The Real Reason Demogorgons Didn’t Appear in the Stranger Things Finale
The demos were done by the season finale of Stranger Things, and now we know why.
A lot was going on in the series finale of Stranger Things, but somewhere between the Hawkins gang’s giant CG battle against the Mind Flayer, Vecna getting his head chopped off, and the long goodbyes, you may have noticed that one iconic monster from the series was strangely (no pun intended) absent: the demogorgon.
Since the finale began streaming on New Year’s Eve, there have been various theories swirling online about why the demos didn’t show up to join the ruckus in the final skirmish, but you don’t need to look at any of those theories because, as fun as they are, the creators of the show have been on hand to shoot them down.
“Mainly it’s just that Vecna was not expecting this sneak attack on his home turf,” Matt Duffer told The Wrap. “Never in a million years could he even imagine that. [The demogorgons] are there somewhere. We obviously discussed having a demo battle on top of the Mind Flayer battle, but it felt more right to us that why does he need the demos when the Mind Flayer is this giant thing and can attack them? He doesn’t need his little ant army to attack, he’s going to take care of this himself. It’s a giant, desolate planet. If you recall, you see Henry wandering the planet back in season 4 and at some point in his journey, he does see a demo far in the distance, but it’s not like they’re hanging out in little huts. There’s not like a giant civilization of demos up there.”
Ross Duffer noted that they even considered including a scene in which the gang chanced upon “a giant field of demo eggs” as a sort of homage to James Cameron’s Aliens, but they couldn’t fit all their ideas into the final episode.
“Demo fatigue” also played a part in the decision, according to Matt Duffer, as the adorable critters had somewhat reached the peak of their threat when Will managed to wrestle control of them away from Vecna in episode four. The brothers decided to keep their focus on Vecna and the Mind Flayer instead, the latter of whom hadn’t yet appeared in season five’s battles.
So, there you have it!