Stranger Things 5 ended with Eleven seemingly making the ultimate sacrifice to save her friends. In a bid to end the military's continued experiments, El remained behind in the Upside Down, dying when the bridge between our world and The Abyss was finally destroyed.
The series ultimately wrapped up on a somewhat ambiguous note, with Mike imagining Eleven having escaped (with an assist from Kali in her dying moments) to the waterfalls she and Mike had hoped to see together.
Unfortunately, the Stranger Things protagonist's dying ultimately makes the most sense, and the Duffer Brothers have said that, even if she did live, El would never return to Hawkins for fear of putting the people she loves in danger. The whole thing has proven pretty divisive, even with a touching send-off for everyone else.
Now, Millie Bobby Brown has broken her silence on Eleven's fate. Talking to Tudum (via SFFGazette.com), she called the character's sacrifice "beautiful and cathartic," and added, "I just think it’s incredibly important that it all ends for her, and the suffering and the pain end."
Like the Duffers, Brown didn't definitively reveal El's fate one way or the other, but when the Kali rumours were put to her, the actress replied, "I kinda love that ending, that there is just such a bigger purpose to Kali’s powers. Everything has a purpose, and everything is there for a reason."
Sadie Sink has also shared her "hot take" on the ending during a recent appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. Her take is that Eleven is dead, and the Spider-Man: Brand New Day star's reasoning was sound.
"I think she's dead, I don't know. Is that like a hot take or something? I think Mike's story is just one last story, and then they say goodbye to childhood," the actress said. "But that's just one final tale. And that's it. I think it's just like a coping thing."
There's been a lot of speculation about Netflix releasing Stranger Things' "real" finale, but in case it wasn't obvious, the show is over. A making-of documentary is coming later this month, though, and the Duffers are working on a spin-off series set in a new location with different characters.
What did you think about Stranger Things Season 5's divisive ending? As always, head to the comments section below to share your thoughts.