Ever since Netflix announced Stranger Things season 5, fans have been chomping at the bit trying to guess what will happen in the show's final chapter, but one fan may have hit the nail on the head and has a rather convincing theory about time-jumping - something that's been hiding right under our noses this entire time.
Posted on Reddit, the fan theory circles around the idea of time, something that the show already focuses on - we're looking at you grandfather clock! Not only this, but the show's creators the Duffer Brothers have previously hinted that season 5 will include a time jump, we just don't know exactly which way, but this fan seems to think we’re going back in time.
In the theory, the Reddit user points out a critical scene in season 4’s final episode, The Piggyback, writing: “When Nancy and Steve are talking in the woods in The Upside-Down, Steve says ‘when I was a baby, I actually crawled backwards'. Nancy says ‘crawled backwards?’ And then Steve replies 'you know, I'd push with my hand like this. Beep. Beep. Always in reverse, you know'. We know season 5's first episode is named The Crawl. I know there are a lot of theories about many monsters crawling out of the gate as Nancy saw in her vision, but my theory is that maybe time will be reversed to the same day Will went missing - like time is paused in that exact same day in the upside-down.”
The fan is referring to the title of season 5’s first episode, previously teased on Stranger Things Day 2022, which could be a direct reference to Steve and Nancy’s conversation in The Upside Down. Could Stranger Things 5 revisit season 1? Well, the Duffer Brothers have previously compared seasons 1 and 5 in an interview with The Guardian stating, “this season – it’s like season one on steroids”. Not only this, but the Stranger Things play, The First Shadow, goes back in time to Henry Creel’s (Vecna) youth, and is connected to the final season of the show, as writer Kate Trefry told SFX magazine: "(The First Shadow) really informs everything that you have seen and will see."
However, other users were quick to point out the flaws in this theory, mainly concerning the fact that the cast now all look way different from how they did in the first season and that recasting our favorite group of Hawkins high schoolers, or using CGI too heavily, may upset fans. One fan suggested that the title The Crawl may be linked the the Hellfire Club, as the crawl in Dungeons and Dragons terminology refers to a massive map with lots of loot and enemies, but no pre-determined path or story. That sounds like The Upside Down to us!
The plot for Stranger Things season 5 is still majorly under wraps, but if this fan theory does in fact hold some truth, then we are in for a wild and unpredictable final season.
Stranger Things is available to stream right now on Netflix. The release date for Stranger Things Season 5 has yet to be announced. To keep in the loop of all things strange see everything we know about Stranger Things season 5, or branch out with our guide to the best Netflix shows.
