Stranger Things: Duffer brothers divulge alternate season 4 ending for dead character

The writers of Stranger Things have revealed what would have happened to a dead character if they’d kept them alive.

Earlier this month, the fourth season of the hit Netflix series concluded, and viewers watched on in horror as a character who had become a fan favourite was killed off in tragic fashion.

The plot twist has been heavily discussed on sociual media, with many expressing the wish that they would make a return in season five. However, sadly for these fans, the show’s creators, the Duffer brothers, have extinguished any hope that this will happen.

But, they did reveal what would happened to the character should they have made it out of the season alive.

*Spoilers follow – you have been warned*

The final episode saw the death of Eddie Munson, who was introduced in the season four premiere.

Eddie, played by Joseph Quinn, sacrificed himself to save Hawkins – but the brutal irony of his sacrifice was that the residents of Hawkins believed him to be a murderer, and made his life a nightmare in the run-up to his death.

In a new interview with the Happy Sad Confused podcast, Matt Duffer admitted that they ‘sort of saw eddie as a bit of a doomed character”.

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To back up his point, Duffer commented on an alternative outcome in which Eddie survived the climactic events of season four.

“Even imaginging the flipside of that, where he does survive that final battle, there’s not a great life waiting for Eddie in the right side up either, so he was really designed from the get go as a doomed character.”

Matt’s brother and writing partner, Ross, shared an insight into what season fvie would have had in store for Eddie – and it was nothing good.

“He was always going to be a tragic character. There was no other arc for him. He would have wound up in jail – this fantasy that he would have be in Milwaukee graduating sadly was never an outcome for him.”

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The show’s creators also shared one big way they plan to make the final season very different from the fourth.

Meanwhile, Metallica, whose song is played by Eddie in the season four finale, have issued a stern message to their dedicated listeners after they called people that discovered their music via the series “fake fans”.

Stranger Things is available to stream on Netflix now. The final season is expected to be released in 2024.

Find The Independent’s review of season four here, and everything we know about the fifth and final season here.