Stranger Things’ #ConformityGate Theory Isn’t Real - Here's Why

Although ConformityGate is an intriguing theory, the idea of a secret second Stranger Things finale is more of a reflection of the show’s shortcomings than a real possibility. The Stranger Things finale arrived on December 31, 2025, and then something strange happened. Something that has only happened once or twice before, with shows that had similarly massive and obsessive online followings.

As happened with Sherlock and Supernatural, a vocal contingent of the show’s fandom put forth a theory that the finale wasn’t the show’s real, official ending, and that there was secretly a second do-over episode set to be released soon. This theory, dubbed “ConformityGate,” claimed that the show’s ending was all an illusion.

Since Stranger Things villains Vecna and the Mind Flayer both proved they were able to manipulate the ways that characters perceive reality throughout season 5, this theory makes some sense. The gist of the fan theory is that the events of the finale never happened, and Vecna was never defeated.

Instead, the triumph over the villain was all an illusion that he created to keep Hawkins under his control. According to ConformityGate, the audience spends the finale watching not the fate of the show’s main characters, but a delusion that Vecna has created to fool them, not unlike the Matrix.

Stranger Things Season 5’s Ending Isn’t As Pro-Conformity As Fans Allege

Depending on who viewers ask, the Stranger Things finale might be Mike’s individual delusional fantasy created by Vecna, or it might be a collective fantasy that Vecna is using to control everyone in Hawkins. Some posit that it could even be a projection created by Vecna to fool the viewers of the show itself.

However, the theory falls apart under scrutiny. The central premise of ConformityGate, and the detail that gave the fan theory its name, is the idea that the main characters and everyone else in Hawkins fall victim to the sort of conformity they spent the series avoiding in the show’s finale.

In a few isolated instances, this is arguably true. Most notably, Joyce and Hopper end up getting engaged, despite how toxic Hopper’s behavior was toward Joyce back in season 3. The couple even returns to Ernesto’s, a restaurant where Hopper once had a drunken outburst when Joyce failed to attend a date with him.

Joyce started the series as a harried, poor, overworked single mother, while Hopper was an alcoholic small-town cop grieving the death of his daughter and the breakdown of his marriage. As such, their cheery, idealized happy ending does lend ConformityGate some credence. However, it is about the only instance of the theory making sense.

Not only does Eleven’s finale sacrifice not fit the theory, but many of the biggest claims from ConformityGate crumble under inspection. Viewers claim that Nancy and Mike effectively grow up to become carbon copies of their parents, but there is little evidence of this outside of their changing haircuts.

Nancy doesn’t end up in a drab, suburban marriage, but instead follows her dreams and begins working as a journalist at a remarkably young age. In fact, she even has the maturity to break up with her high school sweetheart, Jonathan, and turn down Steve, forging her own path instead of defining her life via her romantic choices.

Similarly, Mike’s future isn’t clear, but there is no reason to believe that he accepts a life of conformity and suburban mediocrity as his inevitable, unavoidable fate. On the contrary, the D&D game’s flash forwards imply that the group lives pretty subversive lives.

ConformityGate Highlights A Major Stranger Things Problem

Will lives as an out gay man in the ‘80s, during the height of the AIDS epidemic, which is an incredibly transgressive decision. Similarly, of the core group, only Steve stays in his hometown, with even Joyce and Hopper planning to move to Montauk. All the kids move out of Hawkins, and longtime lovebirds Jonathan and Nancy don’t stay together.

Even Robin and Vicki seemingly broke up off screen, to say nothing of Dustin and his Stranger Things love interest, Suzie, breaking things off before season 5 even began. In terms of small, subversive decisions that change the show’s status quo, season 5’s ending is undeniably unpredictable.

In this regard, ConformityGate highlights a broader issue with the series. Many viewers wanted Stranger Things to be a subversive show that highlighted the dark side of the ‘80s, a la Stephen King’s It, but the show grew warmer and more light-hearted as it progressed. Hence, the finale felt oddly, almost jarringly sweet and hopeful, but this was in line with season 5’s broader tone.

ConformityGate Doesn’t Answer Its Biggest Stranger Things Plot Hole

Of course, the biggest issue with ConformityGate is simpler than any conversation about the show’s broader tone and style. If the finale’s story was all a delusion designed by Vecna to placate Mike, then why would the villain split up Mike and Eleven? And not even clarify whether she survived?

If Vecna wanted the people of Hawkins to remain placid and pliable, he would have no reason to put Mike through this. He could instead conjure up a straightforwardly happy ending wherein Mike and El end Stranger Things together as a couple, thus giving the duo no reason to ever question their reality.