ST Narrative Structure Analysis + CG Analysis/Prediction
Introduction
Whattup, fellow bus-goers.
Okay so… from all the way in late January until recently there have been two things that have been bothering me. One was that I felt like I couldn’t quite wrap my head around the very basic narrative structure of ST. The other was that, for a while now, I have felt pretty strongly that if we’re right and CG is real, we’ll be getting about another season’s worth of new content, but until writing this post I couldn’t quite explain why.
Over the last several months, I’ve been both trying to essentially solve the show like a Rubik’s cube and also figure out if there’s any logic behind my intuition on CG. Now, I think I’ve finally figured out both well enough to write a post about them, and how the two overlap.
First, let me explain my methods.
(Warning: this post is pretty long)
Section 1: What Do I Mean By Narrative Structure Analysis?
Okay. So. If you’ve ever taken a high school literature class or something similar, there is a very good chance you’ve seen this before. If you need a refresher, it’s essentially the framework by which you can understand how the order and pacing of events in a story create unity and cohesion for the story as a whole. There are lots of varying perspectives on the best way to approach narratives and different ways to slot them into structures(although many of them use the same basic principles). For this post, I wanted to have a reference roughly explaining the one I will be using:
Story Structure-
Hook: create interest right away. Introduce characters, world, goals, & stakes.
Inciting Incident: turning point! Conflict enters normal world. Call to adventure.
Key Event: adding info, tension rises. Character crossroads, deciding to act. End act 1. Struggles to understand, plans go awry.
Midpoint: Story turns! Twist or disaster, moment of truth.
Cross Roads: Figuring things out, moving toward action, reminder of stakes.
Dark Moment: all seems lost, dark night of the soul. Reexamine motives, commit to go on.
Climax: final confrontation, problem overcome.
Resolution: wrap things up, end hook.
Lol, yep. This thing. Yes, I just found this through google. This version of it is very simple and pretty straightforward, which is part of why I picked it.
(To be clear, I pulled these definitions straight from this infographic, I was going to put the actual image in but it was big and annoying so I didn't. The website it originates from is at the bottom.)
Something I’ve felt for a while is that, while I love the common theories going around that rely on either analysis of things like set design/dialogue/acting choices/other little details, or real world tangible things like promotion choices and copyright deadlines/trademarks(and those perspectives are definitely very important and we shouldn’t lose sight of them, keep ‘em coming, please), one perspective that I personally haven’t seen much of in CG analysis(although I haven’t been online as much so it’s possible I just missed it) is the fact that this show is, first and foremost, a story, and stories generally follow predictable rules and patterns. ST from what we’ve seen of it so far, seems to be following the common patterns of your typical long-form narrative.
When I say analysis, I mean that for the last few months I’ve basically been trying to sort the various big plot points in the show into these neat little boxes/labels the way I think makes the most logical sense, while also trying to consider multiple possibilities for how much new content could be coming out.
First, though…
Section 2: A Few Disclaimers
Firstly, I’m aware that the basis of this post kind of inherently ignores certain theories like bandersnatchgate, or at least partially operates under the assumption that if it’s real, it will exist in a way that won’t really change the major story beats of Season 5. However, I don’t think this theory and those ones necessarilyyy have to totally contradict each other? (Plus, I kinda fw bandersnatchgate) Idk, you’ll see.
Secondly… if you’re the kind of person whose mental health is still lowkey riding on this show, and you know that believing even a little in a full new season’s worth of content only for something less than that(or nothing at all) to be released will crush your heart and break your soul, I give you full permission to ignore me, plug your ears, yell LALALALALA out loud, preferably not in public, and keep scrolling.
Anyway, onto the post.
Section 3: Short Narrative Structure Lesson
Okay. So.
While I feel like most people could get the basic gist of what it is just from reading the infographic, I wanted to apply this structure to another story that most people are familiar with, to use as a somewhat simpler example of what I’m going to do.
Structure Analysis of Star Wars: A New Hope:
Hook: The very beginning scene.
Inciting Incident: Leia is captured and the droids are sent to Tatooine with the Death Star plans.
Key Events: Obi-Wan and Luke are introduced, Luke’s aunt and uncle are murdered, they meet Han Solo.
Midpoint: They get caught on the Death Star.
Crossroads: They find Leia, get stuck in a trash compactor, and nearly escape.
