We’re almost at the end of the road for Stranger Things. After nearly a decade and four blockbuster seasons, as well as a Broadway play, the Netflix hit is closing the book on the Upside Down with a three-part Season 5.
With the show creators, the Duffer Brothers, promising this fifth and final season will wrap up all the show’s mysteries—and perhaps more importantly to the focus of this article, the character arcs—fans are on high alert, wondering who, if anyone, is going to die by the series’ end.
To be clear: nobody has to die in this final season. It’s entirely possible the show could end with all the characters alive, happy, and settled, starting a new life. In fact, despite some big character deaths over the past four seasons, the Duffers have been very careful and calculated about making sure those deaths have the proper impact. “It’s important that every death resonates in a big way,” Matt Duffer told Time Magazine, “which is why we’re very careful who we kill because it has these massive season-long ripple effects. Otherwise it just doesn’t feel like it has any weight to it.”
That’s all well and good—one could throw out that nobody will die because the show doesn’t have time to deal with the deaths—but let’s be honest: all bets are off. Nobody is safe, and with the town of Hawkins under siege by the villainous Vecna (Jamie Campbell Bower) and frequent incursions from the Upside Down, things are looking more dire than ever for everyone involved. Heck, the Duffers have teased that you’ll be “crying in front of strangers” if you see the finale in theaters. Probably not crying with joy, right?
The creators have also teased that while Season 5 may not be as violent as Season 4, it will feature the “most violent death of any season,” adding an extra layer of dread for our beloved characters. As Matt and Ross Duffer try to avoid the fate of other series with famously poor endings, like Game of Thrones, they’ve stated that “Every character’s ending needed to feel right. That was more important than providing the fans with the ending they’re hoping for.” This mantra suggests that some sacrifices may be necessary for narrative closure.
With that in mind, we’re going to break down every major member of the show’s main cast and give our best educated guess as to who will kick the bucket in Stranger Things Season 5, from least likely to most likely. Let’s run up that hill one last time and figure out which Stranger Things characters are most likely to die in Season 5!
The Core Players and Longshots (1% – 12% Chance of Death)
We begin with the characters who seem most insulated from a final-season demise, whether by narrative necessity, fan affection, or simply a lack of a clear endgame path.
Erica Sinclair (1% chance)
Erica, Lucas’s bitingly sarcastic little sister, was a relatively late but incredibly welcome addition to Team Hawkins. You can’t spell America without Erica, and it’s hard to imagine the show without her powerful wit.
- Why She May Die: Honestly? Erica isn’t going to die; we’re not even going to entertain the thought. Killing one of the younger members of the cast would be unnecessarily sad and would tie into something the Duffers have actively avoided.
- Why She Probably Won’t: Erica is the future of Hawkins. She’s grown into a powerful and devoted Dungeons & Dragons player. While the Duffers claim spinoffs won’t tie into Stranger Things‘ plotlines, it only makes sense that Erica will be carrying the torch at the end of the season in a new D&D game. If any character is completely safe, it’s Erica.
Robin Buckley (1% chance)
The former Scoops Ahoy employee and BFF of Steve Harrington, Robin may have finally found love in the Season 4 finale.
- Why She May Die: Robin is one of the only characters without familial ties to the main group, meaning the impact of her death would be felt differently, though intensely by Steve. She’s so tied to Steve that if one goes out in a blaze of glory, a fan theory suggests they should go together, rather than one mourning the other.
- Why She Probably Won’t: Killing the one openly gay character on the show (as Will was not yet out the last time we saw him) would be a very bad look for the series, one the creators would surely want to avoid. Also, let’s be honest: everyone loves Robin. Don’t kill Robin.
Mike Wheeler (2% chance)
Mike was revealed to be the “heart” of the party last season, and there are certainly romantic feelings Will seems to harbor towards him that a section of the fanbase would like to see resolved.
- Why He May Die: Mike has been curiously sidelined in the action for someone who is supposed to be the center of the party. It’s entirely possible that he could step up to save the day in a decisive moment this season… at the ultimate cost of his life, a final act of the “heart.”
- Why He Probably Won’t: As we learned, a body can’t survive without the heart. Whatever anyone thinks about Mike as a character, the Duffers clearly feel he is central to the survival of the party. As its emotional anchor, Mike is almost certainly destined to survive.
Nancy Wheeler (2% chance)
Nancy is the intrepid reporter, sleuth, and, in many ways, the leader of the whole kids’ group. She’s adept at making a plan and is a warrior with a mean shotgun.
