The early seasons of Stranger Things hit different in 2025. I realized this as I rewatched the series ahead of the final season’s premiere. Watching federal agents sow mistrust and harm children no longer seems like a sci-fi nostalgia trip, and the creeping evil influence of the Upside Down feels more like commentary on current events than a Stephen King pastiche. In fact, in fighting for the world they want and practicing radical solidarity, the kids in Hawkins, Ind., teach us exactly the lesson we need for right now. Stranger Things might even be a modern-day parable.
When the show debuted in 2016, it was a smash hit and proved that Netflix could compete in the original-content arena. Following a group of teenagers and the adults they trust in a fight against the forces of evil, the show owes much of its success to ’80s nostalgia. The group has fought various monsters over its seasons, many of which took cues from Dungeons & Dragons, but Season 4 took a more psychological turn, focusing on a being that feeds on the ongoing trauma people in Hawkins have experienced in their personal lives.
I have some suspicions about what makes Stranger Things such a phenomenon. Millie Bobby Brown, who stars as Eleven in the series, shared this reflection with Gizmodo’s Sabina Graves in the run-up to Season 4:
Our show is so important for fans because it shows people that you’re not alone in what you’re suffering from. Everyone in our show is struggling with something, whether it’s supernatural or natural, and it’s relatable to fans across the world and that’s why I think people love it so much because they just connect and resonate with it.
Brown is right. There are points of connection for every fan; we all have our own battles with the Upside Down.
Here in Chicagoland, where I pastor a church, undocumented communities face the threat of abduction and state-sanctioned terror, and those who would strive to protect them are tear-gassed, arrested and brutalized. Trauma is everywhere, and it threatens to suck us into our own Upside Down, where we must face demons of a very real sort.
It’s with that mindset that I keep revisiting two scenes from the first season of Stranger Things.
In the first episode, while a few of our teen heroes are playing a game of Dungeons & Dragons, we are told that one of them, Will (Noah Schnapp), “could have cast protection, but he didn’t [...] He put himself in danger to help the party.” Here—like much of Stranger Things—D&D maps onto real life. The practice of solidarity, of risking something for the sake of our communities, becomes the source of salvation for Hawkins.
In the seventh episode of the first season, Joyce (Winona Ryder) tells Jonathan (Charlie Heaton) that the guilt he feels for not saving his brother is not something he has to bear by himself: “This is not yours to fix alone. You act like you’re all alone out there in the world, but you’re not. You’re not alone.”
The key to fighting evil—in our world or the Upside Down—is to do so in community. Alone, resistance is impossible; together, we can fight the toughest battles.
Plenty of shows tackle the theme of doing something together that would be impossible alone, but where Stranger Things really shines is that this solidarity is expressly against the forces of authoritarianism and rampant disinformation that are tearing our society apart right now. It’s like it was written for this present moment.
In many ways, the purpose of the terror inflicted on our communities and neighbors by Immigration and Customs Enforcement is to segment and divide us—to make us feel alone. This is accomplished not only through the acts of terror themselves but also by the lingering effects of trauma, which studies say make us feel isolated.
The key to our success is the same as what our protagonists find in Hawkins: We must band together, sharing our struggles and believing that resistance in community is possible. Time and again, the show demonstrates that we are at our weakest when we are divided and alone. The Upside Down is like a twisted reflection of a key concept in scripture: the kingdom of God. It’s not only a scary, desolate mirror of our own world; it is an incarnation of decay and trauma, with monsters feeding on the weakest people.
In Scripture, we are shown a different example of what our world could become if we practice Jesus’ radical love. If the parables are correct, then that vision is worth sacrificing for, no matter the cost. It is a world that rejects authoritarianism and embraces joy; it is simultaneously within us and yet to come.
The question is whether Christians will start making that vision a reality. Stranger Things doubts that we will. In Season 4, the only people to directly quote scripture use it to justify violent vigilantism. A popular high school basketball star quotes Romans 12:21—“Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good”—in an attempt to rile up the town to track down someone we know to be innocent. In effect, he leads a lynch mob with a Bible verse.
It’s one of those moments that feels far too real these days, with ICE debuting ads that feature scripture to recruit officers. Christians have long understood that Scripture can be quoted to justify almost anything. The devil himself quotes scripture to Jesus in tempting him in the desert. But I have rarely seen it captured so well.
Our task is to bring the rich resources of our tradition to life in ways that liberate our neighbors rather than feed our worst tendencies.
Most of all, my latest watch-through of the show left me feeling hope. If these kids can find a way to practice solidarity and be there for each other in the middle of such evil, then so can we. The only way out of our own upside down of creeping fascism is to love one another. Like Joyce said, we are not alone. It’s time to act like it.
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