This article contains spoilers for Stranger Things
In the first episode of Stranger Things, Will Byers goes missing on Nov. 6, 1983. Because of this, Nov. 6 has been declared as Stranger Things day by Netflix, and it’s a day where they try to bring fans together in person and online. This year, for the first time, Netflix brought Stranger Things to the big screen with theater screenings of season 4 part 2 across North America that featured costume contests, trivia, and giveaways. But for those of us unable to attend, Stranger Things day was spent waiting for the rumored season 5 sneak peek.
During Stranger Things day, Netflix revealed that the first episode of season 5 is called “The Crawl.” Even though we don’t know much else about the series’ final season, fans were quick to begin speculating what this title could mean. In Dungeons & Dragons, a dungeon crawl is a shorter campaign where the players have to navigate a labyrinth environment while battling various monsters, avoiding traps, and solving puzzles. If the title is drawing inspiration from Dungeons & Dragons as the series has done many times before, then it could be referring to how Hawkins has transformed in the wake of the season 4 finale. There could be new gateways and passages to the Upside Down that the crew has to navigate in their journey to save the town.
Even though Stranger Things producer Shawn Levy told The Hollywood Reporter back in Sept. that bringing fan favorite Eddie Munson (Joseph Quinn) back would be “highly unlikely, highly unlikely… but, we hear you world. We know you’re obsessed with Eddie, so were we,” there are some fans that still hold out hope that this title is hinting at a possible return. Some are hoping that this title means that Eddie will find a way to “crawl” his way back from the Upside Down, while others have pointed out a potential reference to Metallica’s “Master of Puppets,” the song Eddie Plays to distract the Demobats before his untimely demise at the end of season 4.
Since Eddie was killed by Demobats, fans have already speculated that he could return as a vampire-like creature similar to Kas in Dungeons & Dragons, an immortal vampire warrior who betrays the game’s version of Vecna and can thus be helpful to players of the game later on. “Master of Puppets” features the lyrics “come crawling faster, obey your master,” which alongside this title reveal, have further convinced fans of Eddie’s potential return as a warrior for Vecna (Jamie Campbell Bower).
Millie Bobbie Brown even told Entertainment Tonight that she ultimately supports the theory that Eddie could return as a Kas-like figure saying “I mean, it’s a good fan theory,” but she also insists that she doesn’t really know anything about season 5 yet. She says “they don’t tell me anything. You could go through my phone right now. They never text me. They never tell me anything, because they know that I talk to people like you, and they know that I’m gonna spill the deets.”
As great as these theories are though, the only thing we have confirmed so far is the title for episode 1 of season 5. That is unless you’re a computer genius and have figured out how to unblur the episode grid that the Stranger Things writers posted on twitter in Sept. But regardless, we’ll be eagerly awaiting any and all updates as we get closer to the release of season 5.