For Stranger Things, the final chapter is nearly here. Or is it?
After nearly a decade, Netflix’s signature sci-fi drama will reach its long-awaited end in the coming weeks, bringing its characters back where it all began for a final confrontation with the Upside Down.
But while this may be the end of Hawkins, it isn’t the end of the story. A spin-off is in development, reports Variety – one with new characters and a different era – though the creators have said little about how, or if, it connects to the main series.
But for fans eager to see how the story may continue, the show’s creators – the Duffer Brothers – tell The National that the finale will offer a first glimpse at what comes next.
“There’s one small scene in the finale that gives a hint as to what the spin-off will be,” Ross Duffer says. “We’ll see if people pick up on it.”
Matt cuts in, slightly bewildered: “Why are you giving people that?”
"Well, it'll be fun for them!" says Ross.
Stranger Things 5 will be available in three parts. The first four chapters released in November, followed by another three as Volume 2 yesterday. The final episode, entitled Chapter Eight: The Rightside Up, will show on December 31.
When the spin-off will be released is still anyone's guess, but an announcement may come after the series concludes.
Although the new series is still early in development, the Duffers say it sits at a deliberate distance from the original.
“We’ve had that idea for years, but it has very little to do with this show,” Matt says. “It’s not about Hawkins. It’s not even set in the same decade. It’s got completely different characters. It exists within the same universe, but it doesn’t impact what we’re doing this year.”
Except, of course, for one moment embedded in the finale – the first explicit gesture towards the future of the Stranger Things universe.
But as the flagship series draws to a close, the brothers return to the principle that has guided them from the start.
‘The ending has been our North Star for years’
The Duffers say the final moment of the story has been fixed since early in the show’s life.
“For as long as I can remember, we knew what the final scene was going to be and we always felt confident in that,” Matt says. “It provided us with a North Star. Even as we continue to work on the show and you get fan feedback, we always felt like this was the right end and the inevitable end.”
The conclusion, they stress, is not a reaction to fan theories or online expectations, but the ending they have been moving towards for nearly a decade.
How the Duffers hope fans will react
Stranger Things arrives at its final season with rare levels of anticipation. The brothers acknowledge that fans will bring their own hopes to the ending, but they avoided trying to predict or satisfy every viewpoint.
“I’m hoping it’s universally loved,” Ross says. “Obviously, though, everyone has different expectations and things they want out of it. But the goal isn’t to please everyone. This is just what feels inevitable and right to us.”
They studied many other long-running series as they wrote.
“There are probably more whiffs than there are successes,” he says. “The ones that worked could certainly be bold, but they felt true to themselves. They weren’t just trying to be clever or pull the rug out – – they felt inevitable and right, and that's what we tried to do with this ending."
On deaths, consequences and who may not make it out
Stranger Things has always treated character deaths as emotional turning points rather than shocks. As the story reaches its end, the Duffers say any loss must have real impact.
“You want to make sure that the stakes feel very high, and they certainly are as high as they’ve ever been this season,” Ross says. “You want to make the danger feel very real. And to do that, yes, sometimes you have to hurt people.”
But any death must still feel earned.
“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.”
Eddie Munson (Joseph Quinn)’s death still shapes the new episodes.
“Eddie died at the end of last season, and his death resonates all the way through the entirety of this season,” Ross says. “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 year.”
Cast’s emotional final days on set
If season five feels more emotional, the Duffers say it’s because the story’s ending and the cast’s real lives aligned. They structured the production so each actor filmed their final scene on their final day, allowing genuine emotion to shape the finale.
“We were able to organise the schedule in such a way that everybody’s final day on set, they were shooting their final scene,” Matt says. “Each of those days was extremely emotional.”
The result, he adds, can be seen on screen.
“The way the cast was feeling in real life carried into the scene. The scenes themselves, I think, are some of the most emotional – if not the most emotional – scenes we’ve ever filmed.”
The identity of the final actor on set remains a secret – “because it could be revealing”, Matt says – but the brothers describe the final days of filming as a moment where the real and fictional endings converged.
