Stranger Things’ Final Episode Should Be in Theaters

This winter, more than three years since the season four finale, the final episodes of Stranger Things will finally release. It would be an understatement to say that the show’s ending is a cultural event, as fan posts are already filling the internet and merchandise is flooding stores. Yet, despite all the excitement building up around the show, Netflix is convinced that you should watch it alone, on a device and an account that is only shared by members of your household.

In a Variety profile about the show’s creators Matt and Ross Duffer, the idea of airing some season five episodes in the theater comes up, only for Netflix chief content officer Bela Bajaria to dismiss it. “A lot of people — a lot, a lot, a lot of people — have watched Stranger Things on Netflix,” she responded. “It has not suffered from lack of conversation or community or sharing or fandom. I think releasing it on Netflix is giving the fans what they want.”

Bajaria’s comments are just the latest in Netflix’s ongoing efforts to belittle the theatrical experience. Earlier this year, CEO Ted Sarandos told Variety that “for movie theaters, for the communal experience [is] an outmoded idea,” for some reason framing movie theaters as something only available in major metropolises. “If you’re fortunate to live enough in Manhattan, and you can walk to a multiplex and see a movie, that’s fantastic. Most of the country cannot,” Sarandos told the outlet, revealing that he knows as much about theater habits in middle America as Lucille Bluth knows about banana prices.

Yes, the box office has been weird lately. Familiar names like Lilo & Stitch, and Superman do big numbers, while Paul Thomas Anderson‘s electric One Battle After Another will likely lose money, just like Captain America: Brave New World and Mission Impossible—The Final Reckoning before it. And yet, the TikTok inspired “Chicken Jockey” craze that made A Minecraft Movie a big hit and the box office returns for Taylor Swift’s The Official Release Party of a Showgirl shows that fans will come to theaters for events.

Netflix itself knows this to be true. The streamer topped the box office when it released a sing-along version of KPop Demon Hunters to theaters, a venture so successful that it plans to bring it back for Halloween weekend.

There’s absolutely no reason to not do the same for at least part of Stranger Things‘ final season. Fans have waited for years for the story to reach its conclusion, and the Duffer Brothers have been teasing a spectacle, supported by a massive budget from Netflix. Bajaria’s right to say that people have watched Stranger Things on Netflix, but their enjoyment of the show isn’t limited to whatever device they’re using to watch the show. They share their enthusiasm together in social situations, not just those online.

In the Variety profile, Matt Duffer admits that streaming doesn’t give viewers the best version of the show. “People don’t get to experience how much time and effort is spent on sound and picture, and they’re seeing it at reduced quality,” he said, before invoking, yes, the communal experience of watching something together. “[I]t’s about experiencing it at the same time with fans,” Duffer stated.

He’s right, and fans will experience Stranger Things best if only Netflix gets over its nonsense ideas about movie theaters and play the show on the big screen.

Stranger Things season 5 streams its first four episodes on Netflix on November 26, 2025.