Over six months after Stranger Things came to an end, Eleven star Millie Bobby Brown says only she and the show's creators know what really happened to her character.
"And you know what? The Duffer Brothers and I, we made a secret pact that we know the true ending," said Brown on The Tonight Show starring Jimmy Fallon, adding that "whatever they choose to do with that information, they do," but she still hasn't told anyone. "Even my husband's like, 'Just tell me.'"
At the end of Stranger Things season 5, after defeating Vecna in the Upside Down and helping her friends get back to Hawkins, Eleven decides that the only way to close the gate to the Upside Down for good is to sacrifice herself as Hopper blows up the gate (you can read more on that in our Stranger Things season 5 finale ending explained).
However, later in the episode, Mike Wheeler tells the others that Eleven is still alive, and that Kali projected an image of Eleven inside the gate while the real Eleven escaped. Wheeler imagines his girlfriend living in rural Iceland. This left her fate pretty open-ended and convinced a lot of fans that the character may still be alive.
Back when the finale aired, the Duffer brothers revealed that they left Eleven's fate open so that viewers could choose for themselves what happened to her, but they know the truth. On the Happy, Sad, Confused podcast, Matt Duffer said, "This is ambiguous. I mean, you're writing from a point of view of understanding what the truth is and the reality is," adding, "I think it takes away the power of the ending if you tell people what you were thinking as you were writing it."
However, many fans were not too happy with the ending, which led to a widespread conspiracy theory known as Conformity Gate. Stranger Things fans were convinced that there was a secret ninth episode on the way, and that 'clues' from the final season pointed to Vecna tricking the audience. Alas, no other episode ever arrived. When Fallon mentioned the theory, Brown replied, "Oh my gosh! Shut up!"
Stranger Things seasons 1-5 are available to stream on Netflix, but the franchise lives on, as Stranger Things: Tales From '85 season 2 is in the works. For more, check out our guide to the best Netflix shows, and keep up with new TV shows