Dark Moment: They escape, but Obi-Wan dies.
Climax: They manage to defeat the Death Star.
Resolution: The award ceremony at the very end.
See how the different plot points can be fit neatly into the beats that the infographic describes?
Okay, bear with me, I want to do another one, but this time for a work with multiple installments and several different plotlines, since that’s more similar to how ST and TV shows in general work. Here’s an attempt at a breakdown of the Harry Potter series(yes, I know, I think it works well as an example for what I want to do, for this I'll be talking about it extremely neutrally):
Harry Potter Structural Analysis:
Hook: Harry’s living with the Dursley’s, he keeps getting weird letters.
Inciting Incident: Hagrid shows up and tells him he’s a wizard, he goes to Hogwarts.
Key Events: The events of the first few books/movies.
Midpoint: Book 4, Voldemort comes back, Cedric dies, but Harry escapes.
Crossroads: Events of books five and six.
Dark Moment: Dumbledore dies, and Voldemort takes over Hogwarts.
Climax: Voldemort is killed.
Resolution: the very end of the book and the epilogue.
(I would recommend trying to either internalize these analyses of these structures or your personal constructive criticisms of them at least a tiny bit before you continue.)
Now, back to Stranger Things.
Section 4: My First Attempt(s)
Back in January, when I first tried doing this, my theory at the time was that the current finale felt like it could potentially be the Midpoint of a completed season 5. I tried to apply the structure to the season itself from the perspective that it was over, then compared that to an analysis of the perspective that it wasn’t. I also tried to analyze the structure of the whole show, to try and figure out how season 5 most logically fits into it.
During this phase, I was working with the idea that this was the narrative structure of the show as a whole:
Hook: First episode, we’re introduced to the 80s setting, the kids, and their relationships with each other.
Inciting Incident: Will’s kidnapping.
Key Event(s): El’s appearance, Will getting found, Will’s possession.
Midpoint: Season 3, but particularly the Season 3 finale, Billy and the meatflayer, Hopper’s “death,” the Byers’ move to California.
Cross Roads: Vecna’s introduction, Max’s possession, Nina Project, Byler being gay in the desert.
Dark Moment: Season 4 finale, Max and Eddie dying, Vecna escapes, Mike’s confession.
Climax/Resolution: If CG isn’t real, Season 5 finale and epilogue. If it is, we haven’t seen it yet.
You may or may not notice a few issues with this way of structuring it. I will get to those later.
Trying to fit Season 5 into this structure under the assumption that it wasn’t over was sort of working, but I kept getting stuck. While the season not being over inherently implies that the finale can’t be the climax, I felt like I couldn’t prove that the finale was specifically the Midpoint and not the Dark Moment of the season’s narrative. It certainly seemed like it could be a Dark Moment; the villain winning and the characters being stuck in an illusion world is pretty Dark, lol. Plus, Will’s scene where he gets powers seemed to be functioning as the season’s Midpoint(which in itself is CG evidence actually, I think I will write a different, much shorter post on that).
Basically, it just wasn’t working. Then the Superbowl happened, and I got distracted. Then life happened, and I got distracted even more. I proceeded to forget about this post for about a month(lol).
When I came back a few weeks ago, I had a few new thoughts. I wanted to consider the possibility that instead of a second half to season 5, we were actually getting what would effectively be an entire season 6. A season 6 wouldn’t require a recontextualization of the basic structure of season 5, because season 5 would be complete, and season 6 would have its own structure. This fixed many of the issues of my original analysis.
However, that alone still didn’t fix the problem of why I felt like we were getting around a new season’s worth of new stuff. It just gave me a new place to start looking.
But now that I was looking at season 5 as a penultimate season instead of an ultimate one, that was making my original analysis of the structure of the show as a whole start to look a little wonky. If season 4’s finale really was the Dark Moment, and the Climax is going to happen in a potential season 6, then season 5 and 6 would be two entire seasons happening in between those plot beats. Generally, that is not the case. The Dark Moment is supposed to happen relatively soon before the Climax. This being the intended structure would be like if in Star Wars, after Obi-Wan dies, the movie just decided to introduce some other plotline and do that for like fifteen minutes before getting back to the Death Star plot. It would be really weird to do it that way.
