Photo Credit: https://www.usatoday.com/picture-gallery/entertainment/tv/2025/10/30/stranger-things-season-photos/86983644007/
Updated January 5, 2026, after the release of the fifth and final season.
Editor’s Note: This post references content that may not be suitable for all audiences. Westminster Magazine occasionally publishes reviews and perspectives on secular or unorthodox content in the interest of illuminating the arts and culture of a fallen creation with a biblical light. These posts are not intended as an endorsement or recommendation. Readers and parents should use judgment in choosing which books, shows, and music to enjoy.
Some people think theology is only written by theologians. It’s not. In fact, it’s written by everyone. Everyone has assumptions about three critical things: who God is, who we are, and what the world is like. Even if you think God doesn’t exist, that’s still an assumption. Even if you don’t state what your assumptions are, you still have them. And so, when people are creating art or expressing themselves in any form of media, there’s always a theology embedded in what they do. It’s unavoidable. It’s part of what it means to live in a world governed by God. And since Stranger Things has been one of the most popular series in recent history, continuing to be Netflix's biggest English-language debut ever, ruminating on its theology gives us access to a host of assumptions and values in secular culture. A theology of Stranger Things, in some sense, is a theology of contemporary Western entertainment.
WHY STRANGER THINGS?
But if everyone has a theology, if theology is embedded in all that we express, then why choose Stranger Things? I’ve got four reasons. First, I found the storyline and character development creative, gripping, and believable. By “believable,” I mean that I truly thought the characters would have developed in the way they were portrayed. One of the fundamental truths about humans is that they always develop; they always change. We just aren’t capable of looking in all the places where it might happen. Plus, since people are inconsistent, spotting change can be a tricky business. That's one of the draws of a TV series or film: we get to watch character development unfold.
Everyone has assumptions about three critical things: who God is, who we are, and what the world is like.
Second, I found a lot of places in Stranger Things where theology intersected with art. Here are some that stuck out to me.
- The nature of evil (as a desire to control or destroy)
- The nature of good (interpersonal love, meaningful human experiences/relationships)
- The role and power of our minds
- The highest purpose of life (self-sacrifice)
- The longing and hope for a “savior” figure
Third, as I noted above, Stranger Things is wildly popular and has an almost cult-like following. It recently became the second ever Netflix series to pass 1 billion hours viewed. [1] The fifth and final season even led to theater viewings given its mass popularity, and many cast members appeared on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon. It is what media theorists call a "transmedia phenomenon." It goes well beyond the walls of Netflix and has created a culture in comics, novels, games, merchandise, and other immersive experiences. In short, it built a sub-universe that deepened engagement through multiple platforms and created an extensive, interconnected pop-cultural brand. Thinking about its theology thus reveals a whole lot about what sorts of concepts and values the masses are drawn to, and perhaps why they’re so drawn.
Fourth, I love the 1980s. I know that doesn't sound like a reason, but stay with me. Maybe it’s a millennial thing, but nothing holds my attention like those hightop white sneakers, 80s wash jeans, and “Shout” by Tears for Fears blasting in the background. I couldn't explain it before, but it's not accidental. One writer from The New York Times says the show is "an entertainment machine built by repurposing vintage pop-culture parts," everything from E.T. to Kate Bush and The NeverEnding Story. The nostalgia that comes through for a large swath of viewers is potent. For James Poniewozik, Stranger Things "succeeds in part because of how well it evokes pop culture that audiences already love. It is, in other words, a human-made equivalent of the algorithm, the software engine that has come to define the experience and the aesthetic of streaming." The Duffer brothers certainly knew what they were doing when tapping into the 80s.
We can break down the theology of Stranger Things into three categories: who God is, who we are, and what the world is like.
WHO GOD IS
Let’s look at the first major component: who God is. (For my own take, see The Speaking Trinity & His Worded World.)
At first pass, it doesn’t look as if Stranger Things has anything to say about the nature of God. But that’s because it makes the ever-so-common assumption in secular media that God is one of the following.
