Crimson Desert is an open-world action-adventure game set on the continent of Pywel. But how big is the open world, exactly? It’s “absolutely massive,” its developer has said, bigger even than that of Bethesda’s Skyrim and Rockstar’s Red Dead Redemption 2.

Speaking on the Gaming Interviews YouTube channel, Pear Abyss’ Will Powers said that describing the size of Crimson Desert’s world in terms of numbers doesn’t do it justice, because doing so fails to capture the scope and scale of the game. But he did go as far as to compare it to two of the biggest open world games around.

"I don't think numbers really do it justice because, how big is that in terms of scope and scale?” he said. “But what we can say is that the world's at least twice as big as the open world, the playable area, of Skyrim. It's larger than the map of Red Dead Redemption 2."

Powers went on to insist that the size of Crimson Desert’s open world won’t determine its quality. Rather, what you actually do in it is the key factor.

"The continent of Pywel is absolutely massive, but size doesn't really matter if there's nothing to do,” he said. “Open-world games are about doing things, having activities, having distractions. So we wanted to create a world that's not only massive, but is also incredibly interactive."

Unlike Skyrim and Red Dead Redemption 2, in Crimson Desert you can fly around on a dragon, so despite the size of its world, you’ll be able to get about quickly. And don’t expect RPG elements in terms of decision-making and choice and consequence as it relates to your character, either. The sheer amount of things to do in the world will facilitate the role-playing part of Crimson Desert, which players will form through “head canon.”

“You choose the type of character you want to play as in terms of your progression within the systems in the game,” Powers explained. “And then through head canon you’re having this very different experience than other players because of the scope and scale of the game. You’ll be distracted by something, you’ll go on this quest line, you’ll have an experience that’ll be radically different than someone else, even though they’re playing the same game and the same canonical storyline that you both are going through.”

Indeed, the part of Crimson Desert shown off to the media in previews is just "a tiny corner of the map," Powers added. Crimson Desert is due out March 19, 2026.

Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.

Over two years after it was announced, Ubisoft is still working on The Division 3. And while it has yet to show off the game, its chief developer has said he thinks it will have as big an impact as The Division 1.

The Division 1 was announced at E3 2013 with a trailer that went down as one of the most talked about of the show. After a series of delays, The Division released on March 8, 2016, breaking sales records for Ubisoft. The Division 2 followed in 2019, although it failed to make as big a splash at launch as its predecessor.

While there’s no release date for The Division 3, the hope is Ubisoft will show it off at some point this year. Now, Julian Gerighty, executive producer of The Division franchise at Ubisoft’s Massive Entertainment, has provided a brief but tantalizing update.

Speaking during the New Game+ Showcase 2026, Gerighty said: “So, The Division 3 is in production, right? This is not a secret. It's been announced. It's shaping up to be a monster. I can't really say anything more than that. But this is, within these walls in Massive, we are working extremely hard on something that I think will be as big an impact as Division 1 was.”

That’s not much to go on, but clearly Ubisoft is hoping that The Division 3 will rekindle memories of The Division 1, which was certainly a hot topic when it was announced and enjoyed huge sales when it eventually came out. The pressure is on to deliver, especially with Ubisoft’s recent high-profile struggles.

Meanwhile, support for The Division 2 continues with various updates, and a team in Paris is putting the final touches of a The Division mobile game. The Division Heartland, a free-to-play spin-off, entered development in 2020 but was canceled in 2024.

Two months ago, Massive Entertainment introduced what it called a 'voluntary career transition program,' (the studio asked its staff to volunteer to be laid off) as part of a move to focus on The Division franchise and its Snowdrop game engine. It came as part of significant restructuring at Ubisoft that has seen multiple studio closures and rounds of layoffs. Massive Entertainment's Star Wars Outlaws, released in 2024, was a big sales disappointment for Ubisoft, despite significant development and marketing costs.

Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.

Star Wars superfans are still trying to convince Disney to make canceled movie The Hunt For Ben Solo a reality — and they’re putting their money where their mouths are.

Last year, a ‘Ben Solo Missing’ poster was plastered all over Los Angeles and was subsequently seen across the world, having been translated into over 11 languages. Now, its creator has taken the next step and fully funded a takeover of two more billboards in Times Square.

One was featured on top of a building in Times Square on January 3, 2026, the other was visible in Times Square on January 5, right above the Pele store. This location also happens to be in close proximity to the Disney store — and it’s Disney these hardcore Star Wars fans hope will reconsider its decision to ditch The Hunt For Ben Solo.

Wrestling superstar CM Punk has compared the online anger at the ending of Stranger Things to the backlash to John Cena's final WWE match, saying both fandoms sometimes display “a slight mental illness" when events don't go the way they had built them up in their heads.

CM Punk, regarded as one of the greatest wrestlers of all time, hit out at fans who “just seem to want to be angry about everything because it didn't happen the way they fantasy booked it in their head.”

Stranger Things Season 5’s finale, which left it up to the audience to decide whether Eleven was alive or dead, has proven so divisive that some fans have concocted stories about secret 'Snyder cuts' and theories about a ninth episode that would have revealed the show’s true ending. Both were proven to be fake. Still, a petition to release this supposed “unseen footage” gained nearly 400,000 signatures — despite being debunked by the cast. Some fans are even using generative AI to make alternative Stranger Things endings.

Speaking on My Mom's Basement with Robbie Fox, CM Punk noted parallels between the Stranger Things and wrestling fandoms, expressing concern about people who react with anger to events that don’t go the way they had hoped.

“I see it in wrestling. I see it with fandoms, with Stranger Things,” he said. “People just seem to want to be angry about everything because it didn't happen the way they fantasy booked it in their head. To me that’s a slight mental illness.

“Like, hey I bought tickets to go to this wrestling show and then I look on Twitter and wrestling journalist 345678910 reports that there's going to be a big surprise guest, and I go to this show and there's no big surprise guest, and I spend an unhealthy amount of time complaining about that online. And it's just like, well you weren't promised a big surprise guest. Somebody that probably knows less about what they're talking about than you do and is just a fan just like you, made some shit up on the internet and passed it off as a journalism, and you're getting mad at that.