I also considered the possibility of there being two Dark Moments… for some reason, or one really long one that lasted like a season in total…
However, I don’t think either of those are right and you may have already figured out why.
Season 5’s finale is the real Dark Moment of the show.
When I realized this, my first response was basically:
Ohhhh…
Fucking.
Obviously.
I mean, come on. I think we all understood this unconsciously, even though most of us maybe didn’t quite realize it, at least in terms we could fully explain to others. Look at the way we’ve been talking about it: the villain won. If the story ends now, it will be cynical. A tragedy. Something needs to happen to save the characters. It's not just the dark night of the soul for the characters, it's the darkest hour for us. We talk about the ending the way people would probably talk about the end of A New Hope if it ended right after Obi-Wan’s death for no reason. Dark Moments don’t generally make for very good endings(a Dark Moment is different from a tragic ending, to be clear).
Imagine if the sixth Harry Potter book ended with Dumbledore dying and Voldemort taking over Hogwarts like in canon, except that last part was kept hidden and non-explicit. Instead of announcing the next book, J.K.9.5. Rowling went around gaslighting everyone into thinking that that was the end, and there was no more coming. That’s literally exactly where ST is at right now.
Plus, when you actually compare the two, the season 5 finale’s “the villain won” makes the season 4 finale’s “the villain won” look like chump business. What’s a couple characters dying(with one being there for a season and the other being immediately resuscitated) and the villain being injured but escaping compared to the entire cast being trapped in the villain’s mind without even realizing it?
And there’s another reason why, in the context of there being a season 6, season 5’s finale being the Dark Moment makes perfect sense.
Quick exercise. Think of a TV show, any TV show. Or, well… one that’s comparable to ST anyway, in the sense that it’s three or more seasons and is primarily one long arc instead of multiple one or two season long arcs. It should probably also be finished, or almost finished. Now, think of the moment that was the darkest for the characters, the moment where it felt like all hope was lost, the Dark Moment of the entire arc or series.
…It was (most likely) in the finale of the penultimate season, wasn’t it?
That’s almost always where it is, because it’s generally where it makes the most sense for it to be, pacing-wise. That’s part of why I, and others, assumed that the season 4 finale had to be the Dark Moment, because we thought it was the penultimate finale, but when you actually look at it in the context of season 5, it’s not really that dark.
Plus, the season 5 finale being the Dark Moment of the entire series and not the Dark Moment of only season 5 gives any new content room to have its own Dark Moment(Will fake-out death Harry Potter parallel, anyone? That was the Dark Moment of the seventh book, by the way).
So, the season 5 finale being the Dark Moment makes sense. It’s fitting. But it presents a new problem.
Because, if Season 4’s finale isn’t the Dark Moment, then what is it, exactly? It’s clearly an important moment for the plot, so it’s got to fit into the structure somehow.
Before we can answer that, we need to take a look at the other question that was starting to bother me around this point:
Wait a second. What actually is the Midpoint?
Section 5: Where the Fuck is the Midpoint, Actually
No, seriously. You might remember my earlier attempt at an analysis of the whole show’s structure, where I said the Midpoint was this:
Midpoint: Season 3, but particularly the Season 3 finale, Billy and the meatflayer, Hopper’s “death,” the Byers’ move to California.
But now that I no longer believe the season 4 finale is the Dark Moment, this is starting to seem like it needs reevaluating too.
Real quick, let’s remind ourselves of the exact definition of Midpoint that the infographic I’m using described:
Midpoint- Story turns! Twist or Disaster, Moment of Truth.
While this definition works, it’s a little simple, and I would like to add more.
After reading several articles on the topic and reflecting on my own experience with paying attention to narrative in stories, I’ve come to the conclusion that there are a few things that usually signify that you’re looking at a Midpoint.
The first is what the infographic described: there’s usually a twist of some kind. In A New Hope, it was the characters realizing that Alderaan was destroyed and the plot point of them getting caught by the Death Star. In Harry Potter, it was Voldemort officially returning.
Another thing that many agree on is that a Midpoint usually signifies the moment that the protagonist(s) starts being less of a passive force reacting to events happening around them and instead an active force who’s pushing back. Before book 4, Harry mostly just defended himself when something big happened. After Voldemort’s return, Harry starts trying to fight back by creating the DA and looking for horcruxes.
