Stranger Things 5: Where did the Demogorgons disappear during final showdown? Duffer brothers explain

Dubai: When Stranger Things wrapped up its epic run on New Year's Eve, fans were treated to an absolutely massive finale packed with emotional goodbyes, intense battles, and Vecna finally getting what he deserved. But amidst all the chaos, eagle-eyed viewers noticed something odd: where on earth were the Demogorgons?

These toothy terrors have been terrifying Hawkins since day one, so their absence from the final showdown felt bizarre. Naturally, the internet did what it does best and churned out countless theories about why the demos sat this one out. But before you fall down that rabbit hole, the Duffer Brothers have actually cleared things up.

Speaking to TheWrap, Matt Duffer explained the simple truth: Vecna genuinely didn't see it coming. "Mainly it's just that Vecna was not expecting this sneak attack on his home turf," he said. "Never in a million years could he even imagine that."

Fair enough, really. The gang rolling up to The Abyss to take the fight directly to Vecna wasn't exactly in his playbook. Matt Duffer continued: "They're there somewhere. We obviously discussed having a demo battle on top of the Mind Flayer battle, but it felt more right to us that why does he need the demos when the Mind Flayer is this giant thing and can attack them? He doesn't need his little ant army to attack, he's going to take care of this himself."

The Duffers also clarified something important about Demogorgon geography. As IGN reported, these creatures aren't just hanging around Vecna's place waiting for orders. "It's a giant, desolate planet," Matt Duffer pointed out. "If you recall, you see Henry wandering the planet back in season four, and at some point in his journey, he does see a demo far in the distance, but it's not like they're hanging out in little huts. There's not like a giant civilisation of demos up there."

So basically, the Demogorgons are scattered across a massive wasteland. They're not constantly at Vecna's side. He summons them when needed, but they're not his permanent bodyguards. And unlike the Upside Down, The Abyss doesn't have loads of these creatures just milling about.

Here's where it gets interesting. Ross Duffer admitted they'd actually considered including even more Demogorgon content. They toyed with the idea of the gang stumbling upon "a giant field of demo eggs" as a nod to James Cameron's Aliens, but ultimately couldn't squeeze everything into the finale.

But there was another factor at play: "demo fatigue". Yes, that's apparently a real thing. According to Matt Duffer, the Demogorgons had somewhat peaked as a threat back in episode four when Will managed to wrestle control of them away from Vecna. After that moment, their menace factor had diminished.

The brothers decided to make a conscious choice to keep the spotlight on Vecna and the Mind Flayer instead. After all, the Mind Flayer hadn't properly shown up in season five's battles yet, so it made sense to save the spectacle for that massive creature rather than throwing in Demogorgons for the sake of it.

Looking back at the finale, the decision actually makes a lot of sense. The Mind Flayer battle was already visually overwhelming, and adding a swarm of Demogorgons might have turned the whole thing into incomprehensible chaos. Sometimes less is more, even in a show that's never been shy about going big.

Plus, from a storytelling perspective, having Vecna rely solely on the Mind Flayer rather than calling in backup actually makes him seem more arrogant and overconfident, which fits his character perfectly. He genuinely believed he could handle El, Mike, Nancy and the rest of the Hawkins crew without needing his "little ant army".

So there you have it. The Demogorgons weren't there because Vecna didn't think he needed them, they weren't exactly close by anyway. Mystery solved.

Areeba Hashmi is a trainee at Gulf News.