“I see the same thing with the Stranger Things fandom. People just straight up mad about the way it ended, and I thought the 45 minute epilogue… Mind you, I'm not a feverish Stranger Things fan. I've watched the entire show and it's hard to remember what has happened because they spend way too much time in between seasons, which I feel is a valid criticism. But I thought it was so poetic the way they wrapped it up. At the heart of the movie, it's a nostalgia bomb, but it's about these kids that are bonding over playing Dungeons & Dragons. They're the outcasts, so they find each other and there's a sci-fi element to it. And the way they wrapped it up was just like a dungeon master.”

On Eleven’s ending, specifically, and the ambiguity around her fate, CM Punk added: “I was super happy about it, but people have their opinions. It's just like the John Cena / Gunther finish. I feel like it's the same thing. Some people... maybe I don't think you understand what you're watching. But if you didn't like it, I can also understand that. But to overnight make it your entire personality and spend an unhealthy amount of time talking about it… put it this way, if John won, they'd be mad about that, too. But we wouldn't be talking about it anymore. And we're still talking about that finish. The smile, the tap. ‘Oh my god, The guy who said don't give up just gave up.’

“Everybody's an expert. I thought it was beautiful.”

The John Cena / Gunther ending refers to John Cena's emotional final WWE match in December 2025, where he lost to Gunther via submission, officially concluding his legendary career with a symbolic "passing of the torch" to a dominant new champion, though fans had mixed reactions to Cena's "Never Give Up" persona tapping out.

The Independent Workers’ Union of Great Britain (IWGB) has asked a judge to grant the fired GTA 6 developers interim relief at a preliminary employment tribunal hearing held in the UK this week. Rockstar Games, which also attended the hearing, has issued a response to the claims, denying a number of points made by the union.

Rockstar has insisted the employees it fired late last year were dismissed because they leaked game features for upcoming and unannounced titles in Discord, not because they were trying to unionize. 34 members of staff at Rockstar were dismissed, 31 in the UK and three in Canada, sparking protests outside the office of GTA 6 developer Rockstar North in Edinburgh, Scotland, and outside parent company Take-Two’s office in London.

The IWGB, which is representing the affected staff in the UK, has refuted Rockstar’s claim, saying that the workers "only communicated in private and legally-protected trade union channels."

On Monday, January 5, a preliminary hearing at the Glasgow Tribunals Centre in Scotland saw the IWGB represent the fired Rockstar workers and make a case for why they should be granted interim relief.

Interim relief is a legal mechanism that can provide workers with support while they wait for a full hearing. This week’s tribunal will decide whether or not the workers will receive the interim relief while awaiting a date for a full trial. If the interim relief is granted, the workers will be put back on Rockstar’s payroll and have their work visas reinstated where necessary.

The IWGB told IGN today that it is hopeful the judge will see it their way, but insisted that if the interim relief is not granted, that doesn’t mean Rockstar will not be found guilty of breaking the law if and when the case goes to trial.

“We hope this week’s tribunal will grant urgently needed relief to the workers whose lives were turned upside down by Rockstar’s brutal union-busting, leaving them and their families without incomes, without secure futures, and in some cases without even the right to remain in the country they have made their home,” the IWGB said in a statement issued to IGN.

“However, no matter the outcome of this interim hearing, we remain confident in the strength of the case we have brought against Rockstar Games. We reiterate our firm belief that Rockstar broke the law when it summarily dismissed 31 of our members, and we look forward now to the day we face them in court for a full and substantive tribunal hearing.

“Rockstar hoped to quickly and quietly wipe out a group of workers who were organising for better conditions. Instead, their dismissal of 31 union members captured the world’s attention and ignited an unprecedented uprising of global solidarity. This case is not just about the suffering of the 31 people who lost their livelihoods in the blink of an eye. This is about the arrogance of a company like Rockstar thinking that its size and profitability grant it an unlimited licence to abuse its workers, and to do so with impunity.

“Whether or not interim relief is granted this week, we will continue fighting in the courts and on the streets until we see justice, for the fired Rockstar workers and for workers everywhere fighting for a fairer future.”

A Rockstar Games spokesperson issued IGN with the following statement on this week’s hearing. In it, the company addressed many of the union’s claims, and claimed the organization lacks any evidence to justify emergency interim relief.

“Rockstar categorically denies the claim being heard in today’s hearing,” the Rockstar spokesperson said.

“We have consistently made clear that we took necessary action against a group of individuals across the UK and Canada who discussed highly confidential information, including relating to game features from upcoming and unannounced titles, in an insecure and public social channel. This was a breach of long-standing and well-understood confidentiality policies.

“This channel contained at least 25 non-Rockstar employees, including employees of competitor game developers, a video games industry journalist, as well as dozens of anonymous, unidentifiable members.

“Meanwhile, employees who posted union-supportive messages, but who did not breach confidentiality policies, were not dismissed.

“We regret that these dismissals were necessary; however, confidentiality is fundamental to everything Rockstar Games does. Global interest in our games is unparalleled. Even the smallest leak of any information relating to our products and practices can cause major commercial and creative damage — as we have seen in the past — and damage the experience of our loyal players and dedicated team. This was never about union membership. We have always taken a zero-tolerance approach to unauthorized releases of information — and we always will.”

Rockstar has indicated to IGN that it believes the IWGB’s claim of “union-busting” is baseless, and that the union has no evidence to support its statements. Rockstar has also denied having a “blacklist” of union members, stressing that at the time of the dismissals, the company did not know whether the claimants were union members, so could not have targeted them.

And, as it has said before, Rockstar employees themselves raised concerns to the company and granted representatives access to the “social” channel, not the Discord channel used for official union organizing. It maintains that this social Discord channel was not private or for employees only, and indeed contained hundreds of users, including employees of competitor game developers, a video games industry journalist, and dozens of anonymous, unidentifiable members. As IGN has also reported, Rockstar has claimed that the union channel mods didn’t know who was in the channel, and that it posed a leak risk.

