The Stranger Things final battle was originally going to feature Demogorgons, but Ross Duffer was worried fans were "fatigued" by the monsters

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The Stranger Things final battle was originally going to feature Demogorgons, but Ross Duffer was worried fans were "fatigued" by the monsters News By Amy West published 9 January 2026

Stranger Things fans were confused there were no Demogorgons helping Vecna in the show's ultimate showdown

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Netflix's upcoming documentary that goes behind the scenes of the last-ever season of Stranger Things reveals why there were no Demogorgons in the Hawkins heroes' final battle against Vecna.

The sequence, which sees Eleven and co take on the Mind Flayer and Jamie Campbell Bower's overarching villain in The Abyss, was originally supposed to feature a bunch of the flower-faced monsters, but was rewritten after Ross Duffer shared his concerns over "Demogorgon fatigue".

Said moment was captured by One Last Adventure: The Making of Stranger Things 5 director Martina Radwan. "I like the conversation, because it obviously changed, right? And so having them sit there and really explore that – to me, the writers' room is so fascinating, because you see them thinking.

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"I love that they were so sure about the Demogorgons in the final Abyss – except Ross was like, 'Mmm, maybe there's some fatigue, Demogorgon fatigue.' And [writer/executive producer] Kate [Trefry] agreed," she told Variety. "And you're like, 'Oh, OK – so this is not the last conversation. They disagree, and they will resolve it on some point.' We, in the doc, left it open because at the time the doc comes out, everybody knows there are no Demos in the Pain Tree."

While we'd agree that the show could sometimes be a little Demogorgon-heavy, the decision to not have any present in the big Abyss fight is a curious one. In an earlier episode, The Party's resident science nerd Dustin (Gaten Matarazzo) worked out that the creatures never hailed from the Upside Down, as first believed. Instead, they were native to The Abyss, and had been using the Upside Down as a gateway between their desert-like dimension and the real world this whole time. Why wouldn't any be there?

It had long been established that Vecna could control the Demogorgons, too, with the baddie often tapping into the hive mind to force them to do his bidding; kidnapping Holly Wheeler and the other locals kids, for example. A big part of Will's arc in Stranger Things season 5 was learning how to tap into the hive mind and siphon Vecna's power to kill them, so I personally find it bizarre that you wouldn't want that development to play out in the show's ultimate showdown.

All episodes of Stranger Things are streaming now. If you've binged already and need help figuring out exactly what went down, check out our breakdown of the Stranger Things season 5 finale explained, or see our Stranger Things season 5 finale review.

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I am an Entertainment Writer here at GamesRadar+, covering all things TV and film across our Total Film and SFX sections. Elsewhere, my words have been published by the likes of Digital Spy, SciFiNow, PinkNews, FANDOM, Radio Times, and Total Film magazine.

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