Warning: SPOILERS for the first four episodes of Stranger Things Season 5 are ahead!
Jane Hopper, a.k.a. Eleven, just can’t catch a break when it comes to living a normal life on Stranger Things, one of the best shows to binge watch on Netflix. The events of Season 3 resulted in Millie Bobby Brown’s character moving out of Hawkins, Indiana with the Byers family, and then even after she reunited with Jim Hopper, her adoptive father, at the end of Season 4, those rifts to the Upside Down opening up in Hawkins paved the way for her being forced into hiding by the time Season 5 begins. We learn this upon seeing a poster classifying her as a missing person in the Season 5 premiere, and it turns out the phone number on that poster is one you can actually call.
Like a lot of Stranger Things fans with a Netflix subscription have done since Season 5, Part 1 premiered on the 2025 TV schedule, I decided to call 765-303-2020 to see if the number actually works or not. It does indeed, and here’s the message you’ll hear upon dialing it:
Thank you for contacting the Hawkins Police Department. Due to the recent 7.4 magnitude earthquake, Hawkins is currently under lockdown to ensure the safety of our citizens. The Hawkins Emergency Task Force is working closely with Hawkins PD to track down missing persons, of which Jane Hopper is a priority. We urge you, as a the responsible citizen of Hawkins, to assists us in our search to locate her.
In the 18 months between Stranger Things Seasons 4 and 5, Eleven was forced to go into hiding since the U.S. military was still after her. Lt. Colonel Jack Sullivan failed to apprehend Eleven at the NINA facility in Nevada, and Dr. Kay took over the efforts to capture the telekinetic girl once the military started occupying Hawkins. So now Eleven’s trapped within the town’s quarantine and forced to keep a low profile while she trains under Hopper’s supervision.
Obviously most of Hawkins’ citizens have no clue about who Jane Hopper truly is, so when they see that she’s a missing person, obviously they’ll be concerned and think they’re doing the right thing by notifying the authorities if they spot her. Little do they know that the military has sinister plans for her, i.e. experimenting on her like what’s been done to Eight at their base in the Upside Down. Still, as far as real life goes, I like that Netflix went the extra mile to put something fun at the end of that phone line rather than just have it be inactive.
We have exactly three weeks to go until the next three Stranger Things Season 5 episodes premiere on Christmas Day. After that, the series finale, which will run a little over two hours, drops on New Year’s Eve.