What about this alleged leaked information? Rockstar believes it to be significant and related to game features around GTA 6. This includes specific game features, comments on the progress of GTA 6 development, and timelines to launch.

Rockstar believes that if the comments in question were leaked they would have been big gaming news and might even have affected Take-Two’s share price. When Rockstar officially announced that GTA 6 would be delayed by six months to November 19, 2026, the market value of Take-Two plummeted $3.75 billion in a single day.

And Rockstar has pointed to its well-established zero tolerance approach to leaks, highlighting that it dismissed a Rockstar employee in Lincoln, UK in April 2025, who it alleged disclosed confidential information about GTA 6 to a third party who published the information to social media, and dismissed an employee in the U.S. in November 2023 and another in India in November 2025 for two separate acts of information leaking.

The hearing comes after UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer called the case “deeply concerning," and pledged that ministers would investigate. The layoffs were raised by Rockstar North's local MP Chris Murray in the UK's Parliament during a session of Prime Minister's Questions that took place late last year.

"The video games company Rockstar in my constituency last month fired 31 employees without providing evidence or union representation," Murray told the Prime Minister. "The [Independent Workers Union of Great Britain] IWGB alleges union busting. Having met Rockstar they failed to reassure me they are following employment law and I share concerns about union busting.

"Given this government is responsible for the biggest increase in workers rights in a generation," Murray continued, "does the Prime Minister agree all companies regardless of profit size must follow UK employment law and all workers have the right to join a union?"

"It's a deeply concerning case," Starmer replied. "Every worker has the right to join a trade union and we're determined to strengthen workers rights and ensure they don't face unfair consequences for being part of a union. Our ministers will look into the particular case that he [Murray] raises and will keep him updated."

Union busting has consequences! UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer says the government will look into @RockstarGames's dismissal of 31 union members. pic.twitter.com/4EEM9NvcR7

— IWGB Game Workers (@IWGB_GW) December 10, 2025

In a statement sent to IGN at the time, MP Chris Murray shared detail of his attempts to discuss the matter with Rockstar itself, including a joint meeting alongside fellow Edinburgh MPs Tracy Gilbert and Scott Arthur at Rockstar North's offices, which began with a standoff over the need to sign a non-disclosure agreement (NDA).

"The meeting began with us as MPs refused entry unless an NDA was signed, a request they eventually withdrew after being made clear this would not be signed," Murray said.

He continued: "The meeting only entrenched my concerns about the process Rockstar used to dismiss so many of their staff members. I was not assured their process paid robust attention to UK employment law, I was not convinced that this course of action was necessary, and alarmingly, I did not leave informed on exactly what these 31 people had done to warrant their immediate dismissal."

IGN recently questioned Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick on the matter, who answered by defending the company's culture and saying that Take-Two was "incredibly proud of our labor relations."

Photo by Lesley Martin/PA Images via Getty Images.

Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.

The Stranger Things 'Conformity Gate' theory has — as expected — turned out to be nonsense, leaving conspiracy theorists facing the cold, harsh reality that Season 5 really is the end of the show.

In the wake of Stranger Things Season 5’s divisive finale, the so-called ‘Conformity Gate’ theory spread like wildfire across social media, especially TikTok. It posits that the lengthy epilogue we saw in the final episode was an illusion created by villain Vecna, who remains alive and well.

Some fans spent a great deal of time and energy assembling “clues” that pointed to the shadowdrop of an “Episode 9” of Season 5 that would reveal the true ending today, January 7. Alas, that failed to materialize. It turns out that any “clues” pointing to something happening today were in fact related to Netflix making a song and dance of upcoming projects, with a flashy trailer teasing TV shows and movies to come in 2026.

The ‘What’s Next?’ tagline for this trailer is about what’s next for Netflix, not Stranger Things. And Millie Bobby Brown’s appearance in the promo as Enola Holmes for this year’s Enola Holmes 3 isn’t helping dismayed Stranger Things conspiracy theorists move on with their lives either.

"So is Chapter 9 coming or not for Stranger Things?" pic.twitter.com/kZnZ0s3DSN

— Hajedan | WolfSwap.app (@Hajedan) January 7, 2026

Mike & Eleven finally got their happy ending? pic.twitter.com/5cZmUu0dHR

— BOB (@bobussyy) January 7, 2026

Stranger Things fans rn holding onto their theory rn be like😭 pic.twitter.com/CmrK3ulFv9

— Hajedan | WolfSwap.app (@Hajedan) January 7, 2026

I swear to god if I see a single comment saying this confirms the secret finale of ST ... pic.twitter.com/arIPJ3vMeY

— Hajedan | WolfSwap.app (@Hajedan) January 7, 2026

So yes, Stranger Things is really done and dusted. And don’t expect a sequel either. The Duffer Brothers have ruled out a Stranger Things sequel that would check in on the characters years later, saying it would be “a gross cash grab.”

But all is not lost for Stranger Things fans. Netflix actually has two announced Stranger Things spinoffs in development, the first of which is Stranger Things: Tales From ’85, a new animated series due out at some point this year. This is set in the same universe between Seasons 2 and 3, and follows the original characters as they “fight new monsters and unravel a paranormal mystery terrorizing their town.” The second spinoff is an unnamed live-action series. And if you’re really desperate for more, there’s a making-of documentary due out on Netflix on January 12.

“The show ended guys. It’s over,” said one fan on the Stranger Things subreddit. “I understand you weren’t happy with the ending… I wasn’t either. But believing a secret episode is dropping just makes no sense. Not only that but the posts about it, which are nonstop and all I need at this point in the discussion of the ending and it clogs up all the space for actual discussion of the actual ending. If you want to play pretend with the ending there are several fan fiction websites to go to. I really hope today is the end of all the secret episode nonsense.”

Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.