- Why She May Die: Nancy is currently in the center of a love triangle between her current boyfriend, Jonathan, and her old flame, Steve. One dramatic way out of this pickle is to kill Nancy rather than having her choose one or the other, adding a deep, shared trauma to the surviving men.
- Why She Probably Won’t: In the Season 5 trailer, there’s a scene where Nancy is sobbing and washing blood off her hands. This strongly points to someone else dying—likely someone close to her—not her. Nancy seems destined to survive and perhaps report on the aftermath.
Joyce Byers (2% chance)
The ultimate mama bear of the Byers family has always been right in the center of the action, and with her son Will in particular in even more danger, fans wonder if the one-time Lydia Deetz will make the ultimate sacrifice.
- Why She May Die: As one of the few main characters who hasn’t “died” but has been part of the main action, Joyce certainly could be in trouble. Trailers show her son is in a tough spot with Vecna, and we know she’ll do anything for her kids. There’s also the matter of the play, The First Shadow, which finds Joyce far more tied to Henry Creel than has been let on in the TV show.
- Why She Probably Won’t: Similar to other core characters, there doesn’t seem to be anything gained by Joyce dying. Given the creators’ focus on emotional weight, there’s a good chance the Duffers want to give as many people a happy ending as possible, and Joyce finally settling down with Hopper after all they’ve been through seems like the ultimate reward.
Lucas Sinclair (5% chance)
Lucas has seen significant growth throughout the series, but his Achilles’ heel is Max Mayfield, who he loves more than anything.
- Why He May Die: Max was left in a comatose state at the end of Season 4. What better way for Lucas to prove his enduring love than to make the ultimate sacrifice for Max, perhaps by physically protecting her body or drawing Vecna’s attention away?
- Why He Probably Won’t: Other than his link to Max, there’s not a lot working against Lucas in a “gonna die” pool. It would rip Max’s heart out (assuming she wakes up), and destroy the rest of the D&D party, but Lucas dying would be more of a bummer than a triumphant exit, possibly undercutting his growth.
Karen Wheeler (7% chance)
The Wheeler matriarch has been curiously featured heavily for a parent character throughout the action, and there’s always been the suggestion that maybe she knows more than she’s letting on.
- Why She May Die: The juice-loving Holly Wheeler is finally a main character in Season 5. While we don’t expect the show to murder a child, putting Holly front and center means that her mom, Karen, may be in danger protecting her, giving her a heroic mom-on-a-mission death.
- Why She Probably Won’t: There’s really nothing to be gained by killing off Karen… unless that wild Alice Creel theory is revealed to be true. On the other hand, her clueless husband Ted Wheeler can go at any time, and honestly, nobody would even notice or care.
Ted Wheeler (12% chance)
Like his wife Karen, Ted has no clue what is going on with The Upside Down. Often portrayed as annoyed or sleepy, he has nonetheless been featured in every season. Jonathan’s speech to Nancy in Season 1 about her settling for an unhappy, boring life suggests the Wheeler’s marriage is fraught, and if they aren’t heading toward divorce, a dramatic separation is necessary.
- Why He May Die: It is time for Ted to get up off the couch and show he loves his family. With The Upside Down in Hawkins, what if a creature threatens to attack Karen, Mike, Nancy, or Holly? Ted could finally rise up and use himself as a distraction or even attack the creature, allowing his family to escape. It would be the ultimate redemption arc for a minor character who never actively made things better for the main kids.
- Why He Probably Won’t: In all reality, this is a good fan theory, but Ted might not be featured heavily enough, nor have drawn enough sympathy from the audience, to warrant a hero’s ending that truly resonates with the viewers—the very criteria the Duffers set for a character death.
Prime Targets and Emotional Bombs (16% – 40% Chance of Death)
These characters represent significant emotional anchors or crucial plot mechanisms. Their deaths would land with the “massive season-long ripple effects” the Duffer Brothers crave.
Jonathan Byers (16% chance)
The older Byers brother has been at a loss about what to do with his life over the past few seasons, and found his meaning in his relationship with Nancy. With that relationship on the rocks, is Jonathan going to end Season 5 under the dirt?
