Ross Duffer Drops a Bomb on Stranger Things Season 5 Theory — Here’s Why Fans Got It All WRONG!

Oh, the Upside Down is gearing up to snatch one more poor soul from Hawkins when Stranger Things drops its fifth season this fall. But here’s the kicker—we have zero clue who’s going to vanish, and that unknown? It’s driving the fanbase absolutely bonkers. Everyone from Reddit detectives to YouTube theorists is shouting Eleven’s name like it’s some done deal, especially with Netflix teasing a “Missing Teen: Jane Hopper” poster. But, as someone who’s learned to read between the lines (and algorithm updates), I’m skeptical. Ross Duffer himself throws shade on that guess, teasing episode titles like “The Crawl” and a mysteriously blank “The Vanishing Of…” So, if our girl Eleven isn’t the one disappearing, then who — could it be Holly Wheeler, recast and suddenly center stage in some behind-the-scenes snaps? The suspense is thick enough to choke a Demogorgon. Believe me, this season’s opening episodes are being hyped as their most eventful and jaw-dropping yet. The real question is: are you ready for Hawkins to shake the ground beneath its feet once again? Buckle up—this is going to get ugly. LEARN MORE.

The Upside Down will claim another Hawkins resident once Stranger Things returns this fall. We just don’t know who it is yet. Fans theories abound on Stranger Things Reddit pages and YouTube channels believe that Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown) is the culprit in the final season. Her powerful absence would certainly test the season’s remaining heroes. Plus, Netflix seemed to wink at the theory with a promotional poster declaring “Missing Teen: Jane Hopper.” I don’t buy it.

Neither does Ross Duffer, one of the co-creators of Stranger Things. According to Duffer, fans are barking up the wrong tree. “Yeah yeah you think you know who blah blah,” he wrote on Instagram. The co-creator also teased the first two episode titles, including “Episode 1 — The Crawl” and “Episode 2 — The Vanishing Of…” with the character’s name blurred out.

He went on to call episode 1 “our favorite, most eventful first episode since Season 1.” Meanwhile, episode 2 features “the craziest cold open we’ve ever done” and “one of the sequences we’re most proud of this season.”

If not Eleven, then who vanishes in the first batch of season 5’s episodes?

A growing fan theory—and one that is certainly flooding Ross Duffer’s comments—is that episode 2 features the vanishing of Holly Wheeler. Mike (Finn Wolfward) and Nancy’s (Natalia Dyer) younger sister was recast for this upcoming season, with Evil Dead Rise‘s Nell Fisher joining the crew. It’s possible that Holly Wheeler has some connection to the Upside Down that required her to have a more experience actress behind the role.

Behind the scenes photos showed the actress on set with Vecna (Jamie Campbell Bower) in human form as Henry Creel, and a post on the Stranger Things Reddit reportedly containing the first six episode titles claims that episode 2 is “The Vanishing of ***** Wheeler.”

“The small amounts of times we have seen her in this series show her recognizing or noticing something the others don’t,” one Reddit user commented. “When she was following the flickering lights in season 1 and pointed it out to Joyce.” Holly also “noticed a Demogorgon and the Mind Flayer moving among the top of the trees in season 3 at the fair,” they wrote. Still, any of the Wheeler’s could disappear—including Mike and Nancy—if we believe the Reddit user’s info.

We’ll find out for certain when Stranger Things season 5 returns on November 26.