Finn Wolfhard, Caleb McLaughlin, Sadie Sink, Noah Schnapp, and Gaten Matarazzo in 'Stranger Things' series finale We all should've seen this coming, but just to put a pin on a theory that went too ...

The final season of Stranger Things turned the usually quiet stretch between Christmas and New Year into a high-stakes streaming event, pulling viewers back to Hawkins just as holiday downtime peaked.