It also generally raises the stakes of the story in a significant way, as is the case in the examples I mentioned.
…Does anything that fits any of that really happen in season 3? I mean, sure, season 3 has its own season Midpoint, but nothing that I would say really works as the Midpoint for the whole show.
But just to be safe, let’s go over season 3 for a second.
One important thing that happens is that Hopper dies. If this moment is the Midpoint, that means that this is the moment in the story that is THE twist of the story, the moment that totally changes the rest of the narrative going forward, raises the stakes, and marks the point that the characters start acting instead of reacting.
That’s… not really true, is it?
The climax surrounding Billy and the meatflayer doesn’t really do that either.
Now what about the Byers moving to California? That’s also not really a “disaster.” It has some negative consequences, but it’s far from a “moment of truth” of the entire series.
El losing her powers? At most it raises the stakes, but El reacts to the plot of Season 4 just as much as she does in Season 3.
It gets worse when you try to analyze it from specifically a Byler perspective. I could not for the life of me figure out what Byler’s Midpoint was while under the assumption that it happened in season 3. I tried to be lenient with it and looked through the entirety of season 3 for a possible Midpoint for them. Again, the Byers’ move just doesn’t quite feel like a “disaster” that changes their entire relationship for the rest of the show- at most it feels like a build-up for another later event.
The only other really significant scene for them in this season is the rain fight, so I tried to consider that too. While it feels(and is) significant to us as the audience because it’s the first time we see them fight, I wouldn’t go so far as to call it a full-fledged disaster, or moment of truth, and it doesn’t really raise the stakes, at most just reminds you of them.
So, what moment does, for Byler, and the show as a whole, work as a “twist, disaster, or moment of truth?”
Well I don’t know about you, but when I first tried to find the Midpoint using that specific definition, for Byler and for the whole show, the first thing that popped into my mind was… Mike saying the words “I love you” to El.
Yep. You’ve probably guessed it by now. The Season 4 finale is the Midpoint.
It fits the definition of a narrative disaster perfectly, for all of the particularly important plot threads. Vecna has escaped, Hawkins split open, Byler is in shambles, platonic Elmike’s not doing so hot either, really all three of those important characters are having a rough time of it and/or making bad decisions. It’s not just them though- basically all the characters are going through a disaster of their own. Eddie’s dead, Dustin’s having the beginning of a TimeTM, Max is entering a coma, Nancy and Steve are relapsing… etc.,
It also raises the stakes more than anything in Season 3 does. The Upside Down and Hawkins are now connected through the rifts. They know about Vecna now but they don’t know where he is and he can still access them. Max is in a coma. Several different relationships are struggling in some way, including Byler’s. Will and El are back in Hawkins now.
Byler’s stakes are raised too. Now there’s the possibility of Mike finding out that Will lied about the painting.
Additionally, if you look at Season 5 compared to the seasons before it, Season 4’s finale also marks the turning point where the characters are no longer passively waiting for the Upside Down to come to them(reacting), but instead are actively going towards the danger to try and end it(acting).
So, all in all, Season 4 is basically the perfect Midpoint for the show as a whole. When I first realized this at like 1a.m. three weeks ago, I was so excited because I felt like I had finally solved the whole show, at least from the one specific angle I wanted to, after months of thinking about it.
But… hold on. This presents another problem.
Even in the context of there being six total seasons, the final episode of Season 4 isn’t really… quite the middle of the show, is it? Like… it’s almost there, but it’s a little off. The whole thing with the Midpoint is that it’s supposed to be… the point in the middle. That was why I had originally assumed it had to have happened in Season 3.
But there’s an answer here, a way that this all makes sense. And it lies all the way back in Season 1.
Section 6: Season 1(and 2)’s Role in the Narrative
So, here’s the thing. This whole time, I’ve been assuming that the story starts in Season 1. Because, you know, it’s the first season. That’s generally where stories start: in the beginning, lol.
But there’s another option. I know I’m not the first one to conceptualize the show this way; I wasn’t really in the fandom until soon before Season 5, but I’m pretty confident that this was an idea that was going around at one point.
Basically, I think Season 1 is the prologue of the show.
What does this mean? It means that in terms of narrative, Season 1’s main purpose is to set-up and provide context for the rest of the story, which actually starts in Season 2. If this is true, then that means that the primary narrative of the show doesn’t start until Season 2.
