Stranger Things 'conformity gate' crashes Netflix as thousands hope for secret finale episode

Stranger Things fans managed to briefly crash Netflix after thousands went onto the streaming site hoping to find a secret finale episode of the series.

The final season of Stranger Things has been mired in controversy and conspiracy, with fans having previously become convinced that there was a secret longer cut of volume two.

Stranger Things creators The Duffer Brothers debunked this, but that didn’t stop a viral theory convincing fans that the finale we got was actually a fake ending.

Called ‘Conformity Gate’, the theory suggested that episode eight was not a real ending and was instead a vision shown to Mike and the party by Vecna, pointing to numerous signs that suggested this was true.

It specifically hinged on the date of 7 January, suggesting that a previously announced ‘What’s Next’ event from Netflix was going to reveal the secret episode.

In the end, this turned out to be untrue, with Netflix not making reference to Stranger Things in the video and no extra episodes being uploaded. The rush to try and confirm this, however, was so fervent from fans that Netflix actually crashed last night.

Stranger Things is officially over, but one viral theory suggested that this wasn't 100% true (Netflix)

The streamer reportedly went down as of 8.00pm ET, the same time many of the previous episodes of Stranger Things had been uploaded.

While volume one and the finale of season five caused crashes on Netflix, there were no reported cases of this for volume two, showing that the anticipation for this was higher than even some of the officially planned releases of the show.

The show’s fandom has since gone into meltdown, with one popular post on the Stranger Things Reddit community saying: “A decade-long show had such a disastrous finale that viewers assume they're in mass psychosis.”

Others, however, have stood up for the finale, defending it from critics and superfans who have been deriding it. One fan commented saying: “I thought the ending was sweet. Doesn’t deserve the hate it’s getting.”

Stranger Things fans became convinced the episode was going to release, so much so that they crashed Netflix (Netflix)

Another replied saying: “I thought it was alright too. I'd probably rate it a 7/10. I agree with a lot of the criticisms, but I don't think it was a bad finale overall.”

The theories around the finale have led to comparisons to finales of large shows that met similar criticism, but the final episode of Stranger Things was nowhere near as hated as some of the other widely panned finales of popular shows.

Umbrella Academy and Game of Thrones are pointed to as two of the worst examples in recent memory, sitting at 4.9 and 4.0 on IMDb, respectively – a huge fall from grace for shows that were so well loved until their final seasons.

Stranger Things, however, was hated by superfans online, but for the average fan seems to have gone down fine, sitting at 7.7 on IMDb.

The closest comparison is Sherlock, which was fairly well-liked by the average viewer until the finale. But this was not matched in superfans, with there becoming a similar movement convinced that there was a secret finale episode.

Sherlock fans similarly became convinced there was a secret ending (BBC)

While Stranger Things fans were convinced the show had a secret ending with a more fulfilling outcome for the party, Sherlock was nearly entirely based around the idea that the secret episode would confirm the popular fan theory that John and Sherlock were in love.

One comment on a Stranger Things Reddit post discussing Conformity Gate said: “This reminds me of when BBC's Sherlock ended and people were arguing there was going to be a secret episode, with "clues" and "evidence" almost exactly like this, except that one almost makes sense because that's a detective show. There was no secret episode. The show's over. People need to get over it.”

Bit harsh, but unfortunately, they’re probably right this time.