Conformity Gate comes as " Stranger Things " released its final episode on Dec. 31. The finale left some fans disappointed and wanting more. And Conformity Gate believers think that an additional episode will show the current finale was just a fake-out and that the beloved main characters didn't defeat Vecna after all.

Prior to its return, Netflix confirmed that season five would consist of eight episodes, but with a theory known as 'Conformity Gate' emerging on social media, whispers of a top-secret ninth episode have been spreading across fan pages on Facebook and TikTok.

The Stranger Things have got a different fan-base since 2016 and with the finale season just dropping in, fans have their opinions in record to rate the best episodes to watch, ranked by IMDb scores

Netflix juggernaut Stranger Things ended its nine-year run on New Year’s Eve 2025, but the internet has other plans. A viral theory dubbed "Conformity Gate" has convinced thousands of fans that Netflix is hiding a secret ninth episode, and that today, January 7, 2026, is the day it drops.

I love Stranger Things. I've loved STRANGER THINGS since the very first episode debuted nearly 10 years ago in the Summer of 2016! I'm a sucker for 80's nostalgia and have really grown to enjoy horror (in no small part thanks to this show) but now that it's been FIVE SEASONS across 10 years and these kids are adults (Millie Bobby Brown fittingly goes by Elle now because in real life Eleven is married with her own child) does it still have that magic?

Season 5 of Stranger Things is its final one, and was made up of eight sometimes divisive episodes... but which of them stands as the best overall?