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After 10 long years- one of the most high-rated shows, Stranger Things, finally ended on the last day of 2025, December 31. Vecna and Mind Flayer finally got defeated, El left or sacrificed herself, Will,
Dustin, Lucas, Mike, and Max graduated, Steve IS ALIVE, ‘Jopper’ became official, ‘Jancy’ ended, and whatnot– all in all, an emotional end to a series that grew up with us- quite literally. However, despite everything coming to an end, what’s with this ‘secret episode’ that fans are going crazy about? Were the Duffer Brothers really playing with us all along? Or are the fans experiencing the first stage of grief- denial- and are absolutely not ready to let go of the fact that maybe the show really did end with 2025? What is even going on?For those confused, it seems like there is a good number of people who are somewhat sure that the show has not ended yet, and a secret episode- episode 9- is still about to get released. The internet is calling it the ‘Conformity Gate’, which basically suggests that everything that we saw was nothing but a perfect illusion that Vecna created to not only fool the show’s characters but even us- the viewers. And no, their theories are not baseless- if fans are to be believed. The internet is witnessing an endless number of videos of people breaking down possible easter eggs that hint towards something being wrong!From people ‘decoding’ everyone’s pose- that looks like Henry’s- to deciphering hairstyles of the main characters- people are doing everything they can to prove their point. Netizens are also talking about certain props changing colours mid-story. To top it all, even Instagram's algorithm is going crazy, as people are coming across cryptic reels today- January 07- a date which many are predicting as the release date for the secret episode. Let’s take a look at some of the most viral theories:
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