sherlock byers

Does nobody realise that the void scene from the official ST5 book matching the leaked finale script from May means that the May script, with all those omitted scenes was A) stemming from an official source and B) planted, in line with their entire marketing campaign (i.e. to make fun of notoriously bad finales).

We know that the One Last Adventure documentary was intended to mock the GoT post-finale documentary.

Similarly, the leaked script from May, which referenced all the omitted scenes, was a mockery of the Supernatural leaked scripts with all the cut scenes as well.

I completely disregarded the May finale script as being fake news and somebody just trying to start a stupid rumour, so I'm actually kind of shocked that the official script book and the leaked May script match each other.

Do you understand that this means that someone who had access to the official script knowingly created a version with a bunch of omitted scenes and planted this to stir up conversation (it was up for over 24 hours from what I remember - definitely not a 'mistake' - they wanted people to notice!).

And before people come at me saying that the May script was on the official Netflix website (for the Emmy's, if I recall correctly?) - I remember checking that link (before the 24 hours were up), and I didn't see any scripts on the official website, nor did anyone provide any screenshots of them accessing the document from the official website, which is why I didn't believe the authenticity of the so-called finale script.

I recall seeing a rumour that the leaked script actually came from @BradleysBigBuy on Twitter (and I remember early days plant posts from @whispering-goat that they've previously had access to official leaks from TF85, for example).

But now we know that the May stuff must have originated from someone who had access to the episode 8 source material!

This issue came out on the 27th of November 2025, right before volume one of ST5. I bought it in January, I think it was, after hopping on the CG bus. I read it and just couldn’t get certain things out of my head. I should’ve made this post ages ago, but here we are!

The passages will be indented and my thoughts will be underneath.

They had an advertisement for TFS (bottom farthest right lower corner).

"Please God, no more spores!" begs Matt, as he and his brother - the creators of Stranger Things - contemplate the remaining items on their to-do list for the day. Dusk is drawing near as Empire meets the twins on a sweltering Friday afternoon inside their LA post-production HQ. Outside, traffic is building as people leave their offices and begin their commutes home — a city winding down for the weekend. But the Duffers wouldn't know much about that.

MATT DUFFER. The interview has just started and the first thing you talk about are those spores!

There are hours of VFX shots still to review before they leave tonight, each of which needs to be perfect. Every drop of drool from the fangs of a snarling Demogorgon. Every lightning-strike across a scorched-red sky. And yes, to Matt's despair, every computer-generated dust particle, drifting through the deathly atmosphere of the show's spooky world-between-worlds.

Notice how they pay attention to everything. The lightning, the drool, and those stupid spores. Is it really such a stretch to say they didn’t miss the red dial or any other “continuity error”?

"Honestly, you wouldn't believe the amount of time spent looking at spores in the Upside Down," laughs Ross. The workload is gruelling - but that's just what it takes to create "the biggest, most intense season of the show yet", as Matt puts it, unlocking all remaining mysteries at the heart of the series, and bringing to a close one of the biggest TV behemoths of the century so far.

These spores will haunt me forever.

Inside, colleagues working on edits and colour-grades guard spoilers that will remain under tighter lock-and-key than the vaults at Hawkins National Laboratory 'til New Year's Eve — the day of that last ever episode. "Now we're in the final season, we don't have to hold anything back. So we reveal more-or-less everything as it relates to the Upside Down. Exactly what it is. Exactly how it came to be," teases Matt. "The goal was to end the story of Mike, Lucas, Will, Dustin..." adds Ross, trailing off. "All the characters that we've met through the show so far. We didn't want to tie everything into a perfect bow, but I think we answer most questions and resolve every arc. It was our intention to write a definitive ending to this story."

I love how he says “final season” and not “season five” because now we can interpret his words to fit CG. This description is nothing like ST5, we didn’t fully understand what the UD was, our questions weren’t answered, and the arcs were certainly not fulfilled. Interesting phrasing, “definite ending”, I’m sure David used similar language to describe the season too (“very real” I think he said). Which is ironic since a bunch of the fan base doesn’t or didn’t believe it to be real.

Each episode in Season 4 cost a reported $30 million, with a final one that clocked in at two-and-a-half hours long. And yet, without giving away this season's runtimes or overall budget, the Dufters promise Season 5 is even vaster. "When we pitched it to Netflix, we genuinely thought the scale was going to be about on par with Season 4," Matt grins. “But, uh... that turned out to be a lie." In other words, the last season of Stranger Things was big. But this one goes to Eleven. "We thought, We get to do this one last time," recalls Ross. "So.." He pauses. "What did we want to do?"

I guess the budget went towards vacation for half the crew, because ST4 was way bigger than ST5. The cinematography, colour grading, storytelling, acting, costumes/hair/makeup, and CGI was way better in ST4.

