Netflix dropped Volume two of Stranger Things, on Christmas day where the series continued to drop bombshells and tearjerkers for the audience. Spoilers ahead for anyone who has not caught up with the series so far.

In Volume two, we continue where we left off, our gang of protagonists are trying to figure out a way to stop Vecna and his plans on reshaping the world. The series offers fans a moment of clarity with Max and Lucas reuniting. In the sixth episode “Escape from Camazotz,” Max was able to escape Vecna’s mindscape with help from Holly Wheeler, she was awakened from her two year coma after Vecna had sent his Demo-dogs to try and kill her in the hospital. According to Deadline, the actor Caleb McLaughlin (GOAT, Stranger Things) had this to say regarding the scene, “that moment, it almost felt real, because I wasn’t around her for so long.”

One of the biggest bombshells that was dropped in this volume was the idea of what the Upside Down really is. It is revealed that the Upside Down is not a place but rather a wormhole between Hawkins and world where Vecna is keeping the children. After Nancy Wheeler shots the exotic matter bubble, a shockwave is dispelled and causes a tear in the wall where they believed Holly was being held. When the hole was made it nearly sucked in Hopper, Eleven, and Kalli into the void of space-time. According to Deadline, McLauglin shared this reaction when it came to the new details about the Upside Down, “I think it was a whirlwind. It was a lot of shocking moments. I remember reading it and listening to the Duffers read the script. I was like, ‘Oh, this is good. Oh, yeah. This is how you bring this to a close.’ Sometimes TV shows or movies will create something, they’ll create this world that’s already good, and then make it more [complicated], and then it becomes less meaningful. I think these moments made it more meaningful, and it made it more grounded.”

All that’s left now is the final episode which can be seen either on Netflix on December 31, 2025 or in select theaters on the same date or January 1, 2026.