WARNING! This article contains SPOILERS for Stranger Things' series finale!
Though the Stranger Things finale was full of heartbreaking and bittersweet goodbyes to the original ensemble, the same couldn't be said for the series' first monsters, the Demogorgons.
After making their debut in the series premiere's opening scene and continuing to be one of the franchise's most recognizable icons next to that of Millie Bobby Brown's Eleven, the Demogorgons were absent entirely from Stranger Things' finale on December 31, 2025. The main characters spent a significant portion of the last episode in the Abyss and the Upside Down amid their final battle with Vecna, but no Demogorgons, Demodogs, or Demobats could be found.
Following the confusion around the Demogorgons' absence, Stranger Things co-creators Matt and Ross Duffer explained to TheWrap why the iconic creatures weren't included in the finale. According to the Duffer Brothers, the Demogorgons are around the Abyss, but the surprise attack against Vecna prevented him from using them as resources:
"Matt Duffer: 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.
Ross Duffer: We did at some point have that they were going to come across a giant field of demo eggs in kind of an “Aliens” thing, but you can’t get all your ideas in there. You remember the eggs?
Matt Duffer: Were they going to come out of the eggs? I can’t remember.
Ross Duffer: Yeah
Matt Duffer: 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,” and wanting to keep the focus on Vecna and the Mind Flayer, who’s been absent this season."
With all the main characters in one place fighting him in the Abyss, Vecna didn't necessarily need to send Demogorgons elsewhere to attack another group. Rather, with the power of the Mind Flayer, he figured there was no possible way he could be defeated. The characters had faced the Mind Flayer in the past and never killed it, and Demogorgons wouldn't be enough to ensure Henry won.
As the Duffers stated, there were Demogorgons naturally wandering around the Abyss back in Stranger Things season 4, but they weren't around ready to attack in packs. Rather, the attack would have to be ordered through Vecna and the hive mind, whereas Henry was too focused on working with the Mind Flayer's powers to send in the comparatively lower-level creatures.
Additionally, the Duffers point out that the logistics of adding in the Demogorgons for the final battle wouldn't work. The confrontation was focused on the entire larger party united against Vecna and the Mind Flayer. It wouldn't work to have them split up into different groups fighting other Upside Down monsters and missing Henry's death. Furthermore, the battle sequence was already on the lengthier side, so time wouldn't necessarily permit tacking on another segment of fighting Demogorgons.
Though the Demos were cut from the final iteration of Stranger Things' ending completely, the Duffers did have an intriguing alternate idea to expand on their lore in the finale's exploration of the Abyss. Ross Duffer noted that, at one point, they wanted the characters to "come across a giant field of Demo eggs," which would have been a nod to James Cameron's 1986 sci-fi classic Aliens.
While the main series is now over, more Stranger Things spinoffs are already on the way. Though the Duffers revealed one secretive Stranger Things spinoff has nothing to do with the Upside Down, the series' interdimensional mythology could still be expanded on through Netflix's upcoming animated show Stranger Things: Tales from '85.
Confirmed to premiere in 2026, Tales from '85 brings the main Party back in animated form to reveal their unseen misadventures between seasons 3 and 4 of the original show. As they face more monsters from the Upside Down, the Demogorgons are expected to return, which may allow the Duffers to finally bring their unused Demo ideas to fruition in the Stranger Things universe.
