t stopped fans from combing the show for clues.

Regardless of whether you believe that another episode of Stranger Things is coming, Conformity Gate has been an impressive example of seeing a community come together to scan a show for the smallest details. Fans have noticed things that seem as meaningless as the door handle in Mike’s basement being on the other side of the door in Season 1. It’s clues like these that led fans to think that the entire show has more in store before it says farewell.

Will There Be a ‘Stranger Things’ Spin-Off?

The Duffer Brothers, creators of Stranger Things, have confirmed that a spin-off show is in the works; however, it won’t feature any of the same characters from the flagship show. It will instead focus on the rock that a young Henry Creel found in the cave near the end of Season 5. Fans speculated about a spin-off following Hopper (David Harbour) and Joyce (Winona Ryder) in Montauk, but the Duffers confirmed to Collider that this was nothing more than an homage to the series' origins, not a tease for an offshoot.

Stay tuned to Collider for more updates and coverage of Stranger Things, including the ongoing Conformity Gate conspiracy.