Netflix has provided a first look at Enola Holmes 3, the murder mystery sequel starring Millie Bobby Brown as Sherlock Holmes’ younger sister and Henry Cavill, who plays Sherlock Holmes himself.

Enola Holmes 3, due to hit Netflix this summer, sees detective Enola Holmes travel to Malta, where “personal and professional dreams collide on a case more tangled and treacherous than any she has faced before.”

“You’ll have to wait and see what brings her there — but once she’s arrived, Enola is flung into a nest of vipers,” Netflix said. “As the private detective juggles a new case and the next stages of her relationship with Tewkesbury (Louis Partridge), the game is truly afoot.”

The first-look photo, below, shows Tewkesbury down on one knee presenting Enola with a flower. The question is, will she say yes?

David Harbour has dropped out of an upcoming movie starring Pedro Pascal, Eva Victor, Olivia Wilde, and Matthew Lillard, allegedly to rest after feeling “overwhelmed” by the wrapping up of Netflix show Stranger Things.

Harbour, who plays Jim Hopper in Stranger Things, has exited Behemoth!, the drama from Rogue One writer and Andor creator Tony Gilroy, Variety confirmed.

Variety said “multiple insiders familiar with the project said Harbour was overwhelmed by the series wrap of Stranger Things — a monthslong episodic rollout and global water cooler moment with intense press scrutiny — and stepped away from the project to rest.”

It is not known who will now play David Harbour’s recast character.

Stranger Things came to an end on New Year’s Eve with a 2-hour finale that saw Hopper and the rest of the characters finally defeat Vecna. It closes the door on a show that began on Netflix nearly a decade ago, with the weight of expectation of a huge online fandom that has spent years digging through every detail.

In June last year, Harbour indicated that he was ready to be hanging up the badge. "You get to a certain point where you’re like, 'How much more story is there?' You’re having to play a lot of the same beat," Harbour told Scarlett Johansson during a conversation for Interview Magazine. "And there’s a feeling where you’re like, 'I want to take a risk. I want to do something that people haven’t seen me do before.' So yeah, after 10 years, it’s like, 'Okay.'"

Two years prior, Harbour said he didn’t want to be tied to the Netflix show forever, and even suggested he’d give up TV acting altogether once Stranger Things wrapped up.

He said: "It’s a funny position I’m in, which I never thought I would be in. The first year of Stranger Things, I remember having a discussion with a publicist and her saying: ‘maybe you don’t want to be associated with the show so much.'

"I was like, ‘Why? I love this show. I love the character.’ And I do love the show. And I do love the character. But I don’t want to be just that character. I don’t want to be just that guy."

Harbour compared himself to George Clooney during his time playing Doug Ross on medical drama series ER, saying the now incredibly successful and famous film star was once just "the guy from ER.”

"I'm trying to navigate some of that, and it’s tricky because you don’t want to s**t on the people that love you for this thing that you did that you also love," Harbour added.

"But at the same time, you kind of want to leave the nest. I got more in me. I got different stuff in me, and I want you guys to see that. I don’t want people yelling ‘Hopper’ on the street every five minutes the rest of my life."

Now Stranger Things has come to an end, fans are wondering what’s next from the wider Stranger Things universe. Some have speculated that a sequel of sorts could be in the works, one that checks in on the main characters maybe a decade after the events of the Season 5 finale.

But the Duffer brothers, co-creators and showrunners of Stranger Things, have ruled a sequel out, saying making such a thing would come across as a “gross cash grab.”

In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Matt Duffer explained why the Season 5 finale works as the definitive end for the story.

“Mike’s closing the basement door,” he said. “We’re closing the door on the story. That’s one reason we had the closing credits the way we did, because it was a way of saying: ‘this is finite. This is the end of their story. It’s the end of the story of Mike and Eleven and Joyce and Hopper. So, no, there’s no plan or intention to tell the story because it’s a coming-of age story. Ultimately, that’s what it’s supposed to be. That’s what the show always was. When he closes the door to the basement, he’s closing the door on his childhood and he’s moving onto adulthood.”

Matt Duffer went on to wonder out loud about the prospect of a sequel that revisits the characters years later, but ultimately ruled it out.

“I mean, I guess a sequel could be about a midlife crisis,” he said. “That just sounds really uninteresting! (Laughs.) Grandpa Hopper? I don’t know how that would read as anything but a gross cash grab to me. I wish I could talk a little bit more about the [live-action] spinoff, but I’m not allowed to yet. But Ross and I are really excited about exploring new characters and a new mythology, but still very much are interested in telling a story in the spirit of Stranger Things. It feels like with this final season, we finished saying everything we wanted to say about these characters, this story and the Upside Down.”

While details on the live-action Stranger Things spinoff are thin on the ground, we do know one thing about it: it will answer what’s inside the briefcase we see in the Season 5 finale, as well as other loose threads.

“The spinoff is going to delve into that and explain that, and you’re going to understand it,” Matt Duffer said of the briefcase rock. “But it’s a completely different mythology. So it’s not a deep exploration of the Mind Flayer or anything like that. It’s very fresh and very new, but yes, it will answer some of the loose threads that are remaining.”

The Duffer brothers are working on the spinoff as we speak, and described it as a “clean slate.”

“Completely new characters, new town, new world, new mythology,” Matt Duffer said, adding: “No common characters.”

Netflix actually has two announced Stranger Things spinoffs in development, the first of which is Stranger Things: Tales From ’85, a new animated series due out at some point this year. This is set in the same universe between Seasons 2 and 3, and follows the original characters as they “fight new monsters and unravel a paranormal mystery terrorizing their town.” The second spinoff, which the Duffer brothers are referring to above, is an unnamed live-action series. And if you’re really desperate for more, there’s a making-of documentary due out on Netflix on January 12.

Image credit: Netflix.

Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.

There is a mysterious countdown timer on Amazon’s official website for its Fallout TV series that is set to unlock when the Season 2 finale comes out — but fans think it might also signal the shadowdrop of a Fallout 3 or New Vegas remaster.