If you think about it, most if not all of the story threads that are core to the majority of the show don’t actually start until Season 2. Byler don’t really interact until Season 2. Dustin and Steve’s friendship starts in Season 2. El and Hopper’s father-daughter relationship starts in Season 2. In season 2 El and Will, two of the main characters of the show, both become actual full-fledged characters instead of primarily plot devices like they were in Season 1. The Mind Flayer is introduced this season. Max and Lumax are introduced this season. If you’re a Bobgate truther, Bob is introduced this season. Etc.,
Season 1 creates set up for the world, the characters, and future storylines, but it’s primarily self-contained in its narrative. The narrative of the show overall doesn’t really start until Season 2. This explains how Will can be the Main Character of the show according to many of the creators and actors despite not really being present in the first season. It also explains how Byler, who many of us Bylers agree is the core of the narrative, can not directly interact with each other much at all until the second season. Season 2 is, in my opinion, the only season that feels more like a sequel to the season that came before it rather than a direct continuation.
So what does this mean for us? Well, if Season 1 is the prologue, Season 2 is where the narrative starts, and the show is theoretically six seasons long…
Well would you look at that! Season 4 is now effectively Season 3/5 in the narrative, and its climax is pretty roughly the middle point of the whole story. That means Season 4’s finale has all the freedom in the world to be the Midpoint. Hooray!
Plus, if it is, and Season 5’s finale is the Dark Moment, then that’s great for us Byler shippers, and our argument that Byler is the center of the narrative, because it means that the Midpoint and the Dark Moment of the entire story are both centered pretty strongly around them and their godawful communication issues(the s4 climax is Mike saying he loves someone else, the climax of the s5 finale is the symbolic manifestation of their relationship dying, may she rest in peace until s6). It means that Byler having a heart attack in the Season 4 finale is narratively similar to Harry nearly dying to Voldemort in book 4, and from a certain perspective their romance flatlining/El dying in the Season 5 finale could be considered to have similar narrative significance as Obi-Wan’s death and its impact on Luke in A New Hope(I’m choosing to interpret this as meaning that Obi-Wan Kenobi should be considered a Byler variant).
So, in my mind, that settles it. Season 1 is the prologue, Season 4 is the Midpoint, and Season 5 is the Dark Moment.
Section 7: Narrative Structure Analysis Final Version(for now…?)
Okay. Here’s our new and improved breakdown of the structure of the entire show under the assumption that there will be a season 6, 2026, colorized:
Hook: Season 1 as the prologue, beginning of Season 2.
Inciting Incident: Events in Season 2(admittedly I haven’t yet pinpointed in this post where exactly it is, but I don’t think I have to for the conclusion of this specific post to work. I think I might make that part of a different post too).
Key Events: Season 3 and 4 plotlines.
Midpoint: Season 4 finale!!!
Crossroads: Season 5 build-up to Vecna’s win at the end.
Dark Moment: Season 5 finale.
Climax/Resolution: to be seen in Season 6.
Look at it. Behold.
Section 8: Why This Structure Suggests a Season 6, Summarized
In this post so far I have laid out two different pathways that support my argument of CG leading to a possible Season 6.
Pathway 1: If I’m right and Season 4’s finale is the Midpoint, then it logically must be roughly in the middle of (or about 50% through) a finished narrative, since that’s about where Midpoints are supposed to be if a story wants to be well-paced.
If Season 1 is not the prologue, and CG isn’t real that means the Midpoint for some reason is about 80% of the way through the narrative. If Season 1 could be called the prologue, and CG isn’t real, then the Midpoint is about 75% of the way through the narrative. If Season 1 could be called the prologue, AND if there is a full Season 6 coming, then the Season 4 finale is about 60% of the way through the narrative. That is much closer to an exact 50% than any of the other options(and also pretty close to HP’s 57%).
However, the less new content we’re given, the more that number goes up, the more the Season 4 finale gets farther and farther away from actually being in the middle, and the more and more wonky-looking the pacing of the whole show gets.
So either I’m wrong and Season 4 is not the Midpoint, the Duffers have decided they don’t care about the pacing of their beloved show being super weird for some reason, or there will be at least a full Season 6(or a secret fourth option that I will get to in a moment).