- non-existent
- practically irrelevant (note the use of Hawkins Presbyterian Church in Season 5 as nothing more than a strategic radio signal beacon)
- a cover people use to get what they really want
- a possession of the ignorant populace
As an aside, I’m still waiting for a popular TV series to go deeper than this. Christian history has over two thousand years of rigorous thought, with fully developed bodies of literature on metaphysics (what exists), epistemology (how we know things), and ethics (what we should do). Many people who are critical of Christianity via popular media seem completely unaware of this. And yet they are carefree about writing it off. It’s hard not to be annoyed. I mean, I’m not expecting a popular series to put forward any belief in God, especially not in the God of Christianity, since the Christian faith is increasingly marginalized in the secular West. But that doesn’t mean I don’t cringe when I see how shallow the portrayals of faith are.
The closest Stranger Things comes to a positive portrayal of God is when Hopper says from a Russian prison (S4.E7), “I thought I was put here to pay for what I’ve done. But I might have been put here for some other reason. Maybe I can still help El, even if it’s the last thing I do.” His comrade Antonov says, “You almost sound religious, American.” Hopper replies, “Religious? I don’t know about that. But maybe I should give that prayer thing a try. ‘Cause if we wanna get out of here, get back to El and Mikhail, you and me . . . we’re gonna need a miracle.”
Though Hopper is, like all of us, questioning his purpose and place in the mysterious providence of God, Stranger Things mostly portrays a “God of the gaps.” Basically, whatever can’t be fully explained by humans is fair game for God. If we’re desperate, we can pray. If we’re hopeless, we can ask for a miracle. But it’s assumed that the “God territory” grows smaller and smaller with time, as human progress develops. That’s an assumption carried over from the Enlightenment. And, to be frank, it’s arrogant and brittle. People who held to this Enlightenment ideal of human progress were certain the twentieth century would be one of the brightest. Instead, it was one of the darkest, with more tyranny, violence, pestilence, death, and starvation than the history of humanity had ever seen. That’s not to say there haven’t been great advances in human knowledge. There certainly have been. But there’s no sense in which humanity needs God any less now than it did a hundred years ago, or a thousand years ago. We’ve always needed God, and will always need him. In fact, we can’t escape him as our very environment. The Apostle Paul says we live, move, and exist in God (Acts 17:28). That’s how relevant God is. I believe artists often don’t know how to portray God this way, given the popularity of the four assumptions listed at the outset of this section. It’s easier to ignore God than to factor him into every facet of reality. The latter takes a lot of work. And people either don’t want to do it or else don’t know how.
There’s no sense in which humanity needs God any less now than it did a hundred years ago, or a thousand years ago. We’ve always needed God, and will always need him. In fact, we can’t escape him as our very environment.
In contrast, I believe we’re always and everywhere dependent on God in walking through the world each day. We depend on his character and faithfulness for what we think, say, touch, taste, feel, smell, and eat. We find God not just in the extraordinary, but in the ordinary.
None of us is truly self-sufficient. If you need a reminder of that, just look at your belly button (thanks to Kelly Kapic for pointing that out in You’re Only Human).You didn’t give birth to yourself, and every day since your birth has been a day of dependence on people and things well beyond your control. We are not autonomous. The one who holds all things together, including your brittle body and fragile mind, is God. And he’s also the one who is expressing himself in everything you see around you. I’d love to see more cinematic representations of that.
I also believe God gives meaning and relevance to everything. We all have values, aspirations, joys, and passions at our core because that’s how we’ve been made, by a personal God, a tri-personal God. This is a God who houses truth, beauty, and goodness in himself, a God who gives sacred value to every human life, since we’re made in his image (Gen. 1:27). And it’s only in light of God that we can even seek what Hopper seeks: his purpose in the grand scheme of things.[2]
Suffice it to say that I don’t believe the theology of God presented by Stranger Things is anything close to biblical. But I never expected it to be. After all, this is mainline secular entertainment. But it can help to watch shows like this to compare and contrast your own thoughts with those being expressed for art or entertainment’s sake. Apparently, this view of God is readily digestible by the masses. And that’s no surprise either, since humanity has a sordid history of ignoring God’s presence. Since many people in the world view God as functionally irrelevant, they’re content to watch media that keeps God off the radar. What’s amusing to me is that all of the purposes each character pursues are groundless and unexplainable without God. As Van Til wrote, “Without a comprehensive purpose, every act of purpose on the part of man would be set in a void.”[3] God grounds all our purposes, all our aspirations, all our values, all our moral judgements. That’s probably why Machen said that our “relation to God is the all-important thing. It is not a mere means to an end. Everything else is secondary to it.”[4]
God is only ever partially portrayed by the masses in popular media, and those traits that come to the surface are the ones that don't threaten our idols.
