Stranger Things 5 Volume 1 ending explained: Will Byers, Vecna and the Harry Potter-Voldemort parallel

First half of the final season returns its focus to the character whose disappearance started it all

Noah Schnapp as Will Byers emerges as the potential main character of Stranger Things 5. Photo: Netflix

Stranger Things returned this week with the first half of its final season. The Netflix series – one of the platform’s most watched titles since 2016 – delivers four nearly feature-length episodes that prepare the ground for its concluding act.

For those hoping for major developments before the show concludes in December, there are several. In fact, Volume 1 ends with its most significant narrative shift since the night Will Byers disappeared.

When the show began, Will (Noah Schnapp) was the boy who went missing. After the gang rescued him, he became the boy who lived. And in Stranger Things 5 Volume 1, the prophecy has finally been fulfilled. Will Byers is, and always has been, the main character.

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Warning: this article contains spoilers

Recap: what happens at the end of Volume 1

The finale leaves Hawkins in collapse. The military presence fails to contain the Upside Down breach as Demogorgons break through, and the group prepares for a fight it cannot win.

Will has sensed Vecna’s return throughout the season – the familiar pressure at the base of his neck signalling that the villain is stirring again.

As Will himself explains: “Ever since he took me, it’s like I was permanently changed. These feelings of connection they come and go, but that summer after the gate opened, I felt him again. And I went away when I was in California. But the day after I got back, the feeling returned. And now he’s closer. He’s closer than ever before.”

Schnapp and Jamie Campbell Bower as Vecna in Stranger Things season five. Photo: Netflix

In episode two of Stranger Things 5, Robin (Maya Hawke) describes Will as a radio antenna: “Maybe you’re like a receiver. A radio receiver, just a magical human version. Imagine that you have an antenna coming up out of your head. And Vecna uses the mind flare particles like radio waves, so when the antenna is close enough to the radio waves, the signal comes through clear as day. But when you're too far away, static.”

In the final moments, their connection shifts. He's no longer just a receiver – he's in control of the signal.

“For Will, that moment is like the holy grail moment,” Schnapp told Netflix.

As the creatures close in, Will’s eyes turn white, he takes control and the Demogorgons fall instantly. He then shows he's able to manipulate them physically and simultaneously, destroying multiple monsters attacking his friends at the same time in different places.

It is the first time the show presents Will's long-standing link to Vecna as an active force rather than a warning.

In conversation with Entertainment Weekly, the Duffer Brothers have said Will is not developing new abilities. Instead, he is channelling Vecna through the tether formed when he was taken into the Upside Down in Season 1 and possessed in Season 2. That connection now moves to the forefront.

It’s not only Will who is walking a knife-edge. Max Mayfield (Sadie Sink), long believed lost, is revealed in part 5 to be alive – but her mind is trapped within Vecna’s memory-world, leaving her body comatose in Hawkins. As of Volume 1’s end, her fate remains uncertain. This lingering mystery underscores just how many lives the finale must resolve – and how high the stakes are.

What it means for the series

The Will Byers development reframes the long-term architecture of the show. Will’s visions, physical reactions and sensitivity were often treated as lingering trauma; Volume 1 recasts them as foundational.

And now that he's channelled that link and shown his abilities extend beyond his imagining, Will will now be a key force in defending Hawkins from the threats coming from the Upside Down.

The Harry Potter connection, explained

The parallel recalls one of the central ideas in the Harry Potter series. When Voldemort first attempted to kill Harry, the attack failed and created an unintended bond – leaving a trace of the villain’s power inside him. That connection allowed Harry to sense Voldemort’s presence and understand him in ways no one else could. It also became the key to defeating the Dark Lord.

From left, Joe Keery as Steve Harrington, Natalia Dyer as Nancy Wheeler, Charlie Heaton as Jonathan Byers, Maya Hawke as Robin Buckley, Finn Wolfhard as Mike Wheeler, Winona Ryder as Joyce Byers, Schnapp as Will Byers, Gaten Matarazzo as Dustin Henderson, and Caleb McLaughlin as Lucas Sinclair. Photo: Netflix

Stranger Things uses a similar device, but with one crucial difference. Harry’s link to Voldemort was accidental. Will’s link to Vecna was deliberate. When Vecna pulled Will into the Upside Down, he created a tether that deepened through possession and never fully broke. That bond now gives Will access to Vecna’s power – not because of prophecy, but because of what was done to him.