The countdown is live now on a website designed to look like a Fallout map. On it are locations in the Fallout map style which, when accessed, lead you to behind-the-scenes information on the show. For example, The Vault 33 outer door, from which Lucy first steps foot into the wasteland, is on the south of the map. The Caswennan, the airship that serves as a soaring fortress for the Brotherhood of Steel, is to the east. And up there in the top right is the locked point of interest alongside the timer, which points to February 4.

The Stranger Things final battle was inspired by Baldur’s Gate 3, the Duffer Brothers have revealed.

Warning! Spoilers for Stranger Things Season 5, Episode 8, The Rightside Up, follow:

In the finale, our heroes travel to The Abyss for a final showdown against Vecna, whose base of operations turns out to be the Mind Flayer itself. The final battle involves our heroes taking on the Mind Flayer from various positions and using various weapons, while a smaller strike team heads inside to face off against Vecna himself and rescue the kidnapped children.

It turns out Matt Duffer, co-creator and co-showrunner of Stranger Things, was playing Baldur’s Gate 3 when he and his brother, Ross Duffer, were working out how the final battle would go down, and Larian’s much-loved party-based role-playing game influenced how it would play out.

In an interview with Variety, Matt Duffer pointed to D&D and Baldur’s Gate 3 (Baldur’s Gate 3 is of course an official D&D video game, using its rules for combat and set in its universe).

“We were thinking about D&D, and I was playing Baldur’s Gate 3 at the time, and we felt it was very important that the only way for them to defeat it was for the entire party to work together,” Matt Duffer explained.

“Everyone had fully realized — either through self-acceptance or they’ve resolved all their various issues — moving into that final battle, they’re absolutely primed. They’re the ultimate team, and it’s the party working all together to defeat this thing. And they each have their own individual skills, right? And that’s where I go back to Dungeons & Dragons, and something like Baldur’s Gate. Because that’s how you take down these monsters that seem otherwise unstoppable. Lots of video game references were applied to that final battle.”

In Baldur’s Gate 3, players control not only their created character, but its now-famous companion characters in combat. The likes of Shadowheart, the half-elf Cleric, Astarion, the high elven Rogue, and Karlach, the Tiefling Barbarian, all bring different skills to the table, and finding ways to make the most of them in tough boss fights is part of the fun.

Similarly, the heroes of Stranger Things bring their own skills to bear in the final battle. Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown) uses her powers to carve a path inside the Mind Flayer and battle Vecna. Meanwhile, Dustin (Gaten Matarazzo) suggests the others spread out, flank it on all sides, “Just chip away at its hit points.”

Nancy Wheeler (Natalia Dyer), doing her best Rambo impression, uses her gun skills to get the Mind Flayer’s attention, while the rest of the team ambush it from above. Jonathan Byers (Charlie Heaton) uses a flame thrower, while others throw molotov cocktails and other bombs. Steve and Dustin strike from below using melee weapons. Then Will comes in with his powers to help finish the job.

Following the Duffer Brothers’ revelation, Larian boss Swen Vincke took to social media to say, “That’s pretty cool.” Larian publishing director Michael Douse added: “Damn now I really should watch Stranger Things…”

Still, some fans have taken issue with the Stranger Things final battle, wondering where all the Demogorgons were when Vecna needed them most. The Duffer Brothers have an explanation for that. We’ve also got the first details on the live-action spinoff, an explainer on the Stranger Things 'Conformity Gate' theory, which is currently doing the rounds on social media, and Sadie Sink's interpretation of Eleven's ending.

Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.

Amid the debate about Arc Raiders players who focus on the PvP aspect of the game and little else, the boss of Embark Studios has made the developer’s position clear: this is not a game about killing other players, and it doesn’t want to “foster” that type of gameplay.

Arc Raiders is a multiplayer extraction adventure in which players scavenge the remnants of a devastated world, but the main threats are Arc’s machines and, as Embark Studios puts it, “the unpredictable choices of fellow survivors.”

Arc Raiders’ player versus environment versus player gameplay has resulted in a number of viral clips showing how friendly encounters can quickly devolve into a fight to the last. Yes, you can play solo or in parties up to three, working as a team to progress through the game. However, other players are a constant threat. This has sparked a vociferous debate within the community about the etiquette that has formed in-game, with a retired pro gamer going viral for relentlessly killing casual Arc Raiders players.

Meanwhile, Embark recently confirmed that Arc Raiders does indeed feature ‘aggression-based matchmaking.’ This means that if you’re big into PvP, you’ll be matched up with players who are like-minded. Similarly, if you prefer PvE, you’ll be matchmade with players who tend to avoid conflict with other players.

But according to Patrick Söderlund, CEO of Embark Studios, the developer won’t add a PvP leaderboard or other systems that promote PvP, because that’s not what Arc Raiders is about.

In a recent interview / video playthrough of the game with Games Beat, Söderlund explained the studio’s position.

“We've had several discussions about Nemesis systems and all types of things,” he said. “I don't know where the team are on them right now. I think one of the beauties of this game is the fact that we don't have those leaderboards and it's not competitive.

“We don't want to necessarily foster that type of gameplay. The game isn't about shooting other players. You can do that if you want to, but the ethos of the game has never been to go in and shoot players. It's a part that we use to craft tension.”

Söderlund revealed that Arc Raiders spent quite a bit of time during development not having other players at all. But Embark added other players into the game, supported by subtle signaling so you know players were about, to create this important element of tension.

“The game was without other players for a long time,” Söderlund said. “And yes, there were instances where the game was fun and there were areas where it worked quite well. But also the minute you added other players and then use subtle ways of signaling — you don't know how many players are on the server, you don't know how many players have died, you don’t know how many players are around you — but we signal to you that there are other players. You hear them shooting. That's why audio is a very important part of this game. You hear them encountering Arc and other players. You see the raider flares as they go down.

“At one point — it was funny — I came back into a playtest and the raider flares were gone. I'm like, ‘Why did you remove those?’ And they're like, ‘Well, well…’ So I just said, ‘Just bring them back.’ They're such an iconic part of this game.