Stranger Things does, however, suggest something about who God is by its portrayal of evil. One of the most fascinating developments in Season 5 is the use of Madeleine L'Engle's A Wrinkle in Time as a foil for several of the characters. L'Engle was a Christian, and by the end of the book, there are quotations from Romans coming through the mouths of aliens. But none of that gets into Stranger Things. What does get in is "The Black Thing" or "IT," the evil that governs the lost planet of Camezotz. In fact, one of the episodes in Season 5 is titled "Escape from Camezotz. The Black Thing in L'Engle's work is evil by trying to control and homogenize everyone on planet Camezotz. In that sense, it mirrors Vecna's desire for control and mastery of his victims, and the insatiable desire for mastery and consumption by "The Mind Flayer" from another world in Season 5. This desire for control, when viewed negatively, points out the goodness of freedom and individuality. Those are created goods reflective of the God who is perfectly free and utterly unique (he is the only Creator). We could, with a generous amount of grace, say that the God Stranger Things portrays is one who upholds the goodness of freedom and individuality. But those traits are the ones that most easily jive in a culture that worships self-expression. The biblical traits of God that make contemporary Westerners uncomfortable—his justice, wrath, righteousness, sovereignty, and self-disclosure—are nowhere to be found in Stranger Things. Again, this isn't surprising. But it is good to note when it comes to engaging with the culture. God is only ever partially portrayed by the masses in popular media, and those traits that come to the surface are the ones that don't threaten our idols.
WHO WE ARE
What does Stranger Things say about who we are? A lot, but let’s focus on just three areas: the power of the mind, the importance of relationships, and the nature of evil. The latter topic is especially important because it shows the gap between a Christian anthropology and a popular view of humanity.
The Power of the Mind
Eleven’s powers—the result of psychokinetic abilities passed along in her blood by a planet-crushing alien—are an extension of her mind. The Stranger Things storyline assumes that mental powers can affect and manipulate electro-magnetic fields (a strange brand of Kantianism on steroids).[5]
I won’t pretend to understand the science (or pseudo-science) behind it. But it’s at least clear that the mind has the power to manipulate reality. Henry (a.k.a. One, Vecna) takes El’s psychokinetic powers to a dark place, consuming the mental lives of other humans and discarding their mangled bodies. While this power is obviously fictional, it does highlight the potency of our minds, which I still don’t think receives enough attention on a popular level. There’s much more awareness now than there was, say fifty years ago, of how much our thinking affects not just our emotions but even our bodies. But this hasn’t percolated the soil of the masses. And it should. The mind has been created by God and is linked to the body. We are what theologians call psychosomatic (body-spirit) image bearers. Each human being as a whole (body and spirit) images God.[6] So it’s no surprise that thoughts are potent enough to have bodily effects—even if we can’t use our mind-powers to bring down a helicopter.
Stranger Things certainly draws our attention to the mental capacities we have. And I liked that, since I also believe the mind has profound power, as Scripture teaches. I’ve seen that first hand in living for over twenty years with an anxiety disorder. Thoughts are not mere thoughts. They change us. They can trigger the release of natural chemicals in the body, such as adrenaline and cortisol. It’s no coincidence that the Apostle Paul tells us to “take every thought captive to obey Christ” (2 Cor. 10:5; emphasis added). Why every thought? Because thoughts are powerful. They take us places we’d never imagine, both spiritually and physically.
True mental power lies in following God's revealed thoughts.
So, while we may not be able to use our mental prowess to toss a Hawkins Lab van into the air, our thoughts are much more powerful than we often assume. That power, however, is not given to us by an alien seeking to devour a planet. It is given to us by God so that we might think his thoughts after him. True mental power lies in following God's revealed thoughts.