This is why the parallel matters. It offers a clear framework for reading Will’s role: he carries a part of the villain inside him, and that makes him integral to the final act.

What the Duffer Brothers have said

In an interview with The National, the creators said the ending of Stranger Things had been planned for years. As Matt Duffer explained: “For as long as I can remember, we knew what the final scene was going to be and we always felt confident in that. It provided us with a North Star.”

In a separate interview with Entertainment Weekly, the Duffer Brothers said Will’s trajectory – particularly his deepening connection to the Upside Down – was structured into the show as early as Season 2.

With that foundation in place, it follows that Will now plays a central role in the story’s conclusion.

How Stranger Things might end

Volume 2 moves towards a finale built around the show’s longest-running threads. Eleven remains the character capable of confronting Vecna head-on. Will holds the connection that explains why the Upside Down opened in the first place and what Vecna is trying to complete.

The final episodes are expected to resolve those two paths – the force opposing Vecna and the link revealing his design. The show began with Will’s disappearance and will now return to the consequences of that moment. Volume 1 makes clear that the conclusion will depend on truths first set in motion in 1983, the beginning of the show.

When is Stranger Things 5 Volume 2 out?

Netflix will release Stranger Things 5 Volume 2 on December 25, bringing the next three episodes of the final season to the platform. The series finale arrives shortly after, with Episode 8 set to have its premiere on December 31 at 8pm ET.

International release times vary by region, but the final episode will be available in most territories – including the UAE – in the early hours of January 1.

Will Will Byers die?

Volume 1 places Will in a position no other character occupies – connected to Vecna in a way that is both strategic and dangerous. That placement naturally raises the question of whether the final episodes may demand a cost from him.

The Duffer Brothers have been cautious about discussing deaths, but they have been clear about one principle: any major character death must serve the story. As Matt Duffer explained: “When we do a death, the impact has to make sense narratively, because we can’t just brush it off, and you want to make sure that it’s going to resonate.”

The final episodes will determine whether Will’s connection with Vecna becomes his strength, his burden or the thing that ends him. Getty Images

Eddie Munson’s fate remains their clearest example. His death continues to shape the events of Season 5.

As Ross Duffer said: “Eddie died at the end of last season, and his death resonates all the way through the entirety of this season. So when you’re going into the finale, we don’t have another season to deal with this. So if – when and if – we do kill people, it has to make sense narratively, and it has to resonate in the right way for our characters.”

This sets a clear framework for reading the stakes ahead. The finale will not include deaths for shock value, but the creators are not ruling them out either. Any loss would have to resolve a thread the show has been carrying since its early years.

Will Stranger Things end like Harry Potter?

This is where the Harry Potter parallel becomes relevant again. For much of that series’ run, many readers believed Harry might have to die in order to end Voldemort – that a connection formed in childhood could only be severed through sacrifice. JK Rowling ultimately found a different path, but the narrative structure made the possibility plausible.

Stranger Things now finds itself in a similar configuration. Will’s connection to Vecna is active, intimate and central to the Upside Down’s hold over Hawkins. If defeating Vecna requires severing that link completely, the cost may fall on the person who carries it.

None of this confirms that Will will die – the Duffers have not framed the ending as a tragedy, nor have they implied that Will’s arc must mirror Harry’s. But the narrative logic they outline leaves room for a conclusion in which sacrifice is required, and Will is the character positioned closest to that possibility.

Since Max also has a link to Vecna, she could also ultimately be the sacrifice – but that has less narrative heft, and as they've already teased her death once, they likely won't do it again.

The final episodes will determine whether Will’s connection becomes his strength, his burden or the thing that ultimately ends him. For now, the only certainty is that the show has placed him at the heart of its endgame.

Stranger Things 5 Volume 1 is now streaming on Netflix