‘Stranger Things’ Season 5, Volume 1 Finale Twists Leave Fans Reeling: ‘This Is Monumental’

The status quo is violently reset in an episode Netflix viewers are rightly calling “bats–t crazy”

Finn Wolfhard as Mike Wheeler in "Stranger Things" Season 5, Episode 4 (Netflix)
Finn Wolfhard as Mike Wheeler in "Stranger Things" Season 5, Episode 4 (Netflix)

Note: This story contains major spoilers from “Stranger Things” Season 5, Episode 4.

The first four episodes of “Stranger Things” Season 5 premiered Wednesday night on Netflix, and they brought with them enough twists to provoke a flood of shocked fan reactions on social media.

While each of the season’s first four installments contain their fair share of shocking moments, it is the two game-changing reveals packed into the final 10 minutes of “Stranger Things” Season 5, Episode 4, aptly titled “Sorcerer,” that completely reset the landscape of the Netflix series. The first is Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown) and Hopper’s (David Harbour) discovery that the military base in the Upside Down is not holding Vecna (Jamie Campbell Bower) captive, but Kali Prasad (Linnea Berthelsen), a.k.a. Eight.

The latter character makes her long-awaited return in the “Stranger Things” Season 5, Volume 1 finale, where she is reunited with Eleven for the first time since their adventures together in the divisive Season 2 episode, “The Lost Sister.” Eight’s return prompted reactions from fans online, with one X user posting screenshots of Kali and Eleven’s reunion and joking, “Yeah Vecna is [boned].”

Nothing in the “Stranger Things” Season 5, Volume 1 finale has left fans reeling quite as much, though, as the climactic reveal that none other than Will Byers (Noah Schnapp) is the episode’s eponymous sorcerer. As Will watches Vecna’s Demogorgons prepare to kill three of his friends, Mike (Finn Wolfhard), Robin (Maya Hawke) and Lucas (Caleb McLaughlin), he unexpectedly taps into his own, long-dormant psychic powers.

Sporting white eyes, Will freezes and kills each of the Demogorgons. The episode then ends on a shot of him wiping blood from his nose in a moment purposefully reminiscent of similar instances with Eleven. Suffice it to say, “Stranger Things” fans have let their feelings about that final twist be explicitly known online.

“UNLIMITED CHILLS FOR THE LAST 25MINS OF EPISODE 4 OF ‘STRANGER THINGS 5,’ one fan wrote on X. Elsewhere, another posted a video of Will’s final scene in “Sorcerer,” writing, “I think this is objectively one of the most badass motherf—king scenes in the history of ‘Stranger Things.’ This is MONUMENTAL.”

You can check out more reactions to the “Stranger Things” Season 5, Volume 1 finale below.

“Stranger Things” Season 5, Volume 1 is streaming now on Netflix. The season’s next three episodes premiere Dec. 25 on the streaming platform, followed by the “Stranger Things” series finale on Dec. 31.

"Stranger Things" Season 5 Cast (Credit: Netflix)
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Alex Welch

Alex is an Audience Writer at TheWrap, based in Los Angeles. He has been covering the entertainment industry since 2013. Before joining TheWrap in 2025, he worked as a critic and reporter for A.frame, Digital Trends, Inverse, IGN, Looper, and multiple other outlets. A lifelong cinephile, he dreams of one day being invited to the…

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