When viewers last visited Hawkins in 2022, things ended on a note of utter doom. Sure, Eleven and the found-family she first met in Season 1 - Mike, Will, Dustin and Lucas, played respectively by Finn Wolfhard, Noah Schnapp, Gaten Matarazzo and Caleb McLaughlin - had ultimately saved the day. Vecna (Jamie Campbell Bower) - the big-bad the show had been building towards since 2016 - had been defeated, at least for now. But Max (Sadie Sink) had been sunk into a coma, and giant fractures in the Earth beneath the town had torn open, allowing the Upside Down to invade. The season ended with a literal storm on the horizon, clouds of red and black closing in.

It’s impossible to fumble a season so badly. As reminded here, ST4 ended on a note of impending doom, ST5 didn’t feel or start with that at all. Which is weird considering they set it up as if it was going to be so.

All roads lead to some giant battles. “Episode 4 and Episode 8 are just monsters, beams Matt. Game Of Thrones was a major influence on these clashes, with one huge fight aiming to "evoke the same feeling" as the fantasy epic's Battle Of The Bastards, he reveals. But there are moments of more claustrophobic tension too. In one scene, the Duffers re-enact "the raptors in the kitchen from Jurassic Park" but with Demodogs - a moment of nail-biting horror involving Lucas and Max. Elsewhere, "Home Alone plays a huge part in one of the episodes," Matt teases once more. "The spirit of Home Alone and the climax of Home Alone." A showdown with Wet Bandits from the Upside Down? "Something like that, yeah," he laughs.

Game of Thrones mentioned! Another GOT and ST connection. And all their talk of how they didn’t want to pull a GOT finale, well…

"Our initial thought was that it's impossible,” smiles Matt. "He told us in the meeting he had no interest in making anything ever again. He's done. But we decided the worst that could happen was that he says no and we feel a little bit embarrassed." Instead, Darabont leapt at the chance, signing on to shoot Episodes 3 and 5. The Duffers can't wait for audiences to see them. And they may well take our characters to harrowing places. "The Mist has the darkest ending of all time. I can't think of a darker ending," Matt says of Darabont's last movie before retirement - a 2007 tale of a portal to another dimension opening in small-town America, unleashing all manner of slimy creatures with a taste for flesh who promptly overrun an inept military. Sound familiar?

I’m pretty sure Finn just mentioned The Mist in an interview recently.

By the door as you exit the Duffers' office, is a road sign that reads: "Leaving Hawkins, Indiana." Someday soon, when each lightning flash, each drop of demogorgon drool and every spore - those goddamn spores - is perfected, they'll finally be finished. And on that day, they'll pass that sign as they lock up for the night, and those words will take on new meaning. Leaving Hawkins, Indiana? The Duffer brothers will have officially left. "It'll be hard waking up [on New Year's Dayl and realising we don't have another season to make," says Ross. "For the past ten years, our lives have been consumed by this story and these characters. It's time to leave it behind — but it's not going to be easy to let it go."

Starring the Spores! Once again…

Not that they'll have to let it go altogether. Earlier this summer, the Duffers signed a deal to produce films for Paramount, ending a decade-long association with Netflix. Matt reveals that they'll still be able to partner with the streaming service to produce spin-offs, however, and "hope to find a way to continue to expand the world of Stranger Things. It feels like this book is closed. But maybe there's another book that will be just as cool, waiting to be opened" Until then, with this set of characters at least, they get to do this one last time. Can Season 5 deliver even bigger thrills than past seasons of their game-changing sci-fi epic? Can Ross and Matt Duffer stick the landing on the dense, moving mythology they've spent a decade crafting? Hey, Stranger Things have happened. They really, truly have.

Yet another use of “stick the landing”…

I’m calling it, those spores are significant. They haven’t put this much emphasis on them inside the show, and outside of it, just for them to amount to nothing. This is how I look right now:

Curse my facial recognition skills, but I saw these pictures of the kids in the rainbow, and almost instantly, this particular face stood out to me:

Firstly - I don't remember seeing this kid in the season 4 rainbow room scenes.

Secondly - I almost immediately recognised that this actor was Luke Kokotek, the actor that played Young Will in the first flashback scene of season 5:

As you can see - same face shape, slope of eyebrows, eye shape, and eyelid fold.

To double check I wasn't actually going insane, I sense checked against another picture of the actor:

The resolution of the photo I took of the book is really low, but you can see at least two moles on the neck of both the actor and the picture in the book. Aside from that, the shape of their ears match up too - the left one is rounder and the right one is slightly pointier, in both pictures.

The funny thing is - it's clearly a younger version of Luke Kokotek playing a test subject in the Rainbow Room. However, on IMDb, he has no season 4 credits, and his name is not mentioned in any of the season 4 credits, so he clearly doesn't feature in the show - so why include a still of him?

Either they cut all of his scenes in season 4 for some reason (but released BTS footage of him to the author of this book?)... Or...

