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Who is Vecna? What exactly is the Upside-Down? These and many more are the fascinating mysteries that have come from Netflix's landmark scifi series Stranger Things. But let me queue you in, dear reader, on what is perhaps the most interesting mystery of them all - the missing footage from season 5. Yes, even a couple months before the premiere of the series' final chapter, creators Matt and Ross Duffer have their own alternate-reality enigma on their hands.

The story comes form an interview the Duffer Brothers did with Variety, published September 25. In the article, the pair discuss their ext to Paramount, their remaining time with Netflix, and most interestingly to this humble reporter, the still-unsolved question hiding within the Stranger Things season 5 post-production schedule.

"We had a close-up of a lunchbox," says Ross Duffer, "And we could not find it for the life of us."

Waitaminute, what? You couldn't find footage of the shot you remembered shooting? As Matt Duffer clarifies, that's exactly what his brother means. 

"It’s a GI Joe lunchbox, and there’s a blinking red light [in the shot]," says Matt. "But there is debate over whether it was actually [shot]. Everyone on the crew thinks we did shoot it and editorial claims we did not. So we had to go back and shoot this close-up,” Ross Duffer said. 

"That was the last shot we ever shot on Stranger Things," concludes Ross, "A lunchbox on the floor."

Maybe some Stranger Things fans will find that anticlimactic. Personally, I feel like a lunchbox shot that seems to be caught between existence-and-non is right up that Hawkins, Indiana alley.

Stranger Things season 5, volume one debuts November 26 on Netflix, followed by volume 2 on December 25, and the ultimate finale of the series on December 31. 

As we all collectively wait for Stranger Things season 5, here's the keys to getting ready:

• How to watch Stranger Things in chronological or release order
• Getting to know the Stranger Things season 5 cast
• There needs to be more death in Stranger Things, says co-star Gaten Matarazzo
• The Stranger Things time jump between season 4 and 5 has been confirmed by Netflix - and it raises some serious questions
• "They land the plane," David Harbour describes the Stranger Things finale, which he calls its "best episode"