The final season ofStranger Thingswas one of the most highly anticipated seasons of television in 2025. Unfortunately, it left fans deeply disappointed. To cope, die-hard fans took to social media to theorize alternate endings, hopeful that the final season was a "fake-out" designed to trick viewers and that the show would air a new episode revealing the real ending in thenew year.
With the slow realization that the popular theory, Conformity Gate, would never come to fruition, a new theory has emerged—one with seemingly more credibility. The theory? Divorce Gate.
The theory centers on the idea that the brilliant writing present in the first four seasons was largely the work of Ross Duffer's ex-wife, Leigh Janiak. Janiak is an American screenwriter and director, as well as the creator of theFear Streetfranchise. The pair were together fromDecember2015 to February 2024.
While Janiak does not have an official writing credit on Seasons 1-4 ofStranger Things, fans theorize that she significantly aided the brothers in the writing process. Fans speculate this due to the striking similarities between theFear Streetmoviesand the earlier seasons ofStranger Things. The two franchises showcase similar writing tones and rich character dynamics—qualities that fans believe were notably lacking in the final season ofStranger Things, which was coincidentally written after the couple's divorce.
This theory gained significant traction online after theStranger Thingsbehind-the-scenes documentary aired on Jan. 12. The documentary,One Last Adventure: The Making of Stranger Things 5, is a feature-length film that details the filming process of the recent season. While intended as a farewell gift from the Duffer brothers, it has majorly backfired, only giving fans more ammunition for Divorce Gate.
Some of the most shocking pieces of information given in the documentary reveal that while filming Vol. 1 of the season, the ending wasn't even written. This sharply negates what was said by the Duffers on the press tour, which was that the ending had been planned from the very beginning.
Another clip, which was heavily frowned upon by fans, allegedly shows "ChatGPT," an AI software, open in the tabs of Matt Duffer's computer while the script was open on Google Docs. Fans believe this would explain the steep decline in quality dialogue during the season, amplifying the theory that Janiak was the brains behind the operation prior to the divorce.
On theStranger ThingsInstagram, fans are not happy, taking to the comments to air their grievances.
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"the chatgpt tabs, ignoring the suggestion for monsters in the abyss, the filming episodes before they have even been fully written, and producing the series without the ending being written. the casts faces at half of the script. an absolutejoke."
"At this point, I'm not even mad anymore. I'm just so freaking sad and disappointed."
Related: The Internet Reacts To Confirmation That 'Stranger Things' Conformity Gate Is Dead
This story was originally published byParadeon Jan 13, 2026, where it first appeared in theEntertainmentsection. Add Parade as aPreferred Source by clicking here.
