Warning: MAJOR SPOILERS are ahead for Volume 1 of Stranger Things Season 5, with all four episodes available and streaming now with a Netflix subscription. Go back to the Rightside Up if you’re not ready for the latest on the Upside Down!
The wait of more than three years to learn what Stranger Things had in store for Hawkins and its unfortunate residents after the catastrophic Season 4 finale is over, and the first volume of Season 5 didn’t shy away from showing just how dire the situation is. The final battle has begun, and as the trailer unexpectedly spoiled back in October, the fourth episode ended on Vecna using his powers on Will in a plaza strewn with dead bodies.
It turned out that there was one last twist in the episode, called “Sorcerer,” with Will coming to a realization about himself that led to him using powers of his own, ending the installment by saving the lives of his friends and wiping blood from his nose, a la Eleven! That certainly wasn’t spoiled in the trailer, and it has scary implications for Volume 2 later in the 2025 TV schedule. Here’s why.
What Vecna Did To Will In Episode 4
Will, Mike, Joyce, and some unlucky kids were stuck at the MAC-Z when Demogorgons came out of the Upside Down en masse to start attacking, but the monsters were prioritizing killing the soldiers who may as well have been wearing red shirts under their fatigues. Eleven’s discovery that the person that Dr. Kay had been hiding in the Upside Down was actually Kali meant that Vecna was loose and able to go after Will in the Rightside Up. There was a much bigger problem than a posse of rampaging Demogorgons.
Vecna was actually on the surface to deliver a villainous monologue to Will about being “weak” while the Demogorgons dragged the kids to the Upside Down. After killing off some more soldiers, Vecna sauntered back to his domain without abducting Will (which I’d also assumed from the trailer), for reasons that are not entirely clear. He did, however, unleash the remaining Demogorgons, and Eleven wasn’t available to use her powers to save their friends.
As it turns out, Will could use powers he didn’t know he had! Thanks to a much-needed pep talk about self-acceptance from Robin and some very sweet flashbacks to memories with Mike, Jonathan, and Joyce as a kid, he gained confidence to push past his fears. This enabled him to harness powers for the first time, and he stopped the Demogorgons just in time to save everybody. (Everybody who’s in the Stranger Things credits, that is. None of the soldiers seemed to have much life left in them.)
His eyes rolled back white, just like Vecna. He stopped the Demogorgons by snapping their bones, just like Vecna did to Chrissy, Fred, Patrick, and Max in Season 4. His arm was extended, almost but not quite like Eleven. And he bled from the nose, just like the numbered test subjects from Dr. Brenner’s lab. Is Volume 2 going to be the beginning of the good guys having not one but two members with telekinetic superpowers to use at will?
Well, based on the grin on Mike’s face, that seemed to be his takeaway, and Mike deserved a win after Volume 1 nearly killed off his parents and ended with his little sister still stuck in the Upside Down with his girlfriend and older sister. Joyce seemed more scared than excited, and I was hyped… until I couldn’t help thinking about what was unsettling and could backfire come Christmas.
Why Will’s Powers Could Be Horrifying Despite Coming In Clutch
Now, I’m not here to say that Demogorgons should be handled gently or Vecna isn’t a threat worth taking very seriously. There’s a reason why just one Demogorgon was the menace of the full first season, and Hopper’s plan in Episode 4 to basically blow up the entire Upside Down base (himself included) to take down Vecna didn’t seem that crazy with how evil the villain really is.
But seeing (and hearing!) the bones of Chrissy and Max and the rest cracking in Season 4 as Vecna used his powers to torturously kill them was downright haunting, and I found it very unnerving to see Will doing the same thing. Yes, even if it was to Demogorgons. Eleven killed in Episode 4 as well, but at least that was a quick crack of the neck. Coming after Mike compared Will to Vecna, it’s hard not to wonder if Will is going to be a problem in the back half of Season 5 despite saving the day in “Sorcerer.”
A lot may depend on whether the bone-breaking is just the default way that Vecna’s powers can be used to stop people, making that the only way that Will could stop the Demogorgons. He wasn’t in Hawkins last season to see what happened to Vecna’s four victims and consciously recreate it, after all. If Will came up with that all on his own… well, I’d be worried.
There’s also the practical question of whether his powers extend beyond what we saw in the final scene of Episode 4, and whether he really can do everything that Vecna is physically capable of. If he does have the full range of abilities and there’s nothing to be worried about with him using those powers, then he could be a huge asset for the good guys in the Rightside Up if El remains Upside Down for a while into Volume 2.
There’s still a major mystery that may keep fans busy speculating for the next month until Volume 2 debuts to probably make a lot of Christmases a lot less merry and bright. Why did Vecna just leave the Rightside Up after giving his villainous speech to Will? Should his friends trust Will when it seems like Vecna is still pulling all the strings, and one of those strings is attached to him?
There are too many unanswered questions for me to go all-in on celebrating Will gaining powers, and I honestly was perfectly fine with only Eleven having telekinetic abilities. So, I’m going to prepare myself for Will’s new abilities to backfire, just in case. If anything, Max’s story proved that there’s much more that hasn’t yet been revealed about Henry, and that could extend to Will now.
So, What’s Vecna’s Plan In Volume 2?
Inspired by the whole ordeal with Will in earlier seasons, Vecna revealed that his plan is to refashion the world in his own ways, with the use of twelve kids as “vessels” that he can easily control. Among those chosen are Holly Wheeler and Derek Turnbow, while the Demogorgons snagged the rest despite the valiant efforts of Lucas, Robin, and Murray. What little was confirmed about Vecna’s plan for Will seems to be quite similar to how the Mind Flayer used the unfortunate youngster back in Season 2, which aligns with my misgivings about Will’s role in the fight.
Based on the first trailer, I do expect that he’ll end up with the big bad in the Upside Down at some point, but the footage doesn’t exactly look like he’s there as Vecna’s willing guest. According to Ross Duffer when speaking with Variety, Will is “able to channel Vecna’s powers” and the “powers aren’t within him,” which seems like a wrinkle that could either be very good or very bad.
Per Matt Duffer in the same interview, Will “got it because he got hooked into the hive mind.” Whatever happens for his character (and whether he’s in full control of himself), he’s at least not going to be Eleven 2.0 in Vecna’s plan.
For now, we can only wait and speculate. Volume 2, comprised of three of the four remaining episodes, will release on Christmas Day, and probably won’t be as holly-jolly as any of the upcoming Hallmark Christmas movies. In the meantime, the first four seasons as well as Volume 1 of Stranger Things Season 5 can be watched and rewatched on Netflix.