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This has me wondering how they’re going to market the final season. We’re still a bit over a year out from when the actual marketing push is going to start. Are they going to be incredibly vague and throw bones at both Mileven and Byler to get as many eyes on it as they can? (My personal opinion). Are they going to try and create more headline titles like this to throw people off the scent, especially as the date draws closer and leaks start coming out? Or are they actually going to hint towards Byler (or even just emphasize an ostensibly platonic seeming dynamic between them) and start to dodge Mileven questions? You also have to consider that if the Byler endgame comes out, there could be a mass boycott… like hm.

I know this happened a while back but I'm bringing it back to remind you guys you can't trust actors so if this happens again I don't want you guys to have byler doubt...

Goog this VR game got me buggin’. Are we in for another season of The El Show ™️? I keep seeing that the big takeaway is that Vecna is just using Will to get to El. Like my god let Will be important!!! Let him be the special one alone.

I love El but I am so tired of her being the center of everyone’s lives & so beyond tired of Will being used as another opportunity to emphasize how she is God.

P.S. genuinely sorry for calling you Goog, all I can say is it felt right in the moment

Like I said before, El fatigue is real. Stranger Things has morphed into Saved By the El (HERE). For better or worse, she's essential to the narrative.

There appears to be two core reasons for this writing necessity. The first being that Netflix rejected the original plan for an anthology series, arguing that viewers would be too attached to the kids and their stories, leading to the multi-season structure (HERE).

The second reason is that The Duffers didn't know how to execute a multi-season arc without El's presence. Why this is an issue? I can only guess between the Duffers unwillingness to explore the long term implications of El's death, attachment to the character and her potential, writing themselves into a conceptual corner with the lore, as well as awareness that Eleven (thus MBB) has become a figurehead of the series.

"Eleven was going to sacrifice herself to save the day,” Ross Duffer says. “That was always the end game. But once we realized that the show was potentially going to go on longer than one season, we needed to leave it more up in the air, because deep down we knew the show just wouldn’t really work without Eleven. And at that point we knew how special Millie was. If there were going to be more Stranger Things, Eleven had to come back.” - Stranger Things: Worlds Turned Upside Down, 2018

Conceptually, El is a fascinating character. Execution? Not so much, especially post-Stranger Things 2.

It's not shocking this dubiously canon VR game about Vecna reiterates El's centrality, since his entire motivation hinges on revenge against her. It is disappointingly banal, and slightly silly, that the Duffers decided Stranger Things should be about a middle-aged man's psychodrama with an eight year old, now teen.

Vecna is the surprise villain, who is underwritten to the point that there are now two pieces of supplementary media to compensate for his shallow in-show characterization. The play The First Shadow is confirmed canon (HERE). However, this videogame isn't confirmed canon.

Stranger Things VR does have a higher degree of canonicity than expected, due to the Tender Claws team receiving early versions of the Stranger Things 4 scripts and having access to staff writer Paul Dichter (HERE). This means, to me, that fans shouldn't treat whole scenes as real per the official show timeline, but there are certain consistencies about characterization (fears, desires, motivations, relationships, etc.) that could and should be interrogated.

Last night, I did watch the entire VR gameplay, albeit skipping some of the duplicative sections (gameplay HERE). At the end of Chapter One, Vecna hears El in the Void, searching for Will, and says the following:

To be clear, El isn't the reason for Will's kidnapping. That reason is still left ambiguous. The only thing Vecna discovers is that Will is an unexpectedly useful victim, not just in his quest for vengeance but in his (and the Mindflayer's) grander plan for world domination.

Will is, frustratingly, just a means to an end. His importance is as Vecna's tool. However, this is consistent with the Duffers' writing MO: people are collateral damage to weaken El, physically and emotionally, ex. possessed Will and Billy in Stranger Things 2 and Stranger Things 3 respectively, as well as Max in Stranger Things 4.

I doubt this videogame has major spoilers for Stranger Things 5, so I wouldn't get distressed about this plot point. However, I think you need to mentally prepare yourself for debatable Duffer decisions that will inevitably appear on your screen in Q4 2025.

As Ross said in a Variety interview (HERE):

Will really takes center stage again in 5. This emotional arc for him is what we feel is going to hopefully tie the whole series together. Will is used to being the young one, the introverted one, the one that’s being protected. So part of his journey, it’s not just sexuality — it’s Will coming into his own as a young man.

Will is central to Stranger Things 5. The Duffers are creatures of habit so, to an extent, his narrative importance will be linked to El. This inevitability shouldn't detract from his character as a whole. His emotional journey consists of more than El, although she does cause him a fair amount of angst.