“And they also signal to other players that action is happening somewhere. It makes it feel populated in an important way. And you also know that there could be a downed raider somewhere. Should I go there? Should I take the risk and go there to see whether I can find something, or have they been brought back to life? There's a tension element in that that's very important.”

Söderlund went on to suggest that private game servers are “absolutely something we could consider.” Private servers are something fans have been wondering about ever since Arc Raiders came out last year. Their addition would, theoretically at least, allow those who are big into PvP to perhaps create servers where that’s the focus.

For now, though, Arc Raiders won’t shake your hand for your player-killing exploits, or give you the chance for online glory through leaderboards. The emphasis here is PvE — with a dash of PvP thrown in.

Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.

Not only can Sadie Sink not talk about Spider-Man: Brand New Day, she can’t even say who she’s playing, something she has described as “torture.”

The Stranger Things star has been seen filming opposite Tom Holland, still with her natural red hair — something that has fuelled fan speculation that she's playing a familiar redheaded character from the Marvel comics.

Last month, an alleged look at Spider-Man: Brand New Day appeared online, offering a clue to Sadie Sink's mystery character. The leaked Spider-Man trailer was of extremely low quality, but appeared to show Sadie Sink's character threatening Peter Parker — and claiming to know his secret identity as Spider-Man.

As has become Avengers: Doomsday tradition, the latest teaser trailer has leaked online ahead of its release in theaters, revealing an unlikely teamup in the process.

Warning! Spoilers for the fourth Avengers: Doomsday teaser trailer follows:

The fourth teaser trailer for Avengers: Doomsday, which is doing the rounds on social media, shows off the returning Wakandans. We see Shuri as Black Panther, King M'Baku, Namora, and Namor, with Shuri talking seriously about what sounds like the coming battle with Doctor Doom.

The trailer begins with Shuri saying she’s lost everyone that mattered to her (see the events of Black Panther 2), then, as we switch to a look at Namor, adds: “a king has his duties to prepare our people for the afterlife. I have mine.”

We then get a moment of comedy with a surprise appearance from Ben Grimm / The Thing in full The Fantastic Four costume meeting M'Baku. M'Baku introduces himself as “King M'Baku, of Wakanda.” Grimm replies: “Ben, Yancy Street, between Broome and Grand.”

The trailer ends with the line, 'The Wakandans and The Fantastic Four will return in Avengers: Doomsday.'

The trailer poses a number of questions. Where does this meeting between the Wakandans and The Thing take place? Is Ben Grimm alone here, or with the other members of The Fantastic Four? How did The Thing come to be in the same universe as the Wakandans? And why are they teaming up in the first place? Surely Robert Downey Jr.’s Doctor Doom is at the heart of the answers.

It's worth remembering that last year's Thunderbolts movie teased the arrival of The Fantastic Four in the main MCU universe, when we see The New Avengers, as they're now called, spot an interdimensional spaceship donning the Fantastic Four’s logo head their way. The end of The Fantastic Four: First Steps, meanwhile, ended with Doctor Doom appearing to kidnap Franklin Richards, the son of Reed Richards and Sue Storm.

The leak follows hot on the heels of the official release of last week's Avengers: Doomsday trailer, which teases the arrival of the X-Men. The Avengers: Doomsday trailers have so far followed the same pattern: leak online, release in theaters ahead of Disney's Avatar: Fire and Ash for a week, then run officially online. This fourth trailer was thought to be showing off Doctor Doom. Perhaps Marvel has more teasers up its sleeve.

The X-Men trailer shows Professor X, Magneto, and Cyclops in what looks like a last stand against Sentinels at the X-Mansion. The Avengers: Doomsday hype train kicked off with the Steve Rogers / Captain America teaser, which shows Chris Evans’ character holding a baby, presumably his child with Peggy Carter. This was followed by the Thor trailer, which shows Chris Hemsworth's Asgardian caring for his adopted daughter, Love. The teaser shows Thor (this time with the short-haired look from the much-loved and hugely successful Thor Ragnarok) pray to his father, Odin (played by Anthony Hopkins in the MCU), calling for the “strength of the All-Fathers” so he may “fight once more… defeat one more enemy and return home to her.”

The Wakandans teaser follows a similar theme, with an ominous tone set out by Shuri that, alongside the meeting with The Fantastic Four, suggests a preparation for a significant battle that has our heroes really worried. We expect the trailer to be released officially this time next week. Avengers: Doomsday, meanwhile, is due out December 18, 2026.

Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.

Microsoft has made its first Xbox Game Pass announcement of 2026, confirming a number of big hitters for January.

The headline additions are Ubisoft’s Star Wars Outlaws and Capcom’s Resident Evil Village, but there’s plenty more coming to subscribers this month, as confirmed on Xbox Wire. 11 titles in total were announced for this month, taking fans through to January 20.

Available today, January 6, is twin-stick shooter Brews & Bastards (Cloud, PC, and Xbox Series X|S) and Little Nightmares Enhanced Edition (Cloud, Handheld, PC, and Xbox Series X|S), both available across Game Pass Ultimate, Game Pass Premium, and PC Game Pass.

Tomorrow, January 7, Rebellion’s Atomfall (Cloud, Console, Handheld, and PC) hits Game Pass Premium, as does Lost in Random: The Eternal Die (Cloud, Xbox Series X|S, Handheld, and PC), Rematch (Cloud, PC, and Xbox Series X|S), and Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine – Master Crafted Edition (Cloud, PC, and Xbox Series X|S).

Moving on to January 8. Final Fantasy (Cloud, Xbox Series X|S, and PC), a remodeled 2D take on the first game in the series, launches on Game Pass Ultimate, Game Pass Premium, and PC Game Pass.

Then, on January 13, we have Star Wars Outlaws (Cloud, PC, and Xbox Series X|S) on Game Pass Ultimate, PC Game Pass. Two days later, on January 15, My Little Pony: A Zephyr Heights Mystery (Cloud, Console, Handheld, and PC) hits Game Pass Ultimate, Game Pass Premium, and PC Game Pass.