The Importance of Relationships
Personal relationships in Stranger Things express one the grand goods of humanity. I love how the relationships draw out personal traits and challenges that each character will have a chance to confront—whether that’s Nancy’s struggle to find what (and whom) she really wants without compromising her identity, or Will’s ongoing battle to find acceptance and value in a friendship circle that seems to outgrow him, or Mike’s fear of losing his superhero girlfriend, or El’s hope of understanding and overcoming her violent and troubled past, or Eddie’s battle against fear and his habit of fleeing (S.4).
What’s common to all of these relationships? Each character learns the importance of someone else in addressing his or her own personal problems. Self-sufficiency isn’t a virtue. Nancy needs Steve and Jonathan. Max needs Lucas. Joyce needs Hopper, and Hopper needs Joyce. Steve needs Nancy and Robin (and Dustin). There’s a beautiful interdependence among the characters. And I really appreciated this because that’s how life works. Growth and identity emerge in the context of relationships, not in the context of isolation.
Growth and identity emerge in the context of relationships, not in the context of isolation.
This is especially encouraging in a time when independence is so broadly embraced as a virtue (for a biblical response to this, see Our Hope Is in Help). Sure, it’s good to be independent in a sense, but I believe we’re inherently relational beings, made in the image of a relational God. We weren’t made for utter independence and isolation. We were made to grow and develop with others. I found that truth prevalent throughout the series, whether it was intended or not.
The Nature of Evil
Now, why put the nature of evil in the category of “who we are”? Isn’t this more of a “what the world is like” element? Well, that depends. My theology tells me that evil isn’t something “out there.” Evil is “in here.” It’s in the rebellious hearts of creatures. And I would distinguish evil from sin. Evil is a broader category, of which sin is a subset. Because sin is in each human heart, evil is bound to follow. This is very different from the way in which evil is portrayed in Stranger Things. While there are morally suspect characters (notably Dr. Brenner, a.k.a. “Papa” from the Hawkins Lab; Henry, a.k.a. Vecna), and while Hopper mentions that he thinks he ended up in a Russian prison to “pay for” his former choices, much of the series focuses on the evil that emerges from “the upside-down,” a shadow world. Evil comes from the outside, in other words, not from inside people (sin). At least, the focus certainly isn’t on personal moral failure.
But I did find Stranger Things perceptive on the nature of evil, the goal of evil. What do evil forces want to do? The goal of evil isn’t simply to take over the human world but to utterly destroy it. Evil speaks through Billy in season 3 (E.6), “We’re going to end you. And when you are gone, we’re going to end your friends. And then we are going to end everyone.” There’s no desire to rule over the world or change the people in it. There’s only a desire for destruction. This makes sense, given Henry’s isolation and alienation from other people. As Vecna, Henry wants to destroy the world and start from scratch. He wants to make his own world. In Season 5, however, we learn that Vecna is just doing the bidding of an alien from a dark world who wants to destroy the earth.
In the Christian tradition, Satan is a mysterious figure, a once glorious angel of light who rebels against God and condemns himself to hell. But he’s also called “the ruler of the world” (John 12:31; 14:30; 16:11) and “the god of this world” (2 Cor. 4:4). In other words, he’s at work all around us until his final judgment comes. And what does he want? To deceive and destroy. Jesus Christ calls Satan “the father of lies” (John 8:44). But he also calls him “a murderer from the beginning” (8:44). Satan aims to lie and to kill. He would be happy to hoodwink the whole world, burn it to the ground, and then remove our blindfolds so we could watch the smoke rise. Satan only wants to deceive and destroy. The parallel between Satan and Vecna was striking in this sense. Both Satan and Vecna are creatures (not gods), and yet both strive for godlike mastery over all things. But they strive for this not because they want to modify the existing world, but because they want to destroy it. They’re spinsters of sabotage.
Deception, mingled with pain and guilt, leads to death. Doesn’t that also sound like Satan’s MO?
And look at their means. They do so through deception. We all know about Satan’s lies from Genesis 3, but Vecna’s deceptions were eerily similar. Vecna deceives his victims into thinking they are part of a fictional reality. Vecna would show up in that fictional reality—drawing on the victim’s past mistakes or pain points—and then he would crush and consume each victim. Deception, mingled with pain and guilt, leads to death. Doesn’t that also sound like Satan’s MO?