...Because I really have to take into account, like, this isn’t just a single layer thing of he’s struggling with coming out. It’s this multifaceted trauma that goes years back, because he was taken by the Demogorgon and then his friends, they never acknowledged him, and now he’s scared to come out and doesn’t know if they’ll accept him. And then Eleven is like his sister, but he doesn’t want to hurt her because if he says he likes Mike, that’s gonna hurt her feelings. There’s all these things running in his mind... - Noah Schnapp, HERE

While Stranger Things VR is more of a cinematic addendum than a game, it does take time to reacquaint the player with Will's multifaceted trauma and insecurities that are overlooked and denied in this fandom.

For example, Vecna exploits--

Will struggling with his perceived weakness:

Will feeling excluded from the established friend group, as an introvert and as a "freak":

Will being haunted by his memories from the Upside Down, ft. the Demogorgon:

Will's inextricable connection to the UD, feeling tainted/corrupted:

Will struggling with jealousy and self-hatred, due to his unrequited feelings for Mike:

Will's isolation and sadness:

Overall, it's refreshing to see Will's turmoil being given more attention in official media. It's a boon to those of us who are excited to see his S5 emotional arc, including his connection with Vecna. Lending more credence to a potential villain plot line for Will, Stranger Things VR reminds us of Vecna and Will's status as foils.

Just like El in 4x07, Will's going to have to make a decision about who he wants to become. Who knows? Maybe Vecna won't give him a choice at all.

I do honestly believe they peruse Tumblr from time to time, including the Byler tag. It’s practically the only place where there is intelligent conversation about the show where ‘unpopular themes’ (aka themes the show has literally been setting up lmao) and theories are discussed. I’m sure they like to see people actually taking the show seriously. The Birthdaygate social media trolling is like top tier evidence of this.

For me, the best thing about Will's new BTS pic isn't the haircut or the Season 1 callbacks or knowing his birthday or the color-coding or his shirt looking like it's straight from Mike's wardrobe or giving Mike more to stare at.

It's everything combined. Like, the creators seriously ticked off a bunch of boxes from the Byler wishlist that can't be coincidental.

Like they're listening closely to Byler fans.

Catering to us, only to pull the rug out from under us, wouldn't make sense.

It's yet another reason to believe that Byler is endgame.

One of the writers of the show, Kate Trefry, about Stranger Things:

She thinks that the popularity of the show is not only determined by the aesthetic and nostalgia for the 80s. It's the mix of very classic storytelling with very left field but still accessible sci-fy. Grounded, but very weird and unexpected. The Duffer brothers are digging deeper constantly looking for the idea you don't see coming. It is ''the'' coming of age, Stand by me, Goonies, that level of classic action-adventure with heart, a very character driven show. Old school storytelling.

For season 5 they talk a lot about the origin of the UD and what it is, and why the town is being punished. She can't tell what the metaphor of the Upside Down is without spoilering season 5.

The show is about people showing up for each other instead of being scared of when someone is different. Being compassionate. The end makes you cry a lot, it has such a beautiful melancholy, classic Spielberg, that sweet loss of innocence, the sorrow of an adventure ending and it ends with literal and figurative bangs.

Link to the podcast

Hot take: the main st cast knows all about endgame byler. It’s called NDAs and being an actor. Their occupation is pretending. And yet nobody’s perfect, so yes, they have cracked a few times along the way. Still, I can’t help but notice how happy they get whenever they talk about the overall story and its ending, it’s like praise and appreciation, with this hint of defensiveness about audience expectations. Hmm wonder why…

i was searching up Material for my german class and I came across this shirt story collection.. it has byler on the cover?? and also on the first page lmao😭😭

Some of my favorite things to note from Steve and Eddie’s wood scene script:

Steve touching Eddie’s arm and telling Eddie to give himself a break when he admitted to being ashamed that he ran was improvised by Joe Keery (the Joe’s truly served Steddie nation SO well)

Steve’s little pat on Eddie’s back was also improvised

Steve saying thanks for Eddie’s “very metal” compliment was another nice little improv from Joe K

FLUSTERED STEVE … am I gonna interpret this in a gay way? of course I am

“We can tell this means a lot to Steve” it’s so sweet how much he values Dustin’s opinion of him 🥺

Steve sidles up to Eddie in a very awkward “guy” way LMAO why did the writers feel the need to preface this scene with a subtle “no homo” 💀 and I love that the Joe’s still made it as fruity as possible