Stranger Things star Charlie Heaton was 'confused' by breakup backlash: 'The audience is really young'

It was a breakup but no one knew it.

Charlie Heaton has now weighed in on the moment that set parts of the fandom spiralling: The end of Jonathan and Nancy in Stranger Things show’s fifth and final season. Appearing on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, Heaton admitted he was genuinely puzzled by the reaction online, especially from viewers who didn’t realise what they were watching was a breakup.

“There was an online discourse,” he said. “It kind of confused me because I was like, ‘Why didn’t people understand it’s a breakup?’ And then I remembered a lot of the audience is pretty young.” In the scene, Jonathan and Nancy are finally 'honest' with each other, and decide to end their relationship, putting it down to a 'trauma bond'.

Heaton, has played Jonathan since season one and fans were rooting for him and Natalia Dyer's Nancy to stay together till the end. In Season 5, there had been much excitement about the duo's future, as he was even carrying an engagement ring. Instead of a happy ending, their journey concludes with a mutual decision to part ways.

While Heaton admitted he personally hoped Jonathan and Nancy would stay together, he ultimately stands by the choice. The breakup, he said, felt true to who they had become. “They’ve been through so much together. And when you’re playing them, you care about them and you want them to have that ending, in some way,” he later told People.

“But [the ending] felt real and I think that felt more important than them being together.” However, fans still do not agree with this breakup, as they observe that the two had been the 'emotional core' of the show since Season 1.

Stranger Things concluded on December 31, 2025, with fans refusing to accept its finale as they asserted that there were too many loose threads, and moreover, Millie Bobby Brown's Eleven sacrifices herself to save her friends. And so, Conformity Gate was born, where fans insisted that there was a secret Episode 9. It obviously didn't happen, but fans were determined to make a point.