The newly-dropped series finale for Stranger Things managed to tie together quite a few loose ends for the Netflix phenomenon. However, Stranger Things fans still had plenty of questions, including the absence of Demogorgons from the final episode.
Demogorgons have been a recurring antagonist throughout the series. This includes the fifth and final season, in which they operated under the control of Vecna and the Mind Flayer. When the party appears in their home turf to finally kill the two monsters, however, there are seemingly no Demogorgons in sight.
In fact, both Vecna and the Mind Flayer are completely killed, with no Demogorgon at all coming to their aid. As part of a hive mind, it would have certainly made sense, and thus fans began asking where the creatures were. The show’s creators, the Duffer Brothers, have now offered an explanation.
Matt Duffer stated the following when speaking with The Wrap:
“Mainly it’s just that Vecna was not expecting this sneak attack on his home turf. Never in a million years could he even imagine that. 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. It’s a giant, desolate planet.
“If you recall, you see Henry wandering the planet back in Season 4 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 civilization of demos up there.”
There seems to be a reason when writing the episode as well, however, that influenced their decision to remove Demogorgons from the plot:
“One of the other things we talked about was just demo fatigue. I felt like we did everything we wanted to do with them in Sorcerer [the final episode of volume one], and wanting to keep the focus on Vecna and the Mind Flayer, who’s been absent this season.”
At the very least, they gave fans a reason for the Demogorgons’ absence in the Stranger Things finale. Whether or not that reason is satisfactory, however, remains to be seen. Stay tuned to ScreenGeek as we continue to unpack the Stranger Things finale as we have them.