Stranger Things Series Finale Gives Kali A Baffling Ending (And Fans Are Furious)

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The post contains major spoilers for the "Stranger Things" series finale.

Linnea Berthelsen's Kali Prasad was killed off during the "Stranger Things" series finale in what was supposed to be a triumphant act of bravery, but it came across as a wasted opportunity to do justice to the character. Naturally, fans have registered their feelings on social media, and as you might expect, most of them aren't all that happy.

"Stranger Things" has come to a divisive ending with its fifth and final season finale, which has left so many questions unanswered. What happened to the military and Linda Hamilton's Dr. Kay? What about those poor pregnant women in the lab? And did Brett Gelman's Murray Bauman and Amybeth McNulty's Vickie Dunne just disintegrate along with the Upside Down or something? For now, it doesn't look as though we'll be getting answers any time soon, but one thing fans are demanding to know is why on earth Kali was given such a short shrift.

The character ended up being the only major death in the "Stranger Things" series finale beside Vecna (Jamie Campbell Bower) and Eleven (Milly Bobby Brown), although the latter may or may not still be alive. As far as most fans are concerned, it's bad enough that the show's writers brought Kali back only to kill her off, but they also bungled her death, which, for many viewers, felt like a complete waste.

Stranger Things season 5 did Kali a disservice

In season 5, Kali Prasad returns after it's revealed that Dr. Kay has been using her blood to try to create a new horde of telekinetic kids. But this return was somewhat marred by creators Matt and Ross Duffer building her up to be a villain. David Harbour's Jim Hopper becomes suspicious of her motives and, in episode 7, she tries to convince Eleven to stay in the Upside Down after Vecna is defeated in order to end their lives as it collapses. Her reasoning is that their deaths will prevent any more experiments being carried out on the pair, but the show was clearly making her out to be, at the very least, untrustworthy.

Then, in the finale, Kali met her end after Lieutenant Akers (Alex Breaux) shot her and she appeared to bleed out on the floor of the Hawkins Lab. It was already a pretty underwhelming end for the character, but in the final moments of the episode, Mike Wheeler (Finn Wolfhard) suggests that Kali actually survived long enough to create one final mirage that made it appear as though Eleven remained in the Upside Down as it collapsed, when really she had escaped. We then see Eleven traversing a mountainous landscape and coming across a small town where, presumably, she plans to live out the rest of her days. 

So, Kali was brought back, made out to be a villain, killed off, then revealed to still be alive long enough to help isolate Eleven from all her loved ones before being wiped out with the implosion of the Upside Down — and that's if Eleven even is still alive. (No wonder fans are furious over Eleven's fate.) It's not great, and fans have made that very clear online.

Fans are frustrated, befuddled, and furious about Kali's death

Speaking to Deadline in November 2025, the Duffer Brothers said they'd "always wanted to bring [Kali] back because Linnea's an incredible performer." The pair claimed to want to give the character "another chance to shine," with Ross Duffer adding, "We didn't want to just put her in to put her in. We wanted her to have a real impact on the narrative and on Eleven's journey." Clearly, they felt they accomplished that with Kali's questionable sacrifice in the series finale, which mostly copped out with the most obvious character deaths possible. But fans aren't convinced.

At least, the social media reactions seem to suggest as much. Aside from users expressing contrition for suspecting Kali of being evil, there's a cavalcade of bewildered and angry responses to her death. Reactions range from slightly irritated — "Them killing off Kali instead of main characters that should've died multiple times okay Duffer brothers" — to infuriated — "This girl suffered like hell, saw her friends die, man, SHE DOESN'T DESERVE THIS, MAN, WHY THE HELL NOT GIVE HER A HAPPY ENDING!!!"

Then, there are those who noticed logical inconsistencies with the "Kali saves Eleven" story. As one user pointed out, Kali was shot "long before El jumped into the Abyss" at the end, which would make it very unlikely she survived long enough to cast her final illusion. Another brings up the point that Kali's illusion would have ended when the lab first exploded and killed her for good, but it didn't, which pretty much makes the entire "Eleven escaped" storyline impossible. But the main sentiment was summed up by another user, who wrote simply, "What was the point in bringing back Kali if she was going to die that quickly and meaninglessly?"