January 20 sees Resident Evil Village (Cloud, Console, and PC) on Game Pass Ultimate, Game Pass Premium, and PC Game Pass, which is good timing given Resident Evil Requiem is out next month. And finally, also on January 20, we have the only day-one launch of the month: MIO: Memories in Orbit (Cloud, Handheld, PC, and Xbox Series X|S) across Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass.

Xbox Game Pass January 2026 lineup:

• Brews & Bastards (Cloud, PC, and Xbox Series X|S) Game Pass Ultimate, Game Pass Premium, PC Game Pass
• Little Nightmares Enhanced Edition (Cloud, Handheld, PC, and Xbox Series X|S) Game Pass Ultimate, Game Pass Premium, PC Game Pass
• Atomfall (Cloud, Console, Handheld, and PC) – January 7 Now with Game Pass Premium
• Lost in Random: The Eternal Die (Cloud, Xbox Series X|S, Handheld, and PC) – January 7 Now with Game Pass Premium
• Rematch (Cloud, PC, and Xbox Series X|S) – January 7 Now with Game Pass Premium
• Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine – Master Crafted Edition (Cloud, PC, and Xbox Series X|S) – January 7 Now with Game Pass Premium
• Final Fantasy – (Cloud, Xbox Series X|S, and PC) – January 8 Game Pass Ultimate, Game Pass Premium, PC Game Pass
• Star Wars Outlaws (Cloud, PC, and Xbox Series X|S) – January 13 Game Pass Ultimate, PC Game Pass
• My Little Pony: A Zephyr Heights Mystery (Cloud, Console, Handheld, and PC) – January 15 Game Pass Ultimate, Game Pass Premium, PC Game Pass
• Resident Evil Village (Cloud, Console, and PC) – January 20 Game Pass Ultimate, Game Pass Premium, PC Game Pass
• MIO: Memories in Orbit (Cloud, Handheld, PC, and Xbox Series X|S) – January 20 Game Pass Ultimate, PC Game Pass

Leaving Xbox Game Pass on January 15, 2026:

As always, a number of games leave Game Pass. You can save up to 20% if you buy them.

• Flintlock The Siege of Dawn (Cloud, Handheld, PC, and Xbox Series X|S)
• Neon White (Cloud, Console, Handheld, and PC)
• Road 96 (Cloud, Console, Handheld, and PC)
• The Ascent (Cloud, Console, Handheld, and PC)
• The Grinch Christmas Adventures (Cloud, Console, Handheld, and PC)

Microsoft described today's lineup as Wave 1 of January 2026, so expect more games to hit Game Pass later in January.

Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.

Marvel has officially released the X-Men teaser trailer for Avengers: Doomsday, after a week spent in theaters ahead of Avatar: Fire and Ash.

The trailer, which had leaked last week, shows Professor X, Magneto, and Cyclops, with a fourth teaser thought to be headed to theaters now. It follows the Steve Rogers / Captain America teaser for Avengers: Doomsday, which shows Chris Evans’ character holding a baby, presumably his child with Peggy Carter, and the Thor trailer, which shows Chris Hemsworth's Asgardian caring for his adopted daughter, Love.

As we know, Avengers: Doomsday is confirmed to feature a number of X-Men characters played by their original actors, including Kelsey Grammer (Beast), Patrick Stewart (Professor X), Ian McKellen (Magneto), Alan Cumming (Nightcrawler), Rebecca Romijn (Mystique), and James Marsden (Cyclops).

In the trailer, we see Ian McKellen reprise his role as Magneto, although not in battle costume. Patrick Stewart’s Professor X wears a costume that bears a resemblance to the militaristic suit he wore in the comics, although his much-loved yellow chair is nowhere to be seen. Overall, it looks like Avengers: Doomsday is looking to the 90s for inspiration for the X-Men's design, which will no-doubt delight veteran fans of the mutant superhero team and align with the popular animated X-Men series.

The footage we see is set in the X-Mansion, also known as Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters. In one shot, we see Cyclops let rip with an optic blast, and near him is a giant boot, which we presume belongs to a mutant-hunting Sentinel. Like with the Thor trailer, the tone here is dead serious. Magneto talks about death coming for everyone eventually as he and his old friend Charles hold hands, perhaps awaiting their demise at the hands of Doctor Doom.

This ties into leaked set photos that appeared to tease a huge battle at the X-Mansion. At the time, fans speculated that this battle would feature Robert Downey Jr.'s Doctor Doom controlling Sentinels that attack the X-Men as part of an incursion, and that it would go very badly for the X-Men, potentially even wiping the mutants out. The theory is that this would establish the universe-ending potential of Doctor Doom, in a similar way Avengers: Infinity War kicked off with Thanos beating Hulk so badly Hulk basically went into hiding for the rest of the MCU phase.

But the highlight is a comic book accurate live-action version of Cyclops. This is something fans have been waiting 20 years for, after Fox’s X-Men movies made a point of distancing themselves from the comics by going with black suits. Cyclops tears off his visor and lets rip as the X-Mansion erupts in flame around him. It feels like a hail mary, and some fans are worried Cyclops is going to sacrifice himself to save some of his fellow mutants in the attack.

The question is, who makes it out of this battle alive? Will whoever’s left of the X-Men team up with the Avengers and other superheroes confirmed to appear in Doomsday to take on Doctor Doom, or do they spend most of their time fighting each other throughout Doomsday, only putting their differences aside for 2027’s Avengers: Secret Wars? Either way, the X-Mansion looks like it’s toast — again.

Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.

Stranger Things star Sadie Sink has offered her interpretation of Eleven’s ending in the wake of the finale of Season 5.

The biggest talking point coming out of the Stranger Things finale relates to the fate of its central character, Eleven, played by Millie Bobby Brown. Stranger Things ends with a definitive wave goodbye to all the central characters except Eleven, who appears to sacrifice herself to ensure she cannot be used to create super weapons, another Vecna / Henry, or another bridge between our world and The Abyss.

