Featured Image Credit: Netflix
Topics: Stranger Things, Netflix, Film and TV, Entertainment
Niamh Shackleton
Topics: Stranger Things, Netflix, Film and TV, Entertainment
Fans of Stranger Things are likely to have noticed a handful of characters failed to make an appearance in the final season.
Of course, the likes of Eddie (Joseph Quinn), Billy (Dacre Montgomery), and Bob (Sean Astin) didn't make it to the finale because they had all died in previous seasons of the TV show, but there were some faces that people believed to be alive and well that seemingly disappeared for season five.
Understandably, the Duffer Brothers had a lot to squeeze into an eight-episode final season, which consists of around 10 hours worth of viewing. Would Vecna prevail? Would the world be replaced with the Upside Down? Would Max wake up from her coma? The list was endless.
With this in mind, some less pertinent characters and their stories were left behind.
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Susan Hargrove is Max's mom, and she failed to make an appearance in season five, despite her daughter still being in a coma and almost being attacked by demogorgons while still unconscious.
Pointing this out, one person penned on X: "Max literally died, woke up from a coma, graduated, and her own mother was nowhere to be found, but sure duffer brothers will say it all happened offscreen, and we were meant to hallucinate it lmao."
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A second pointed out: "Max died, woke from a coma, graduated… and her mom was nowhere to be found?"
"So you’re telling me for TWO YEARS this girl’s in the hospital and not once do we see her mom visit?" said another, adding: "Where was Max’s mom the whole season? They must’ve had that good insurance? Lmao #StrangerThings."
Jennifer Marshall portrayed Max's mom in previous seasons but didn't film for season five after battling cancer. She was in remission while the final season was being made.
Another absent mother was Eleven's. Terry (played by Aimee Mullins) was a former test subject in the MKUltra program at Hawkins National Laboratory.
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She was left unfit to care for Eleven (who was named Jane at birth) after she was subjected to electroshock therapy by Dr Martin Brenner. Brenner went on to raise the girl in the lab.
Her last appearance in Stranger Things was in the second season.
Argyle (Eduardo Franco) became a well-loved character in season four of the hit Netflix show, but failed to make the cut for season five.
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Argyle helped Mike, Jonathan, and Will make it across California in his iconic pizza truck and provided a lot of comic relief along the way. But after the Byers brothers returned home, Argyle was never to be seen again.
His absence was noted by Stranger Things fans on Reddit, as someone said: "Bro went to pick some mushrooms and never came back."
Another person wrote: "I'm so incredibly sad he's not in this season. I get that it wouldn't have made sense, but his humor would've provided some much needed levity in the heavier scenes."
Dustin's beloved, long-distance girlfriend, Suzie, didn't make the cut for the finale either.
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Suzie (Gabriella Pizzolo) was in both series three and four. Dustin goes through a lot at the end of season four and in the finale, but Suzie is still nowhere to be seen to support her 'Dusty-bun'.
With his absence in mind, some Stranger Things fans think the young lovebirds might have broken up offscreen.
"I think Dustin and Suzie broke up, just from the vibe S5 Dustin was giving off he's not singing never ending story or saying things like 'Suzie poo' anymore," one fan suggested.
"Nah its pretty likely they broke up... Dustin after Eddie is not the Dustin he was before," argued another.
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Dr Sam Owens' fate was also left open-ended. He was last seen in season four trying to convince Colonel Jack Sullivan that Eleven wasn't the cause of the Upside Down and what was going on in Hawkins.
But Owens (Paul Reiser) never gets the chance to prove that, and it's clear that Sullivan ignored what he said as season five begins with the military continuing its search for El.
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With the military's brutal nature in mind in Stranger Things, it's unlikely Owens survived after being captured, but it hasn't actually been confirmed that he was killed.