The Duffer Brothers Address ‘Stranger Things’ Season 5 Review Bombing Following The Finale

Following the conclusion of Stranger Things, show creators Matt and Ross Duffer share their perspectives on the backlash to Season 5, particularly the fan response to Will’s coming out scene and the review bombing of Season 5 Episode 7.

SPOILER—This post includes spoilers from Stranger Things Season 5Episode 7.

Stranger Things’ Rotten Tomatoes scores currently speak for themselves. At present, every season but season 5 has an average rating of 90% or higher, with the exception of Season 3, which currently has an 89% rating. By contrast, Season 5 has an 85% average.

However, it’s the fan rating for Season 5—a paltry 56%—that is the most glaring. Along with this low score are thousands of audience reviews, many of which mention the scene in Season 5 Episode 7 in which Will comes out as gay to his friends and family. Some commenters argue that the scene was “unnecessary” or “too woke.”

The Duffer Brothers refrained from commenting on the backlash and review bombing until the show was over, but with the Stranger Things finale now released, the brothers shared their experience of this backlash with Variety.

Seemingly in response to the idea that the scene was unnecessary, a comment that has been repeatedly shared online even outside of Rotten Tomatoes reviews, Ross Duffer shared, “The coming out scene is something we’ve been building to for nine years now. It was a really important scene for us, and a really important scene for Noah — not just from a thematic point of view, but also a narrative point of view.”

That narrative importance was specifically tied to the threat Vecna posed; Duffer elaborated, “This show has always been about our characters overcoming evil, and in order to overcome this evil, Vecna, in so many ways, represents all the dark thoughts and the evil of society. And for our characters to overcome that, it really becomes about embracing themselves, and then also embracing one another and coming together.”

The coming out scene itself explains this importance, even if it doesn’t do so in those exact words, as Will tells the group that Vecna is going to hold this fear over his head if he doesn’t come out to everyone before the final battle.

Perhaps because that explanation is provided within the show, the Duffer Brothers hadn’t anticipated this backlash—at least not to this great an extent. When asked whether they’d seen this coming, Matt Duffer said, “No is the honest truth…Because it is, as Ross said, something we’ve been building for a really long time. I always say, Ross and I are many things, but subtle is not one of those things!”

Ultimately, though, the Duffers remain proud of the episodes they put out and proud of that scene. They shared that, particularly with Will actor Noah Schnapp liking the scene, they remain confident in it.

“Our goal was to make sure that [Schnapp] was comfortable and happy with the scene. And when he was, we felt good about it. I’ve been texting with him a lot, but texting with him specifically after that scene and after that episode aired. And he’s in a really good place. He’s very proud of the scene, and we’re proud of the scene,” Matt Duffer said.

Like Episode 7, the Stranger Things finale has resulted in a mix of online responses, with some fans loving it and some being extremely critical of it. It seems that, no matter the online response, the Duffers remain pleased with and proud of the show they created, which has now officially come to a close.