Surely, they wouldn’t do it? A single line in the trailer for Season 5, Part 2 of Stranger Things has fans panicked that a beloved character, maybe two, could meet their end before the show is over. There is an expectation that not everyone will make it out alive, and the theorizing has begun now that Part 1 is long over and Part 2 is on the horizon. But if the supposed “death pact” comes to fruition, fans will just about lose it.
‘Stranger Things’ Season 5 Theory Marks the End of the Resident Jock
In Season 3, Dustin (Gaten Matarazzo) told Steve (Joe Keery), “If you die, I die.” In the trailer for Season 5, Part 2, Steve is seen repeating the same line back to his now long-time friend and little brother-like figure. It gave fans chills, wondering if this could have a deeper meaning. Or. Maybe it’s just a red herring, intentionally included to get people talking.
When you really think about it, however, it could make sense that Steve is the one to go. He started off in the series as the arrogant jock with a crush on the bookish Nancy (Natalia Dyer), who was delighted to be the object of the popular guy’s affections. But he was into himself, pompous, rebellious, and unlikable.
It wasn’t until Steve struck up a bond with Dustin during that episode where they talked about girls and hair products, that Steve began to soften in viewers’ eyes, and as a character. Fans instantly fell in love with not only the character but the dynamic between him and Dustin. Oddly, this began to sour in Season 5, Part 1, as the pair were at odds with one another more than they were allies. They bickered like real siblings, Dustin even going so far as to drill a hole in the top of Steve’s beloved car to mount his tracking satellite.
The two, of course, still love one another like brothers, but I wonder if this rough patch in their relationship was intentional to make Steve’s loss less heartbreaking. If that were the case, it wouldn’t work. Steve has been an integral part of the group since he joined them. He takes risks, protects his friends, and is pretty handy with a chainsaw, to boot.
But he is also somewhat lost. Without hunting for demogorgons and Vecna (Jamie Campbell Bower), he doesn’t have much else going on. He went from a dead-end job in an ice cream shop to working with Robin (Maya Hawke) on her radio station during the Hawkins lockdown. What’s in the future for Steve, especially since Nancy is with Jonathan (Charlie Heaton) now? Even if that relationship doesn’t pan out, she simply isn’t right for Steve. It sounds horrible to say, but Steve is one of the most expendable characters. We’ve never, after all, seen Steve’s parents, any actual family members. He has always been this lone wolf searching for purpose.
His Death Would Crush Dustin
What has fans thinking Steve can’t possibly die, or at least not die alone, is the impact it would have on Dustin. The young man grew incredibly close to Eddie (Joseph Quinn) in Season 4, and his death devastated him. Not only was Dustin there with him at the time he died, the last person to see Eddie alive, but he now has to deal with the haters believing that Eddie was a bad person. Season 5 Part 1 begins with Dustin making a stand at school by wearing a Hellfire Club shirt in honor of Eddie, despite being beaten up for it. Through the season, it’s clear Eddie’s loss has deeply impacted Dustin.
If Dustin were to lose Steve as well, with whom he has been close for much longer than Eddie, it would absolutely break him. The creators would have to be cruel to do this. What’s more, duplicating the same Dustin and Eddie storyline would be too cyclical. But they might just be going down that path. The Duffer Brothers have described Episode 6 “The Bridge,” the penultimate episode of Part 2, as being not only emotional but also “the most emotional chapter of the season” outside of the finale. This says a lot without saying a lot. Someone will die.
There are other theories as to who will meet their end, of course, like that it could be Jonathan who dies before he’s able to propose to Nancy, or Max (Sadie Sink) getting lost in the void and never returning to the real world. The theory is that the bridge in the title refers to the Upside Down being a bridge between the real Hawkins and Destination X, the place a young Henry Creel was supposedly sent as a young boy, according to the prequel play Stranger Things: The First Shadow, and thus where the Mind Flayer actually resides. If someone were to end up down there, they’re probably not coming back.
“If Steve Dies, We Riot”
Fans have grown an attachment to Steve, so even if the series is ending, it would be heartbreaking to see him die. Back in the heyday of The Walking Dead, a hashtag was created called “If Daryl dies, we riot.” It was on T-shirts, coffee mugs, and in memes as fans protested any thought of their favorite character dying in the show, which made clear it wasn’t afraid to kill off main characters. So far, Stranger Things has bucked that trend, keeping most of its original cast intact, though many season-specific guest stars have met their ends. Steve could be the show’s Daryl Dixon and be spared. He has worked too hard for redemption. His story can’t end here.
The Duffer Brothers have had fun teasing his fate, however, knowing how fans feel about it. In an appearance on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, for example, they used Funko Pop! figures of popular characters to suggest their fates. Matt Duffer put Steve’s toy at the edge of the desk. When the audience audibly gasped, he declared “he’s fine, he’s fine,” before nudging him off entirely. Were they joking, or was this a sign of things to come? It would be pretty tragic to tease such a devastating death, then deliver it to fans on, of all days, Christmas, with the odd holiday-centric release schedule for the final two parts.
Fun fact: Steve was potentially going to be written out in Season 1. The character wasn’t supposed to stick around for so long. But the Duffer Brothers loved Keery so much, they told Entertainment Weekly, that they couldn’t bear to let the actor go, which meant the character survived. Keery saved Steve. Now, with the show coming to an end anyway, the Hawkins jock might finally meet the fate that was intended for him from the beginning.
This story originally appeared on Movieweb
