Stranger Things stars address Conformity Gate theory over 'secret final episode'
When Stranger Things came to an end at the start of this year, it’s fair to say plenty of fans really didn’t want to let go.
In fact, some went as far as believing it actually wasn’t the conclusion and that there was a ‘secret final episode’ out there.
Yeah, I’m talking about the viral online theory of ‘Conformity Gate’. Theorists believed that the supposed ‘ninth episode’, the ‘real finale’ would explain supposed ‘mistakes’ in the last Stranger Things season, filling in any ‘plot holes’.
Many became convinced Netflix was going to clear it up on 7 January with its #WhatsNext announcement but there was no reference to the show.
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Some of the stars even poked fun at the conspiracy theory on SNL And now the actors have labelled it as ‘f**king crazy’.
The likes of Noah Schnapp, David Harbour, Natalie Dyer and Jamie Campbell Bower reunited on Thursday (21 May) where they spoke about the supposed ‘secret final episode’.
Reflecting on that period at the start of the year (although, there’s still some believers to this day), the Vecna actor said: “That was crazy, that was f**king crazy.”
Campbell Bower had appeared on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon in January, and while some believed his comments ‘debunked Conformity Gate’, others reckoned he ‘confirmed’ it.
The actor had done a little fitness skit on the show and spoke about the finale, and he’s aware of the virality that the moment had.
“The fans held onto that, they were like, ‘He’s saying something about time and he’s stopping on nine!’,” he recalled.
“And I was like, ‘No, no, no, we’ve just come up with this idea in the back of a car to the airport!'”
For Schnapp, Conformity Gate meant an influx of texts from people asking about the supposed ‘secret finale’.
He told The Hollywood Reporter: “And I was like, ‘I promise you we did not film another episode.’ I don’t know where people got that from, I’ve never seen so many people convinced of something so wrong.”
Executive producer Shawn Levy also commented on the theories as he said the ‘wishful thinking’ was ‘baffling’.
“I felt bad for the world, because they really believed; as much as I believe that Eleven is still alive somewhere by those waterfalls, the world seemed to really believe for a while in that extra episode,” he explained.
“I knew they were going to get their hearts broken by its absence, but there was nothing I could do to spare them that pain.”
Topics: Stranger Things, Netflix, Celebrity, TV and Film
Jess Battison