Pathway 2: If I’m right and Season 5’s finale is the Dark Moment, then it is most likely the finale of the penultimate season. Generally speaking, for good pacing, stories with multiple installments will have their Dark Moment at the end of the second to last installment, and then use a full last installment to take the story from the Dark Moment to the final climax. This allows the Dark Moment to have the fullest impact it could while preventing the story from dragging out too long before the climax. Not just TV shows do this, the Dark Moment of HP is at the end of the second to last book.
So either I’m wrong and Season 5 is not the Dark Moment, the Duffers have decided they don’t care about typical pacing for some reason, we’re getting a full Season 6, or… secret fourth option.
Section 9: The Secret Fourth Option/Have Any of You Guys Seen the Owl House?
Sorry, I'm going to plant some doubt real quick(so I can then try and uproot it before it grows).
Okay so, at this point in my analysis, I was very proud of myself. I had made the structure of the show make sense(to me anyway) and partially explained how a Season 6 would fit into the narrative if it were to exist. But there were still a few holes, and now a few new possibilities had occurred to me that my narrative structure analysis alone couldn’t debunk.
For one, Netflix interference.
If you haven’t seen the Owl House, or know what happened to it, basically it was a very popular show with a prominent sapphic couple that was canceled after its second season. Unlike most cancellations, it was allowed to finish its story, but with three special episodes instead of a full third season.
That show followed the same structure I’ve been using. Its Dark Moment happened in its season 2 finale, but its overall pacing was punched in the face by executive meddling. The general consensus was that its shorter third season was still very good, but that it would’ve been much better if it was allowed to be a full final season.
This proves to me that it is technically possible to have a relatively good final season that is cut short. It also provides an example of how creatives don’t always have full control of their stories and how corporations tend to be motivated by appealing/conforming to homophobic audiences. It’s very possible that Netflix had the same qualms with Byler that Disney(presumably, technically I don’t think they ever specified why they canceled it) had with Lumity. In which case, it’s possible that they could’ve done the same thing and cut a potential final season short.
So… is it possible that that’s what’s happening here?
I can’t say for sure, but I have a few reasons why I think it isn’t.
1- I honestly do think Netflix was iffy about Byler(and probably other future plot points too, not just them), and I do think we’re seeing a compromise between them and the Duffers. However, I think that compromise is CG itself. I think instead of cutting a possible gayass season short but still allowing them to make it, their compromise is that they’re: hiding the the fact that the particularly gay season exists at all until soon before it comes out, milking the homophobic audience as much as they can by putting the fake finale in theaters and releasing Tales of 85, and pulling off a large publicity stunt that will motivate people to watch Season 6 even if they disagree with its contents. If they did that and cut the season short, that would be a little over-the-top and also a bit incoherent.
2- No fucking way in hell Dana Terrace would’ve banked her entire career on The Owl House Season 3 the way Matt and Ross Duffer have with the new content for ST. They’re clearly extremely confident in whatever new content will be coming out in a way that I doubt she was, even if she clearly put a lot of work into it. That, plus Shawn Levy’s comments on how an amazing ending can make up for a saggy middle, as well as Finn saying that they’re going to “go back and rewrite history” of endings like GOT’s, implies that multiple people who are at least baseline level knowledgeable in storytelling think the ending is good. This to me suggests that, at bare minimum, the ending will do a half-decent job at fitting the pacing of the show as a whole. I’ve already explained why a Season 6 would do that better than anything shorter.
3- Netflix makes way more bank from ST than Disney ever did from TOH. On the one hand, this means they stand more to lose from homophobes rage-quitting, but it also means that cutting the season short would just be preventing them from making a lot more money from just a little more content. Plus, we’ve seen that they’re willing to pour a ridiculous fuck-ton of money into this show, which suggests to me that they’re relatively more willing to take risks than others might be.
4- A shortened final season would be significantly harder for ST to pull off than it was for TOH. TOH only had to wrap up two season’s worth of story, with the first season having a lot of filler episodes. ST has to wrap up five while also having way more important characters and plotlines than TOH did.
5- The kicker... I really think that they've known they were going to be doing CG for a while now. Obviously the entirety of Season 5 is written with it in mind, and we know that they had extra time to plan both Seasons 4 and 5. I don't think they would've written those seasons the way they did, including the amount of set-ups for future story that they did, if they weren't planning on executing. It's possible that they didn't know Season 6 would be shortened until after they made Season 4, but again, that would imply that Season 6 is not what they were planning on doing, and therefore unlikely to be their very best work, and thus probably not something they would put this many stakes on.