- Why He May Die: There’s a very telling scene we referenced earlier of Nancy sobbing and rubbing blood off her hands in the trailer. While fans suspect Steve, we’re going to play a hunch and say Jonathan is going to be the one to die. It’s Jonathan who finally steps up and makes the ultimate sacrifice, either to save Nancy or others. Yes, it clears the way for Nancy and Steve to be together, but his death would also wreck Will and Joyce, creating the necessary season-long emotional weight. There’s not a lot else to do with the character at this point, making his death a logical, if tragic, conclusion to his journey.
- Why He Probably Won’t: This prediction is mostly based on a hunch about solving the love triangle and maximizing emotional impact. However, the Duffers might decide his story needs a different form of closure, perhaps an independent one, rather than just serving as a dramatic plot device for others.
Dustin Henderson (18% chance)
Dustin is always leading the team into danger and naming the monsters, but is his name about to come up… for death? He is the least likely of the core group of kids to die, which ironically means he’s maybe the most likely, because we won’t expect it.
- Why He May Die: There’s another reason he could kick the bucket, at least according to fans: His line, “If you die, I die” in Season 3, spoken to Steve Harrington. While that wasn’t written into law or anything, Steve and Dustin have been so tied together, it might be a mercy to take them out at the same time rather than eliminating one or the other and leaving the survivor heartbroken.
- Why He Probably Won’t: He’s Dustin; he’ll be fine. In all seriousness, Dustin is a fan-favorite, a source of constant humor, and the brains of the operation. Killing him would be an overwhelming emotional blow that might be too much for the audience to handle.
Max Mayfield (23% chance)
We already noted that Max was left comatose at the end of Season 4, having been brutalized by Vecna. She’s not exactly in a good position to fend off anything, as Eleven was unable to find her in the void, suggesting she might be gone for good.
- Why She May Die: The better question is: Will she get better? Fans have also pointed out that Sadie Sink was the only cast member to wear white on the Stranger Things Season 5 premiere red carpet, which they take as a subtle hint that Max is with the angels now. While Lucas is trying to keep Max’s body safe, there may be nothing left to save. If she were to pass away in Season 5, it would be the ultimate tragedy after her bravery in Season 4.
- Why She Probably Won’t: Having Max narrowly survive getting killed in Season 4 only to die of natural causes (or complications) in Season 5 isn’t a rousing end to the MADMAX story. Her relationship with Lucas, her ties to Vecna, and her strength against the Upside Down suggest there’s more to come. She’s in dire circumstances, for sure, but there’s no reason to think she won’t wake up at some point this season to fight one last time.
Will Byers (23% chance)
There’s an argument to be made that Stranger Things is Will’s story, not Eleven’s. And it looks like the younger Byers son will be front and center in the action this season as the first five minutes flash back to Will’s time in the Upside Down. Vecna needs Will to finish what he started, and the tension between Will’s old trauma and his need for closure is immense.
- Why He May Die: If you’re going to wrap up Will’s story, one way of doing that is to kill him off. Will making an active choice to sacrifice himself to save the world from Vecna is the ultimate reversal of where we first found him: kidnapped and serving Vecna’s bidding against his will. This could be his final step into becoming an adult and escaping his destiny.
- Why He Probably Won’t: Will is vitally crucial to the plot of Season 5, and that means there needs to be some sort of definitive closure. Whether he’s Eleven’s brother or the Earthly avatar of Vecna—two circulating theories—he is essential to defeating the Big Bad. After four seasons in the wringer, maybe he deserves a little happiness at the end.
Jim Hopper (25% chance)
Hawkins’ sheriff has grown a ton over the course of the show, opening up tremendously after the devastating death of his daughter to become a father for Eleven and a romantic interest for Joyce. He’s the action hero of the show and always throwing himself into danger head first.
- Why He May Die: Hopper is right in the midst of the action, and he’s willing to die, having already almost done so at the end of Season 3. David Harbour has been pretty open about feeling like the show has been spinning its wheels with Hopper for a while, so with not much left to say, a definitive, heroic sacrifice could be the emotional punctuation he needs.
- Why He Probably Won’t: Fans have marked Hopper as “safe” mostly based on the fact that the show already did a fake-out death with the character. The Duffers likely know repeating that narrative trick would cheapen the final impact. However, the emotional impact of finally putting “Jopper” to rest, right before they can fully enjoy their reunion, could be exactly the tragic weight the final season requires.
Murray Bauman (40% chance)
The erstwhile reporter and conspiracy theorist has become a main part of the adult cast, palling around with Joyce and Hopper, particularly during their Russian adventure.
