Stranger Things actor actually ‘spoiled’ ending and spin off three years ago

Warning: This article contains spoilers for the Stranger Things finale

One of the Stranger Things stars mistakenly 'spoiled' the ending of the fan-favourite series back in 2023, and fans are only just realising it.

It was one of Netflix's most popular shows, but when the final episode was released in the UK at 1am today (January 1), millions of fans tuned in to find out what happened to the gang.

Nine years after the series aired for the first time, and five seasons in, we finally got to find out what happened to our favourite Hawkins residents as they geared up to take on Vecna.

Despite many fans feeling underwhelmed by the Stranger Things finale, others were satisfied by the Duffer brothers' decision to end the series.

But what if I were to tell you that the final moments had already been spoilt for us, courtesy of Finn Wolfhard, who plays Mike Wheeler in the series?

Speaking on an episode of The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon back in 2023, Wolfhard said he was joking when he said: "Oh, they're all going to have us back in 20 years, we're all going to be fat and old and being like, 'Eleven where are you?' you know, that kind of thing."

He then told the creators, the Duffer brothers, that if they wanted to do a spin-off, it should be like that.

"I said it, and then the Duffers looked at each other, and they looked at me, and they're like, 'can we talk to you for a second?'" the actor recalled.

After pulling him to the side, he remembered them admitting 'that is the idea', asking him if anyone told him, to which he said 'no-one'.

"They were like, 'what do you mean? You just came up with it?' And I was like, 'well, no, I just thought that that would be a cool way to kind of expand'," the 23-year-old said at the time.

Agreeing with it, the creators told him not to tell anyone, though he did go on to do this on the US' most viewed talk show.

As we know from the finale already, the gang ended up defeating Vecna and the huge 'mind flayer' thanks to Eleven and Will's powers, with Joyce delivering the killer blow with her axe.

While fans had their own theories about the ending, the Duffer brothers reiterated that they did not realistically see Eleven with the gang at the end of the show.

After she looked to have sacrificed herself to stop the military from making more children like her, the ending even suggests that she may have found a way to escape despite the gang graduating and heading off to college.

An alternative ending with Eleven was scrapped, though fans think they've found an Easter egg with Hopper seemingly accepting a police job in Montauk.

This links back to 'The Montauk Project', a conspiracy which alleges that there were a number of classified US government projects which took place in Montauk, New York, including psychological warfare techniques and even work around time travel.

The Duffer Brothers had to play down any rumoured 'it was all a dream' endings back in 2023, though a leaked photo from November 2025, showing Hopper in his old uniform next to a cinema showing 1986's Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, clashed with the show's timeline.