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Is [SPOILER] alive or dead? Stranger Things season 5 documentary filmmaker says that's not the point

"The whole point of it," says Martina Radwan, director of One Last Adventure: The Making of Stranger Things 5, "Is that you have to understand it for yourself, whatever you want to see."

Stranger Things Season 4 Group Screenshot
Image credit: Netflix

Spoilers for Stranger Things season 5 follow.

Be honest with me, reader - what do you really think happened at the end of Stranger Things season 5? Is Eleven alive or dead? We know what Sadie Sink thinks, depressing as it might be, just as much as we know there is a whole pantheon of the internet that disagrees. But according to another person intimately involved in the series finale, coming up with a definiteive answer to the question is missing the point.

That person, you should know, is Martina Radwan, director of One Last Adventure: The Making of Stranger Things 5.

Radwan, who documented her experiences on the set of the final seaosn of Netflix's biggest scifi hit, recently spoke to The Hollywood Reporter to expand on, and respond to the reactions to, her documentary. And at one point in the discussion, THR directly asked the documentary filmmaker if she knew what really went down at the end of Eleven's character arc, which as you've no doubt heard by now, was left ambiguous.

"I can’t give that," said Radwan, "The whole point of it is that you have to understand it for yourself, whatever you want to see. It’s like, whatever you believe — whatever you need to believe, I think that’s the whole point of it. It’s not a definitive answer. You have to participate. You can’t just sit and watch and get spoon fed."

Look, I don't know about you, but I respect the hell out of this answer. Art, after all, is meant to be experienced, not clipped into a WIkipedia page. On the other hand, the nature of leaving an ending open is that you create questions, and one I know I have is this - is there even a real truth behind Eleven's death? This, too, came up in THR's conversation with Radwan.

Asked if the Duffer Brothers ever outright stated an ending to anyone in the writer's room, Radwan answered:

"They do say it in the sense of, like, 'She represents magic, and magic has to die for everyone to move on. But you hold it in your heart, you never let go of that.' So I think that is the answer."

Well there you have it, folks - a definitive answer to your question. According to Martina Radwan, Eleven has both died and will never quite be gone, which only leaves one possibility. She is, in fact, a ghost.

(Kidding, please don't come after me.)

Stranger Things is streaming in full on Netflix now, as is One Last Adventure: The Making of Stranger Things Season 5.


Grant DeArmitt

Grant DeArmitt: Grant DeArmitt (he/him) likes horror, comics, and the unholy union of the two. In the past, and despite their better judgment, he has written for Nightmare on Film Street and Newsarama. He lives in Brooklyn with his partner, Kingsley, and corgi, Legs.

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