Netflix juggernaut Stranger Things ended its nine-year run on New Year’s Eve 2025, but the internet has other plans. A viral theory dubbed "Conformity Gate" has convinced thousands of fans that Netflix is hiding a secret ninth episode, and that today, January 7, 2026, is the day it drops.

The Stranger Things season 5 finale ended the hit Netflix show on a seriously emotional note, with the party gathering to play D&D one final time in a poignant mirror of the show's first scene.

Season 5 of Stranger Things is its final one, and was made up of eight sometimes divisive episodes... but which of them stands as the best overall?

There is no another finale of Stranger Things. The countdown clock on the website was fake and created to fool fans.

When does Stranger Things 5 premiere? Volume 1 dropped on November 26 at 8:00 pm ET with episodes 1-4. When Will Volume 2 of Stranger Things 5 Drop? Netflix clearly wants fans to

Netflix users spent 325.6 million hours watching season five last week — not counting those who went to movie theaters to watch the final episode on Dec. 31 and Jan. 1. The finale made an estimated $20 million to $25 million in revenue for theater chains over those two days.

Prior to its return, Netflix confirmed that season five would consist of eight episodes, but with a theory known as 'Conformity Gate' emerging on social media, whispers of a top-secret ninth episode have been spreading across fan pages on Facebook and TikTok.

Stranger Things fans currently stand at a crossroads, torn between belief and skepticism over rumors about Season 5 Episode 9. Many believe that this is not how the Duffer Brothers intended the words “I believe” to be used.

Find all the connections from previous seasons and 'The First Shadow' play that may help you connect the dots as you watch 'Stranger Things 5' Vol. 2

Back in November, if someone had told me those first few episodes would prove to be the high point of Stranger Things' final season, I would've insisted they were kidding. Despite the mediocre first set of episodes,

Noah Schnapp tells PEOPLE that he felt there was "a little bit left unsaid" after Will came out as gay, so he asked the series creators, Matt and Ross Duffer, to add a scene to the 'Stranger Things' finale to "close that story properly.

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