Netflix Crashes as Fans Anticipate Secret 'Stranger Things' Episode

On the evening of Dec. 31, the hit Netflix original series Stranger Things officially came to a close with an action-packed and emotional two-hour series finale. However, many fans expected another secret episode to drop on Wednesday night.

Given some apparent plot holes and continuity mistakes throughout the final series, some fans developed a theory that led them to believe another secret episode was debuting on Wednesday night that would tie up several loose ends and answer some lingering questions while providing a massive twist to the ending.

This theory – nicknamed Conformity Gate – got so popular on social media that fans actually crashed Netflix in anticipation of what they thought would be a secret episode.

What is 'Conformity Gate?'

The "conformity gate" fan theory speculated that the conclusion of the show in season 5, episode 8 was not actually the real conclusion of the story, but rather a false ending created by the series' main villain, Vecna.

This theory came about due to several inconsistencies and abnormalities that were present throughout the final season of the show, such as inconsistency surroudning the birthdate of Will Byers, an object changing colors between shots, doors facing the wrong direction, and characters seemingly misremembering details from previous seasons.

The crux of the theory was that Vecna, who became known for manipulating reality throughout the series, had altered reality for either the viewer at home, or for all of the characters involved.

The theory was nicknamed "conformity gate," because the conclusion of the series seemed to represent a forced conformity that was seemingly antithetical to show’s core themes, which include breaking cycles and defying control.

Why Jan. 7?

While there was never a clear reason to believe that Jan. 7 would be the day that this secret ninth episode would be coming out, fans had a few reasons to settle on this date.

For starters, Netflix teased an event scheduled for Jan. 7 that takes an early look at the streaming service’s upcoming shows and movie titles, leading some fans to believe that this was actually Stranger Things news.

More than that, Jan. 7 was Orthodox Christmas. Given that all of the Stranger Things Season 5 episode were released on major holidays – Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s Eve – fans expected this one to come out on a special day, too, all releasing at 8 p.m.

Additionally, 7 is the number that will famously rolled in the first season of teh show, the show's final shot showed a dice roll that had landed on the number 7.

Did the Secret Episode Happen?

Unfortunately for any fan holding out hope for the secret episode, it did not happen. 8 p.m. came and went, and no new Stranger Things episode ever appeared on the platform.

It's worth noting that the Stranger Things creators, the Duffer brothers, have been doing press tours along with many of the actors who starred in the show. None of them gave any indication that there was any other episode coming.

However, that did not stop massive numbers of fans from expecting the episode anyway. According to Discussing Film on X, so many fans flooded Netflix expecting another episode of the show that the streaming platform actually crashed for a short time.

Netflix just crashed after many fans expected a secret final episode of ‘STRANGER THINGS’ was releasing pic.twitter.com/UPCsbx3NPQ

— DiscussingFilm (@DiscussingFilm) January 8, 2026

Unforunately, all of those people were disappointed as the massively popular fan theory ultimately proved incorrect.