It’s also technically possible that the Duffers chose to have the last season be shorter of their own free will… for some reason. That would imply that either they have their own reason for writing it that way that my brain can’t currently comprehend… or they’re bad writers who make weird unfathomable decisions, and isn’t half the point of CG that they’re not?
In summary, it is technically possible that the new content could be less than a full season despite the fact that I think it would be worse for the story, because we live in an imperfect world, but that seems very unlikely to me.
Section 10: Okay But… How Though
I’m not going to lie to you, there is one potential big hole in my reasoning… logistics. I lowkey don’t one hundred percent know how it would be possible that they filmed an entire season in secret without anyone noticing. I’m not familiar enough with the filming process to understand how that would work. Plus, it seems like paparazzi caught all the outdoor locations they used(with the exception of the mysterious circus tent…). Not to mention that with how many things about Season 5 were leaked, it seems unlikely that so little would’ve gotten leaked about Season 6 in comparison.
However, I will say that I don’t personally think it’s impossible. To start, I think a good chunk of the leaks could’ve been leaked on purpose. It’s objectively kind of insane that basically the whole epilogue was spoiled like a year ahead of time and Netflix didn’t do jack shit about it.
And we’ve seen that they can keep things hidden if they really want to. Will having powers was never spoiled, people only guessed Kali would come back because her actress was at the premiere, and Max’s whole plotline was never leaked either.
Not to mention, they filmed the whole thing in a year, with a very large budget. It's been long enough now that if they only started editing Season 6 right after 5 came out, I'm pretty sure they could be at least most of the way done by now.
Plus, we don’t know what happens in Season 6. Maybe they could’ve just filmed the entire thing indoors, lol.
Section 11: Bonus Supplementary Evidence
There being a Season 6 would explain why everyone on the cast keeps specifically debunking a possible episode 9 of Season 5. If there’s a Season 6, then Season 5 is over and therefore yeah, there isn’t an episode 9 lol. They’re not lying, technically.
Certain things that were said about the latest season that seemed to be lies could’ve been about Season 6. I’m pretty sure the Duffers said at one point there would be no new characters introduced in the new season… maybe that’s true for Season 6. Some rumors and things actors said implied that each episode would be movie length… maybe that’s true for Season 6. Maybe Season 6 is the “gayer than ever” season that Amybeth was talking about.
The talk of a “double feature” in the show… two seasons of a TV show released less than a year of each other when normally they take much longer to come out could be considered, in a way, the TV equivalent of a movie double feature.
In regards to the whole “A side” vs “B side” thing, it’s possible that the new content could technically be called Season 5b instead of Season 6, but it would effectively be the same thing.
At this point I just assume that half of what the actors say is the exact opposite of the truth so Finn Wolfhard apparently saying it would be “ridiculous” for ST to have more than five seasons… lol.
So now… we’ve arrived at today.
Final Thoughts
In conclusion…
I believe I've found the most logical way to narratively structure ST as a whole, at least when it comes to the Midpoint, the Dark Moment, and the role of Season 1/2 in the overarching narrative.
I think a Season 6 that contains a real finale for the series as a whole would be the most logically consistent way for ST to progress, for all the reasons listed above, but especially my best and currently preferred understanding of the underlying structure and pacing of the story itself.
Through making this post, I hope I succeeded in reverse engineering the show’s narrative structure as well as CG itself to produce something that makes cohesive sense. If nothing else, I hope I gave someone something to chew on until Tales comes out.
If you spot any issues in my reasoning, or just have questions, please tell me. I promise to at least try not to let my attachment to the time I spent on this post cloud my vision lol.
I have a few more CG and ST related posts I want to make using this type of analysis. For example: I have some thoughts on which characters I think might die in the new content, which relationships and plotlines I think will most likely be important, and why I think Jancy in particular is still going to be endgame, lol, as well as the other posts I mentioned I will possibly write. Please let me know if any of you would be interested in seeing those!
…I spent way too fucking long writing and rewriting this post you guys. Jesus. Anyway.
For now, thank you for reading, see you later. :)
-k
