Major spoilers for Stranger Things season 4 follow.
Ever since the credits rolled on the final episode of Stranger Things 4, fans of the hugely popular Netflix series have been desperately looking for news of its fifth and final season.
Well, after four months of relative silence – aside from a few hints from the cast and crew – we’ve actually got official Stranger Things season 5 news. Revealed as part of Stranger Things Day (which takes place annually on November 6), Netflix has revealed the title of the first episode of the final season of sci-fi horror: The Crawl.
season 5. chapter one. crawl. happy stranger things day pic.twitter.com/xCdNLjD7YtNovember 7, 2022
Not surprisingly, the reveal of the episode’s title sent Stranger Things fans into a frenzy, with many theorizing what the teasing was from a story perspective. We are also among them because we have our own thoughts on what this might be a literal or metaphorical allusion to.
Here are the four big theories we have about what the title of Stranger Things season 5 episode 1 means.
1. Run – or crawl – while you can, Vecna
First, let’s remove the elephant from the room that refers to Vecna, the main villain of Stranger Things 4.
In the last episode of Season 4, Vecna was defeated by Nancy, Steve and Robin in his Creel House lair. Well, in a way. Other Stranger Things heroes were inadvertently involved in defeating Vecna, though Vecna’s master plan – breaking down the barriers between the real world and the upside down world – was carried out. Hey, we said Hawkins’ heroes beat him up.
Anyway, Nancy, Steve and Robin defeated Vecna by throwing him out of the top floor window of Creel House using Molotov cocktails and lots of shotgun ammo. However, when the three ran downstairs to finish him off, he escaped.
Apparently Vecna has escaped – or should it be searched? *hint* – far from healing. He was severely injured by his opponents, and given the damage he sustained, there is no way he could have used his legs or teleportation abilities to overcome his hasty retreat.
So, could he have crawled away instead? Should that happen, perhaps the first episode of season 5 will partly be set around his escape – Vecna will pull himself to safety, tend to his wounds and recover before going on the offensive again.
Stranger Things has always had its roots in the Dungeons and Dragons (DnD) tabletop game. Okay, it’s also heavily influenced by the horror and sci-fi movies of the 1980s that the Duffer brothers grew up on, but DnD is probably the most obvious inspiration.
Since the pilot episode of Stranger Things, he has not hesitated to pay homage to DnD. Just look at Will, Mike, Lucas and Dustin playing DnD in the first episode. Or using the name Vecna to describe season 4’s great evil, as well as giving the show’s various creatures other DnD-inspired names, such as Demogorgon. Or the fact that Eleven, the boys and everyone else is a DnD style group playing an actual DnD game in the real world. You have an idea.
Crawl could be another classic throwback to DnD: dungeon crawling. In fantasy role-playing games (RPGs) such as DnD, dungeon crawling is a scenario where players traverse a labyrinthine environment to fight monsters, solve puzzles, and obtain treasure after completing said dungeon.
Given how Stranger Things 4 ended, it’s likely that Eleven and co will head to the Upside Down (dungeon), fight Vecna and the Mind Flayer (monsters) and win the rewards (save the world) in the process. So Crawl could simply refer to Hawkins’ heroes as they devise a plan to fight Vecna and his allies before completing their mission throughout Season 5.
3. Maximization
This one is a bit far-fetched, but what if The Crawl somehow references Max Sadie Sink’s character?
Fans need no reminding that Max will be in a coma at the beginning of Season 5. In the Season 4 finale, Max was seriously injured by Vecna and only survived thanks to Eleven’s powers. However, Vecna’s attack left Max in a comatose state. Eleven had also been unable to locate her in the Void, which meant that Max’s consciousness might be lost forever.
Or has? Sink has previously hinted that she doesn’t know what Max’s fate will be in Stranger Things 5, but The Crawl may give us some clue as to whether or not he’ll survive to fight another day. Maybe it’s a reference to her crawling through the Void in search of friends. Max can do this by reusing her memories, as she did to escape Vecna in season 4 episode 4. If successful, The Crawl could end with a crowd-pleasing reveal of Max waking up from his coma, which would certainly be pick me up we all need after this bruised and suspenseful season 4 finale.
4. Eddie’s Return
This scenario is even more unlikely than Max’s, but hear us out.
The death of Eddie Munson in the Season 4 finale was an incredibly touching moment for both fans and the cast of the series. The breakout star of Stranger Things 4 was defeated by Vecna’s horde of demobats as he tried to buy the other heroes more time, eventually succumbing to numerous injuries in Dustin’s arms.
But what if that wasn’t the last time we saw our favorite metalhead? Mind Flayer and Vecna have a form of using people’s memories against them. Heck, this couple even possessed some characters like Max’s brother Billy and used them as puppets to carry out their nefarious deeds.
Could Eddie meet the same fate as Billy? it is possible. After all, there is a telling (if tentative) connection between Eddie being Upside Down’s newest human puppet and that Metallica song – Master of Puppets – that Eddie played in Upside Down in episode 9 of season 4.
The iconic song’s lyrics include the line “Come crawling faster, obey your master.” This may just be looking for a connection between Eddie and the title of Season 5 Episode 1. But what if it’s not? What if the Mind Flayer/Vecna use Eddie as another human ship? This would create some emotionally charged scenes in Stranger Things 5, especially those involving Dustin, who respected Eddie and would still be cut about his death in the show’s final season. Basically just bring Joe Quinn back for another trip, please, Netflix.
Crawl isn’t the only thing worth speculating about Stranger Things. Here are five spin-off ideas we think Netflix should pursue after the main story ends. In the meantime, we’ve also looked at which characters are most likely to die in Stranger Things season five. If you’re looking for less theory-based content, check out these five spooky sci-fi TV sagas you should be streaming while you wait for season 5 to arrive.