The Abominable Bride faked her own death and then “came back from the grave” to haunt those who wronged her and kill her husband >>> Mary is The Abominable Bride >>> therefore: Mary faked her own death and “came back from the grave” to haunt Sherlock and John, and kill John

Sir Eustace was killed by The Abominable Bride and a note was left saying “Miss Me” on it >>> Mary is The Abominable Bride >>> Mary’s DVD note in s4 said “Miss Me” on it >>> “Miss Me” is connected to Moriarty >>> therefore: Mary is connected to Moriarty

Sherlock deduces Lady Carmichael was involved with the brides and her husband’s murder,  but in the end reveal, it’s somehow not her but rather revealed to be Moriarty >>> the brides are connected to Moriarty >>> Mary is the brides >>> therefore: Mary is connected to “Moriarty,” which is an organization/group/title, not solely one person >>> Moriarty The Person is dead, yet Sherlock knows what “Moriarty” is going to do next

and for my personal theory:  

the brides are “ghosts” from Sherlock’s past >>> Mary is the brides >>> therefore: Mary is a ghost from Sherlock’s past

who? 

the one woman we see ignored/disregarded in TAB but who somehow isn’t part of the league of vengeful “brides” in the crypt is Mrs. Hudson; she even wears the same color purple as the brides >>> Mrs. Hudson is “an abominable bride” herself; she killed her husband Frank (with Sherlock’s help) in America

the bride, Emelia Ricoletti, is a “ghost” from a past in America, and it’s the catalyst for the story and the brides’ collective revenge >>> Mary is the bride >>> Mary is a ghost from a past in America

History and Marketing plan

How the show hints that Mike's story isn't over yet...

The UD "imploded" along with El, right before Mike's eyes. This was clearly foreshadowing...

Robin, the bird, got grounded/landed. Unable to fly... People keep using the phrase "stuck the landing" for the ending. Which is deviously clever because it sounds good on the surface, but the show keeps reiterating how important being able to fly is.

This was the ending we got but...

THIS WASN'T THE END TO ROBIN'S STORY! THERE WAS MORE!!!

She found a missing tape! The concept of a missing tape is so frequently alluded to within the show and outside of it. Click the link for some examples of this.

Clearly these scenes are connected. Both Mike and Robin have a little version of themselves whom they look up to. This little version of themselves is brave and fearless!

Their inner child that accepts themselves for who they are before society tells them they should feel shame for being different.

Not to mention how both Mike and Robin have alter egos: "Rockin' Robin" and "Mike the Brave".

After finding the tape, Robin learns to stop being scared of who she is. She embraces herself and learns to fly once again.

More doodles and unfinished things

- both trolls and demos hunt with their nose(?) scent(?) vibes(?) or demos have eyes and we cant see but i swear ive seen a demo making a sniffing motion

- demos are famously hard to kill and have great regeneration

- bite and claw are literally a demos favourite activity

- as well as devouring everything ig except when theyre being dramatic and aura farming (the demo who snatched will)

- weakness to acid and fire? true! they used a ton of that in the finales of like every season besides 3 because theres no demos in that one but like they still kinda do because they use fireworks on the meat flayer

- every season ends with setting the monsters on fire lol which is a trolls weakness

- not in the pic but trolls are typically 9ft tall

- they live in the underdark. guess who also lives in the underdark (sussy realm that the upside down is basically a copy of) guess. guess who you wont.

- the answer is mind flayers

okay also it gets better lemme show some comments

this one is by RickAJr which is the 2nd edition description for trolls

besides the hair, its bang on. 3 toes and all. chicken feet, if you will (thanks @power-kinesis <3)

theres also a flashback scene in season 1 where hopper is chasing sarah and says this:

so hopper is a troll/demogorgon or pretends to be one?

heres the first edition pic for demogorgons:

I will be calling the stranger things ones "demos" in contrast to dnd demogorgons

- demos dont use special attacks as far as we know

- demos arent shown with super intelligence

- they cant hypnotize people

- do demos cause insanity???

- demos dont have a forked tail or tentacles if anything vecna is more of a demogorgon in that way

anyways

tldr the same thing as the title: demogorgons arent demogorgons theyre trolls

thank you mike for completely misnaming them because demogorgon sounds infinitely cooler than trolls. can you imagine: "it was a 7. the troll. it got me"

maybe the real demogorgon was the mike along the way...

tagging some people who may find this interesting!! (let me know if you want to be tagged/want to not be tagged 🙏🙏💚)

@fixthehyper @autoasta @whispering-goat @thebestofmyrmidons @itswhatyougive @gritstartar @sherlockbyers @going-south-within-the-brain @avbyler @armencias @sterlingarcher23 @anotherjlynn @o11yradio @warmglowhc @olgoki @upsidedownlurker @nightnut