STRANGER THINGS Characters Most Likely To Die In The Final Season

Over the course of Stranger Things‘ five seasons, we've watched Eleven go from a mysterious little girl terrified of her own powers to a badass young woman whose fierce loyalty to her friends makes her a psychic not to be messed with. Eleven's arc has made up the beating heart of the show, and so, sadly, it would be a fittingly climactic ending to have her bite the dust in the final season.

If the Duffer Brothers want Stranger Things to go out on a bleak note, we can see Eleven sacrificing herself to finally destroy the Upside Down (much like she did in the ending of the first season, only she won't find herself back in Hopper's cabin this time), leaving the D&D crew essentially back where they were at the very start of the show, only much older, smarter and significantly more traumatized.

Stranger Things fans have been anticipating Steve's death since pretty much the first season, before he proved himself as the adorable fan favorite we know and love today. Hell, the jock-turned-babysitter wasn't originally even supposed to make it past Season 1, but Joe Keery's unfaltering charisma saw the Duffers change their mind and bump Steve up to series regular.

Back then, Steve still had a lot to prove, navigating his changing relationship with Nancy, becoming surrogate big brother to Dustin and finding his own partner-in-crime in fellow ice cream slinger Robin. But we all know now that Steve is a gem, and his transformation arc from shallow pretty boy into bona fide hero is complete – so what better time to kill him off in what could be the most emotional death scene since we said goodbye to Eddie?

From lonely local cop to adoptive parent to surly overprotective girl-dad to prison camp survivor, Jim Hopper's Stranger Things journey has been kind of all over the place. Fan reaction has reflected this, as he went from firm fave in the first two seasons to somewhat hated in Season 3.

One way that the Duffers could cement Hopper's reputation for good as we say goodbye to Stranger Things is have him killed off, for real this time unlike the Season 3 fake-out, in a noble act of self-sacrifice to save Eleven (if she doesn't die too), Joyce or even Mike, for the ultimate character redemption.

Poor old Will has never had a very good time in Stranger Things. He was lost in the Upside Down for most of Season 1, spent Season 2 playing host to the Mind Flayer, was denied one good game of Dungeons & Dragons in Season 3, and had his heart broken by Will in Season 4. It's clear from the first five minutes of Season 5 that the youngest member of the Byers family has some kind of possessive connection to Vecna, and that's not something you just walk away from unscathed.

If the Duffers really wanted to end Will's story on a bum note, we could see one of the D&D crew, probably Mike, having to kill him off in order to stop Vecna for good.

Conspiracy theorist Murray Bauman has been a regular Stranger Things fixture since Season 2, but, let's be honest, has never really evolved past supporting player to the main gang. Losing Murray would have no real impact on the overall arc of Stranger Things, unless Season 5 throws us a huge curveball like he's actually Vecna's long lost cousin or something, and in the final showdown, we are going to have to lose some folks if we want this epic battle to have any weight to it at all. Sorry Murray, but you've got cannon fodder written all over you.

Ok, this one's obvious. What with Vecna being the main villain of Stranger Things and all, we're pretty sure he's going to meet a grisly fate at the hands of our plucky crew of lovable misfits to end the tale. We could be totally wrong however, and if the Duffer Brothers really wanted to give viewers a finale they'll remember forever, they could forgo the idea of a happy ending entirely and just have Hawkins totally annihilated by the Upside Down while Vecna reigns supreme over his legions of Demogorgons. Which, honestly, would kind of slay.

Much like Murray, we're filing Sam Owens under the ‘will probably die just 'cause' category. Sorry to this man. Owens' fate was left in limbo at the end of Season 4, and although he probably did survive the storming of the desert base (we never saw his body, after all), we'd be willing to put money on him not lasting a whole lot longer in Season 5.

If Vickie Dunne is a name unfamiliar to you, that's probably because she's barely been in the show so far. Introduced very briefly in Season 4 as a love interest for Robin, Vickie is set to have a more prominent role in Season 5, and if we know anything about Stranger Things, it's that guest characters don't tend to stick around for too long.

We really hope for Robin's sake (and avoiding what could be an annoying case of ‘bury your gays' in the year 2025 of all things) that this isn't the case, but we'll advise you don't get too attached to Vickie just in case.

Aside from Dustin, on paper, Lucas seems like the least likely of the D&D crew to meet his maker in the last season. Over the last four seasons, we've seen Lucas bloom from nerdy, adorable little lad into a responsible, resilient young man, thanks in huge part to his relationship with Max. It doesn't make sense, surely, to kill him off, especially if we're to assume Max wakes up from her coma and the pair go into the finale together, stronger than ever.

However, in a recent interview, when asked if filming the Season 5 finale with his co-stars was tough going, Lucas' actor Caleb McLaughlin admitted that “My finale was different, so I don’t know”, sending fans into a frenzy of speculation and anxiety. If Lucas isn't with Mike, Eleven, Dustin and Will at the end of it all, then where the hell is he? One painful theory is that he just doesn't make it that far.

If Steve doesn't die in the final season of Stranger Things, then Jonathan almost certainly will. Season 4 hinted at trouble in paradise between Jonathan and Nancy, with the latter starting to get close again with her ex, Steve. Rather than make Nancy choose between the two, it makes far more sense to kill one of them off and, unlike Steve, poor Jonathan doesn't have the status of fan favorite to keep him safe.