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By Jack Beresford
Senior Reporter
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Stranger Things fans are worried a producer on the hit Netflix show may have just given away how the series ends.
The first four episodes of the fifth and final season of the show arrived on Netflix on Wednesday, November 27, just before Thanksgiving. A further three episodes will be made available to watch on Christmas Day, with the series finale landing on New Year's Eve. The reaction so far has been strong.
According to figures released by Netflix, the first batch of these new episodes from season five of Stranger Things generated 59.6 million views over the first five days following their release on the streaming platform.
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This is a significant step up on the 22 million views the first batch of episodes from season four generated when they were released in May 2022 and represents the biggest debut ever for an English-language Netflix series.
It is clear that the anticipation surrounding how the show will end is at fever pitch, with any number of theories floating around social media in recent days.
One theory has been given credence by a TikTok video featuring Gavin J. Behrman, a producer on the show.
The clip, which was posted to the social-media platform under the handle @olivia.and.aurora, sees Behrman being interviewed by his daughter about the show.
Over the course of two videos, Behrman answers a wide range of questions on Stranger Things, including whether Joe Keery’s character, Steve Harrington, dies, or if central protagonists Mike Wheeler and Will Byers will strike up a romantic relationship in a union fans have dubbed "Byler."
But, while Behrman is happy to dismiss the idea of "Byler," telling his daughter "they’re just friends" he is surprisingly coy when it comes to one fan theory.
In the video, which has already been watched over 650,000 times, Behrman’s daughter put to him that "the whole time they’re just playing Dungeons & Dragons…like they’re not actually doing it they just wake up from a dream but they’re just playing Dungeons & Dragons is that a good one?"
As his daughter explains the theory, Behrman appears nervous looking off to his right and touching his chin. His blank reaction is unusual, though, and stands in contrast to his responses to many of the other questions, some of which provoke laughter.
Behrman eventually reacts with a jokey "Oooh!" as if trying to make light of the claim but doesn’t dismiss it entirely, unlike how he did with "Byler."
Behrman’s response sparked some concern among those watching. "I'll be so mad if the end is just the playing D & D," one user commented. "WAIT THE D & D ENDING HE IS THE MOST Suspicious," another said.
"Okay and WHY didn’t he say anything about the first one," a third posted. A fourth added: "I can’t help but notice his body language and the fidget of his hands when she mentions it’s just them playing D & D this whole time or it’s just a dream."
Newsweek has reached out to Behrman for comment.
Several fans on social media have already posited this same theory. On X, @Dlheartsurgeon echoed the idea claiming "the end of the last episode is all of them as kids finishing the game." Another user, @MerryApothecary suggested the show would end on that note, "ambiguously leaving us to wonder if episodes were all just imaginative rounds of D & D." Elsewhere, @DerrickOnGodTTV echoed that idea "the group is just simply playing that board game they've been playing since season 1."
On Reddit, a user posting as u/graveflower426, said he had reached the same conclusion as far back as the second season of the show. "It came to me when the seasons started with them playing D & D and announcing their villain in game, next episode when everything started happening, it was the enemy exactly described previously," the user said. "It then further solidified in my mind when random out place objects appeared, like the medieval sword hopper used in prison to kill the demogorgan."
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