‘Stranger Things’ Season 5 Faces Fan backlash Over Continuity Errors
Hawkins, IN – The premiere of Volume 1 of Stranger Things‘ fifth and final season on November 26th has been met with both excitement and criticism from fans, who are pointing out several apparent continuity errors impacting key storylines, notably those surrounding the character Will Byers.
Viewers have taken to social media to highlight discrepancies in established timelines and emotional contexts. One key issue centers on a flashback memory involving Will, Jonathan, and the building of Byers Castle. In Season 2’s “The Mind Flayer” episode, Jonathan recounts the castle being built on a rainy night following Lonnie Byers’ departure, with both he and Will falling ill afterward. Fans note the new Season 5 episode depicts the same memory occurring on a sunny day, a notable alteration.
“It doesn’t make sense. How are they going to show that memory as if it were a happy day when in the series they said it was a traumatic night,full of rain and sadness?” one fan commented online. Others pointed out the shift changes the emotional weight of the scene, as building the castle in season 2 was presented as a coping mechanism for the pain of abandonment.
Further fueling the debate, fans also flagged an inconsistency regarding Will’s age. In the Season 5 episode “The Rainbow Trap,” Joyce Byers states Will was 11 years old when he disappeared into the Upside Down. However, an official missing person’s poster previously shown in the series lists his age as 12 at the time of his disappearance. “Confusing Will’s age again? It already seems like a joke,” one viewer wrote.
This latest controversy echoes a previous error dubbed “Birthdaygate” in Season 4, where Will’s birthday (July 22nd) was not acknowledged within the plot. Following the backlash, the Duffer brothers publicly apologized for the oversight, admitting they had forgotten to include the date. They even considered retroactively changing Will’s birthday to May 22nd to address the issue,stating in 2022,”Obviously,it was a mistake and we regret it.”
Netflix has confirmed the final season will consist of eight episodes released in three volumes, with each episode expected to be feature-length. Millie Bobby Brown has stated that “each chapter will be the equivalent of a movie,” suggesting an expansive conclusion to the series.