- Why He May Die: Look, someone has got to die this season, right? Nothing against Murray, but he’s the easiest to kill off in a fun way, thanks to Brett Gelman’s always over-the-top delivery. His death would have an emotional impact—Joyce and Nancy would probably be bummed—and then the narrative could move on without it ripping apart a whole family or serious romantic relationship. This is more about logistics: Murray’s death could give the final season the gravitas it needs without sacrificing the finale to rioting fans over a core kid’s demise.
- Why He Probably Won’t: All apologies to Murray stans, but his death wouldn’t have the intense emotional impact of almost any other one on this list. Would it truly meet the Duffer Brothers’ criteria of a death having “massive season-long ripple effects?” Maybe not.
The Most Likely Casualties (49% – 90% Chance of Death)
These characters are either structurally set up for a final sacrifice or are the clear antagonists who must be defeated for the heroes to achieve victory.
Eleven / Jane Hopper (49% chance)
Whereas there’s an argument to be made that Stranger Things is Will’s story, there’s another, probably better argument to be made that it’s Eleven’s story. The psychically-powered superhero is training, Luke Skywalker style, to take Vecna down.
- Why She May Die: To take things a little further, if you go just by the TV show, then this whole thing is her fault. Eleven is the one who opened the portal to the Upside Down and sent Henry Creel there, which eventually turned him into Vecna. This is all Eleven’s doing, and if she’s going to make things rightside up, the ultimate conclusion could be that she’ll have to give up everything in the process, sacrificing her life to permanently seal the gate and cleanse the world of the Upside Down’s influence.
- Why She Probably Won’t: To get into big spoilers for The First Shadow, this actually isn’t all Eleven’s fault; it’s the Mind Flayer who corrupted Henry Creel and has been manipulating things since the very beginning. If the series works in any of this mythology, it absolves Eleven of a lot of the personal guilt she likely feels. A late-in-the-season revelation could change the course of the plot, allowing her to live out her life happy and free of the torture she’s been through. The show has consistently doubled down on how love is far, far stronger than hate when it comes to the powers of the Upside Down, suggesting that her final victory may be one of healing and connection, not self-destruction.
Steve Harrington (50% chance)
Steve has been marked for death pretty much since the first season of the series, and was in fact supposed to be a one-season bully character. Instead, he got a massive redemption arc, becoming the group’s beloved “babysitter” and a loyal friend. Not only that, but he’s rekindled a spark with Nancy, particularly after revealing his dream of getting married, having six kids, and traveling in an RV.
- Why He May Die: Steve’s character arc is arguably the most complete of anyone on the show. His transformation from jerk to selfless hero means his character has peaked, and a heroic death protecting the children he loves would be the ultimate payoff for his redemption. Furthermore, his connection to Nancy is a ticking narrative clock; killing him off is a powerful way to end that romantic possibility, leaving Nancy with an emotional wound that will never fully heal. The Duffer Brothers have been teasing a very violent death, and given his consistent history of being injured, Steve seems like the prime candidate for that gruesome finale.
- Why He Probably Won’t: Steve has been so heavily predicted for so long, there would be a sense of inevitability to his death instead of surprise, possibly undercutting the emotional impact. There’s also a pretty good indication that the show is leaning towards Steve and Nancy as an endgame relationship. If the reports of Steve’s death are greatly exaggerated, it would be a pleasant surprise for fans.
Henry Creel / Vecna (90% chance)
The big bad, Vecna, is coming to destroy not just Hawkins but the entire world. Nancy already had a vision in Season 4 of what his plan is: total invasion of Earth.
- Why He May Die: He’s the villain; of course he has to die. He’s caused so much pain and suffering for decades, and killed so many people, that there’s no path of redemption for the psychopathic killer. He needs to be stopped at any cost, and given the high-stakes, world-ending threat, it is highly likely that he will be obliterated in the end.
- Why He Probably Won’t: The play, The First Shadow, presents Henry as a disturbed child who, before being corrupted by the Mind Flayer, was capable of love, thanks to his friend Patty Newby (Bob Newby’s sister). The Upside Down infection predates Eleven. It’s fair to speculate that Eleven beats Vecna not by obliterating him, but by healing him, bringing Henry back to the surface. The final episode is titled “The Rightside Up,” suggesting a world that is not just saved, but fixed. It’s a long shot, but if the show truly wants to subvert expectations and stay true to its theme that love conquers all, Henry Creel could survive, albeit without his Vecna persona.