Lastly, one of the brilliant ways in which Stranger Things depicts evil is by portraying it as monolithic, as united by a common end. The biblical counselor David Powlison often spoke of evil as "monolithic." Here's how he put it in a lecture on spiritual warfare:
what appears as you look at the way Satan is presented in the epistles is that the problem we’re dealing with is what we might call monolithic evil. The world, the flesh, and the devil work in concert. They’re wedded to each other; they’re one flesh. And Satan’s fundamental goal is to exert his lordship. He is a master; he is a ruler; he is a father who makes people in his image. He controls people. He enslaves people; he kills people; he even kills his slaves. There’s this picture of him in the epistles as a master. And as a master, he works through corporate context—through the world, through the value systems, the institutions, the idols, all the lies that get sold to people, the influence of other people on us. Satan ultimately works in the human heart. And there’s a congruence between the human heart—with its lust, desires, and vulnerability to believe lies and falsehoods—and the work of Satan, the work of the world.
The world, the flesh, and the devil work in concert. They are one. That has clear parallels with the way in which the "vines," Vecna, and the alien Mind Flayer work and feel in unison. When the evil vines are burned, Venca feels it, and so does the Mind Flayer. Even Will, who is partially possessed by Vecna in an earlier season, feels the pain. This carries through the entire series. The evil of Stranger Things is monolithic; it's all united.
Where Stranger Things departs from the biblical portrayal, of course, is in finding evil in human hearts. While each of the characters has mistakes and painful experiences in their past, they are never viewed as inherently corrupt. In fact, it's the opposite. They are viewed as basically good. Sin does not corrupt the hearts of the characters; it only breaks in from the outside. And that is a view foreign to Scripture and to how reality actually works.
WHAT THE WORLD IS LIKE
Lastly, what does Stranger Things have to say about what the world is like? Again, I could say a lot here, but let me focus on one idea: The world is more than what it seems. And with this I heartily agree. The irony for characters who don’t know about the “upside-down” world is that what they think is critical actually pales in significance to a war between worlds. A trick-or-treating excursus is overshadowed by a wandering demi-dog puppy and a series of haunting flashbacks for Will. A county fair is trumped by a Russian plan to harness the powers of darkness. What’s actually going on has far greater weight than what appears to be going on. We see this even in the warped and deceitful portrayal of Henry as Mr. Whatsit. In A Wrinkle in Time, Mrs. Whatsit is an angelic helper; in Stranger Things, Henry claims to be the same, but he's actually a psychopath trying to use children for his own evil ends. Things are never what they appear to be.
This has some interesting parallels to the Christian faith, where Paul describes our real battle as something otherworldly. “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places” (Eph. 6:12). Things around us are more than they appear to be.
Those who refuse to believe will never see things as they really are. This applies as much to the Christian life as it does to the town of Hawkins.
One of my favorite lines in Season 4 was Jason’s desperate question to the police: “How do you expect to stop the devil if you don’t believe he’s real?” That’s a question you could ask our own generation. The answer, of course, is that you can’t. You can’t address things you don’t believe are real. It’s only after belief that a remedy can follow. I found that fascinating, since the Christian faith also claims that apart from belief—in our own sin, in Jesus Christ as Savior, in the work of God’s Spirit—we cannot be saved. It all comes down to belief, doesn’t it? Those who refuse to believe will never see things as they really are. This applies as much to the Christian life as it does to the town of Hawkins. We’re at war with cosmic powers over our present darkness, with spiritual forces of evil. And we can choose to disbelieve that if we wish. It just means we’ll do so at our peril.
FINAL THOUGHT
Despite its gory details and horror, its anti-biblical anthropology, and a host of other vices, Stranger Things is an example of a TV series that can, even despite itself, shine light on truths many Christians hold dear. It’s not, by any means, going to be a supporter of your faith. But it may leak truths about spiritual life unintentionally, since God’s common grace requires that this will happen.
Because we live in God’s world, even secular artists will have their messages marbled with truth, despite their best efforts to cut it away. As Christians, we can see that truth, claim it for Christ, and show a world longing for entertainment that they might be much closer to the truth when binge-watching Netflix than it appears. Maybe the real upside-down is our present world. If that's the case, we need to be creative in finding ways to point people to Christ and his right-side-up kingdom.