It is, Ross says, exactly how the series was meant to end.
“This is what feels right to us. If fans feel that too, then we’ve done our job.”
Stranger Things 5's final episode releases December 31 on Netflix
The Rub of Time: Bellow, Nabokov, Hitchens, Travolta, Trump and Other Pieces 1986-2016
Martin Amis,
Jonathan Cape
Miss Granny
Director: Joyce Bernal
Starring: Sarah Geronimo, James Reid, Xian Lim, Nova Villa
3/5
(Tagalog with Eng/Ar subtitles)
MATCH INFO
Fixture: Thailand v UAE, Tuesday, 4pm (UAE)
TV: Abu Dhabi Sports
The Vines - In Miracle Land
Two stars
Our family matters legal consultant
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
The five types of long-term residential visas
Obed Suhail of ServiceMarket, an online home services marketplace, outlines the five types of long-term residential visas:
Investors:
A 10-year residency visa can be obtained by investors who invest Dh10 million, out of which 60 per cent should not be in real estate. It can be a public investment through a deposit or in a business. Those who invest Dh5 million or more in property are eligible for a five-year residency visa. The invested amount should be completely owned by the investors, not loaned, and retained for at least three years.
Entrepreneurs:
A five-year multiple entry visa is available to entrepreneurs with a previous project worth Dh0.5m or those with the approval of an accredited business incubator in the UAE.
Specialists
Expats with specialised talents, including doctors, specialists, scientists, inventors, and creative individuals working in the field of culture and art are eligible for a 10-year visa, given that they have a valid employment contract in one of these fields in the country.
Outstanding students:
A five-year visa will be granted to outstanding students who have a grade of 95 per cent or higher in a secondary school, or those who graduate with a GPA of 3.75 from a university.
Retirees:
Expats who are at least 55 years old can obtain a five-year retirement visa if they invest Dh2m in property, have savings of Dh1m or more, or have a monthly income of at least Dh20,000.
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This article is part of a guide on where to live in the UAE. Our reporters will profile some of the country’s most desirable districts, provide an estimate of rental prices and introduce you to some of the residents who call each area home.
Company Fact Box
Company name/date started: Abwaab Technologies / September 2019
Founders: Hamdi Tabbaa, co-founder and CEO. Hussein Alsarabi, co-founder and CTO
Based: Amman, Jordan
Sector: Education Technology
Size (employees/revenue): Total team size: 65. Full-time employees: 25. Revenue undisclosed
Stage: early-stage startup
Investors: Adam Tech Ventures, Endure Capital, Equitrust, the World Bank-backed Innovative Startups SMEs Fund, a London investment fund, a number of former and current executives from Uber and Netflix, among others.
More coverage from the Future Forum
Red flags
- Promises of high, fixed or 'guaranteed' returns.
- Unregulated structured products or complex investments often used to bypass traditional safeguards.
- Lack of clear information, vague language, no access to audited financials.
- Overseas companies targeting investors in other jurisdictions - this can make legal recovery difficult.
- Hard-selling tactics - creating urgency, offering 'exclusive' deals.
Courtesy: Carol Glynn, founder of Conscious Finance Coaching
Our legal consultants
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
Juliot Vinolia’s checklist for adopting alternate-day fasting
- Don’t do it more than once in three days
- Don’t go under 700 calories on fasting days
- Ensure there is sufficient water intake, as the body can go in dehydration mode
- Ensure there is enough roughage (fibre) in the food on fasting days as well
- Do not binge on processed or fatty foods on non-fasting days
- Complement fasting with plant-based foods, fruits, vegetables, seafood. Cut out processed meats and processed carbohydrates
- Manage your sleep
- People with existing gastric or mental health issues should avoid fasting
- Do not fast for prolonged periods without supervision by a qualified expert
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WOMAN AND CHILD
Director: Saeed Roustaee
Starring: Parinaz Izadyar, Payman Maadi
Rating: 4/5
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