From Stranger Things to Game of Thrones, fans increasingly demand endings on their terms.
The final season of Stranger Things arrived at the end of 2025, accompanied by immense anticipation following nearly a decade’s worth of build-up. The feature-length finale dropped on Netflix on New Year’s Eve 2025 and received a passionate response from fans. For many, it delivered a bittersweet sendoff for the residents of Hawkins. For others, however, something was missing. A faction of these disappointed fans questioned whether Netflix had released the real ending and propagated a viral theory dubbed “Conformity Gate,” suggesting that a secret ninth episode would be released by the streaming service on January 7, 2026.
Social media platforms were flooded with evidence supposedly supporting this theory, with fans analyzing apparent continuity quirks and sharing examples of symbolism that suggested that the show’s big villain’s defeat might be a ruse. Many believed that a secret final episode was coming soon and that they would be vindicated. Ultimately, this did not happen; January 7 came and went with no sign of the “real” final episode.
The Conformity Gate debacle underscored a broader truth about modern fandom and the way we consume media. Fan expectations have never carried more weight, and many fans believe that they can and should play a role in shaping beloved narratives. And this is not the first time that fans felt they were owed a better ending.
Learning to let go
Following the release of the Stranger Things finale, a Change.org petition went live, demanding the release of “unseen footage.” It asserted that longtime viewers deserved a better ending to the story they had invested years in, and now stands at nearly 400,000 signatures. One supporter of the petition wrote that the finale “feels soulless and we deserve to see how this story was truly supposed to end.”
Netflix has since shut down all theories, with the streamer’s official social media channels clarifying that “ALL EPISODES OF STRANGER THINGS ARE NOW PLAYING.”
This is not the first time that an audience has appealed for a new ending. Perhaps the most infamous recent example is HBO’s Game of Thrones, whose eighth-season finale left a sizable portion of its massive audience feeling unsatisfied, leading to a Change.org petition to “Remake Game of Thrones Season 8 with competent writers.” This petition hit nearly two million signatures, and the fan outrage spurred debates over how these giant sagas should be concluded. Parallels have been drawn between the endings of Stranger Things and Game of Thrones, with detractors labeling both as too neat and anticlimactic.
But this idea that fans are owed a better ending goes back further than Game of Thrones. The BBC’s adaptation of Sherlock saw its own share of turmoil following the airing of its finale in 2017. At the time, some viewers latched onto online speculation about a secret or hidden follow-up episode that never materialized, reflecting a desire to see plot threads tied up in a more fan-pleasing way.
A history of fan dissatisfaction
However, fans sometimes get exactly what they ask for, setting precedents that if they make enough noise, their wishes will be granted. In the world of film, the release of Zack Snyder’s Justice League in 2021, following a much-maligned theatrical cut, came after years of fan campaigning demanding a version more faithful to the director’s original vision. Its eventual release gave fans a sense of agency in influencing how their favorite franchises were released and presented. A couple of years earlier, the first Sonic the Hedgehog movie was delayed and the special effects reworked following an outcry from fans about the titular character’s design.
This form of fan pressure is not limited to the world of film and television, either. Video games have seen similar examples. After the release of Mass Effect 3 in 2012, players reacted strongly to what they saw as an ending that undercut the stakes and coherence of the science fiction trilogy, rendering hundreds of player choices inconsequential. In response to the outcry, developer BioWare released an “Extended Cut” for download, which expanded and clarified the original ending. This remains one of the most notable examples of reworking a narrative in reaction to fan dissent.
The power of fans
What these examples all demonstrate is a modern audience’s sense of ownership over the media they consume. Justified or not, today’s fans are more vocal and organized than ever, capable of launching massive petitions or generating viral posts about their dissatisfaction, demanding that creators fix or extend unsatisfactory endings. But this raises questions. Should creators bend to audience pressure? Or should an artist’s vision be allowed to stand, even when it disappoints part of the fanbase?
Ultimately, these huge franchises demonstrate that it is often less about the narrative and more about what they represent: audiences’ huge emotional investment in the stories they love and into which they have poured their time. The outcry highlights the dicey tension between a creator’s intent and fans’ expectations; two things that often differ. For streaming services, negative fan reactions present a more long-term, existential problem. After all, people are unlikely to subscribe to watch a series they have heard ends badly, while disappointed fans may cancel their subscriptions rather than stick around to rewatch their favorite shows.
Jack Bumby
MyCreativeRamblings 