Millie Bobby Brown has described Eleven sacrificing herself in the Stranger Things finale as “beautiful and cathartic,” finally weighing in on one of the show’s biggest endings. The 21-year-old actress' alter ego in the Netflix 80s sci-fi fantasy drama chose to stay in the Upside Down when it was destroyed to block military scientists from using her blood to unlock more portals and to end the supernatural exploitation.
And Millie, who creator Matt Duffer, 41, recently said she was “sworn to secrecy” over Eleven’s ending, confirmed to Tudum that her storyline in Stranger Things ended with this moment, saying, “I just think it’s incredibly important that it all ends for her, and the suffering and the pain end.”
The star said Eleven’s decision was “so beautiful and cathartic,” and explained that it was something she had hoped for a “very long time.” Millie explained how much she related to Eleven throughout the series, saying, “As a young girl, I couldn’t find my inner voice, and I could relate to Eleven in that way. I think this season she is able to find her voice and make a decision that’s far greater than any she’s ever made before.”
Before Eleven put herself inside the crumbling wormhole, she played a key role in helping to defeat Vecna (Jamie Campbell Bower), who was ultimately killed by Joyce (Winona Ryder) by beheading him, alongside the rest of the Hawkins crew. And the character had to “harness” energy she had never used before. Millie said the ending carried a weight she had not experienced before because it felt definitive, explaining, “It’s very new to me because I think I know there’s finality in it.”
After Eleven’s fate in episode eight, titled The Rightside Up, Mike Wheeler (Finn Wolfhard) created a version of events surrounding her final moment. He told Max Mayfield (Sadie Sink), Lucas Sinclair (Caleb McLaughlin), Dustin Henderson (Gaten Matarazzo), and Will Byers (Noah Schnapp) that he thinks Eleven survived before the Upside Down was destroyed and, with the help of Kali Prasad (Linnea Berthelsen), escaped to a small village where no one can track her down. And it has left the door open to whether viewers believe Mike’s version of events, or not. Millie said she loved that ambiguity and the way it tied Kali’s powers into the show’s bigger mythology.
“I kinda love that ending, that there is just such a bigger purpose to Kali’s powers. Everything has a purpose, and everything is there for a reason.”
Her Stranger Things co-star Sadie, 23, has also weighed in on the debate about whether or not Eleven survived. During an appearance on NBC’s The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, the star admitted she believed Eleven did not make it, saying, “What do I think? I think she’s dead, I don’t know.”
Responding to the audience whose opinion seemed the opposite to hers, Sadie asked, “Is that a hot take or something?” while Jimmy agreed with her interpretation and said, “I think she is, too.” Reacting to Mike’s speculation about Eleven surviving, Sadie suggested it was more about grief and closure than fact, saying, “I think Mike’s story is just one last story. And then they say goodbye to childhood, but that’s just one final tale, and that’s it.”
On the belief that Eleven escaped thanks to Kali, she added that it felt like “just a coping thing,” before apologizing to viewers who hoped for a different answer and admitting, “I think it’s stronger. That’s my interpretation. I’m sorry.” Ultimately, the show’s creators Matt and Ross Duffer, 41, who only shared whether Eleven lived or died with Millie, wanted to leave the character’s fate up to the viewer.
Ross told Tudum that there was never a version of the story where Eleven remained with the gang at the end, explaining, “There was never a version of the story where Eleven was hanging out with the gang at the end. For our writers and us, we didn’t want to take her powers away.” He added that Eleven represents something larger than just the supernatural element of the story, saying, “She represents magic in a lot of ways and the magic of childhood. For our characters to move on and for the story of Hawkins and the Upside Down to come to a close, Eleven had to go away.”
Ross explained that the writers preferred the ending where the characters continued to believe in the happiest possibility even without certainty, adding, “We thought it would be beautiful if our characters continued to believe in that happier ending, even if we didn’t give them a clear answer to whether that’s true or not.” He continued, “The fact that they’re believing in it, we just thought it was such a better way to end the story and a better way to represent the closure of this journey and their journey from children to adults.”
Matt added that contact with Eleven would have unraveled the emotional logic of the ending, explaining, “And the reality is, if Eleven is out there, the most that they could hope for is a belief that it’s true because they can’t be in contact with her.” He concluded that leaving it as a belief rather than an answer was the only way to preserve the spirit of the ending, saying, “Everything falls apart if that were the case. So if that’s the narrative, this is really the best way to keep her alive. And it’s about Mike and everyone finding a way to move past what’s happened.”