Is Steve Harrington Going to Die in the 'Stranger Things' Season 5 Finale? Fans Hope Not, but the Duffer Brothers May Have Other Plans

On the recent appearance of the Duffer Brothers—Matt and Ross on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, Steve Harrington, played by Joe Keery, seemed to be hinted to die on the season finale of Netflix's hit series Stranger Things. Fans have freaked out on the hint of the Duffer Brother but some of them are hoping that he won't die. Here are the fans' theories.

Matt and Rose were game on the challenge of Jimmy Fallon to tease 'how the rest of Stranger Things will go' using the Funko Pop! Figurines and the teaser have revealed that it's not looking good for Steve Harrington as the creator put him at the edge of the table.

The co-creators picked up Steve and put him at the edge, Matt said, 'This is Steve.'

'Whoa!' Fallon replied. Matt shrugged off the worry, teasing, 'He's fine, he's fine.'

But just as fans thought Steve was only 'on the edge,' Ross made a move that pushed him even closer—taking everyone's favourite babysitter off the table and hinting that Steve might die...or will he?

'There it is!' Fallon exclaimed. 'That's how Stranger Things ends!'

Fans' Theories on the Duffer Brothers' Hint

With that kind of tease from the show's creators themselves, fans are obviously spiraling, especially with the teaser, where Steve and Dustin, played by Gaten Matarazzo, made a pack to each other saying, 'You die, I die.'

Cinema Blend said that even though everyone's life is on the line, the two seem to be in a 'precarious situation.'

'With them fighting this season, and Dustin putting himself in danger on a couple of occasions, I'm worried that things could go too far and one or both of them could wind up dead,' Cinama Blen writer, Riley Utley wrote.

But on Reddit, a user has remained optimistic and formed their own theory about the Duffer brothers' 'Steve falling' hint.

Redditor Max Mayfield (u/TheCool579) said, 'I think Steve will be the one who is seen falling down Dimension X in Episode 7 as seen in the trailer,' and associated the fact that the Duffers made Steve fall.

While some fans have dismissed the moment as deliberate rage-baiting or playful teasing, the Duffers are known for blurring the line between misdirection and subtle foreshadowing—making it difficult to rule out a deeper meaning entirely.

They also found another intriguing clue of the Funko Pop! challenge, the Reddit user said, 'Another very interesting part of this segment I noticed was Nancy standing behind Max, Derek, Holly, and the Camazotz gang (Derek got kidnapped by the Dg's post V1, so he must be there too).'

They continued, 'I think Nancy will somehow get involved with the Camazotz plot lines and in some way be involved with Max and the gang's escape attempts.' A theory aligns with hints previously dropped by the Duffers and is widely supported within the fandom.

Taking the speculation one step further, this fan attempted to connect these two narrative threads.

They wrote: 'What if Steve gets transported to Dimension X, which is invariably connected to Camazotz and his mind lair, in order to rescue Nancy and her new crew?'

'OFC [of course] you may argue it may just be Nancy falling down Dimension X, which is how she reaches Max, Holly, and Derek in Camazotz, but since Steve was shown falling down (OFC [of course] may be just ragebait), but idk [I don't know] I feel Steve being the one falling connects all these new dots and holes properly,' they said.

Another fan responded to their post praising the theory, they said: 'That's a good theory, although I did see some people say that the person falling looked like Holly or Will.'

They continued, 'And one little detail is that after dropping Steve from the table, the Duffer brothers did put him back, maybe that is also hinting at that he isn't dead, maybe at the end of volume 2 it might appear like he sacrificed himself and died, but doesn't actually and comes back for the finale?'

Another fan has a similar idea, they said: 'To me, it's all just Steve having a near-death experience in the part where he, Dustin, Nancy, and Jonathan were in the lab in the Upside Down, hence the scene of Dustin and Steve hugging because after that, based on the trailer, they all make it out alive and were in the truck scene.'

Although these theories could very well come true, fans won't have to wait much longer as Stranger Things Season 5, Volume 2 will premiere on Christmas Day, 25 December 2025, with the highly anticipated series finale set to drop on New Year's Eve.