18 months after that traumatic event, we see the central characters meet up for graduation and say their goodbyes. It’s at this point that Mike Wheeler, played by Finn Wolfhard, has a thought: what if Kali Prasad, also known as Eight (Linnea Berthelsen), used her dying breath to create the illusion of Eleven’s death, leaving her free to escape unseen?

Mike teases this revelation to the Dungeons & Dragons group as their final campaign comes to an end, suggesting Eleven cooked up a plan with Kali to fake her own death, then traveled to a far away small village — bordered by three waterfalls — to live out her days in peace. But this ending is unconfirmed. Mike and the others choose to believe it, and it’s left up to the audience to decide what they choose to believe as Stranger Things finally comes to an end.

In an interview with Josh Horowitz, the Duffer Brothers confirmed they wrote the story knowing the truth of Eleven's fate, which they’ve told to only one cast member: Millie Bobby Brown herself. So that means Sadie Sink, who played Maxine "Max" Mayfield, does not know the Duffer Brothers’ truth, leaving her to interpret the events of the ending just as fans are.

Appearing on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, Sink was asked for her take. Replying, she said she does indeed think Eleven is dead, and Mike’s story and the Dungeons & Dragons crew choosing to believe in it is part of coping with her death.

“I think she's dead,” she said. “Is that like a hot take or something? I think Mike's story is like just one last story, and that's like — then they say goodbye to childhood. But that's just one final tale, and that's it.

“I think it's just like a coping thing. I think it's stronger, right? That's my interpretation.”

So there you have it: Sadie Sink thinks Eleven is dead, even if her character believes she’s alive.

Ever since Cyberpunk 2077 came out in 2020, fans have debated Act 1, which sees V befriend Jackie Welles and attempt to make it big in Night City before the infamous heist mission goes horribly wrong. Some feel the game would have been better had Act 1 been extended and given players more time with the much-loved — but short-lived — companion character. But what does the creative director of Cyberpunk 2 think?

Taking to social media, CD Projekt's Igor Sarzynski said extending Act 1 before the heist wouldn’t have made Cyberpunk 2077 a better game, and he used Star Wars to back up his point: “it's like saying we should spend more time on Tatooine with farmer Luke before he got involved with all this Jedi stuff.”

Then: “the motivation / goal in this section of the game is pretty vague — 'get to the top' — which, prolonged and without stakes or pressure would result in meandering, unfocused experience.”

Act 2 picks up after the shocking events of Act 1 and Jackie’s untimely death, with V desperate to find a cure for the Relic in their head. Part of the story involves V grieving for Jackie and helping other characters deal with his death in their own ways.

Some Cyberpunk 2077 players, determined to spend as much time as possible with Jackie before the inevitable happens, focus on Watson, the Act 1 playable area, and little else — something Sarzynski acknowledged in his posts. “It's an open world game, some manage to squeeze 20 hours out of Watson,” he said. “Pick your own pace.”

But Sarzynski acknowledged the ongoing debate around how much time players get to spend with Jackie. “Is it enough time to bond with Jackie?” he asked. “For some it is, for some it isn't. All things considered I think we struck a good balance.”

And finally, “No, half-year montage is not cut content. We always planned it like this. But more on 'cut content' notion in some other post.”

Sarzynski has moved on to Cyberpunk 2, and there’s no indication that anything he’s said here on Jackie has a bearing on what to expect from the hotly-anticipated sequel. Cyberpunk creator Mike Pondsmith has been chatty about it, however. In May last year, Pondsmith teased some previously unknown details when he was asked about the scope of his involvement with Cyberpunk 2 (then known as Project Orion) at the Digital Dragons 2025 conference.

Pondsmith admitted he wasn’t as involved this time around, but said he does review scripts and had been to CD Projekt to check out the ongoing work. “Last week I was wandering around talking to different departments, and seeing what they had, ‘Oh look, this is the new cyberware, what do you think?’ ‘Oh yeah, that’s pretty good, that works here,’” he said at the time.

And then, the morsel on the sequel: that it features a brand new city in addition to the Night City we know from Cyberpunk 2077. Pondsmith described this new city as “like Chicago gone wrong.”

“I spent a lot of time talking to one of the environment guys, and he was explaining how the new place in Orion, because there’s another city we visit — I’m not telling you any more than that but there’s another city we visit. And Night City is still there. But I remember looking at it and going, yeah I understand the feel you’re going for this, and this really does work. And it doesn’t feel like Blade Runner, it feels more like Chicago gone wrong. I said, ‘Yeah, I can see this working.'”

It’s worth pointing out that Pondsmith’s comments do not necessarily suggest the Cyberpunk sequel will feature a future Chicago, rather a city that has the feel of a dystopian version of the city. It may well be a take on future Chicago, but that isn’t confirmed based on these comments. There is also some debate about whether Cyberpunk 2 will expand upon the Night City that’s in Cyberpunk 2077 or feature a new version, and the extent to which it is playable.

It sounds like we'll have to wait some time to find out. CD Projekt is of course focusing on The Witcher 4, and CD Projekt co-CEO Michał Nowakowski has suggested Cyberpunk 2 won’t be out until at least 2030.

Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.

Actor Mickey Rourke has distanced himself from the GoFundMe reportedly set up with his blessing to help him pay rent.

The Hollywood Reporter revealed the GoFundMe, which was being used to raise money to pay $59,100 in owed rent after the 73-year-old star of Sin City and Iron Man 2 had received an eviction notice from his Los Angeles rental home.

The fundraiser was set up by his longtime manager allegedly with Rourke's permission. But in a video posted to Instagram, below, Rourke said he wasn’t behind the GoFundMe, called on fans who have already donated to get their money back, and threatened legal action. At the time of this article's publication, $97,609 was raised of the GoFundMe's $100,000 target from 2,600 donations.

“Something’s come up that I’m really frustrated, confused and I don’t understand,” Rourke said. “Somebody set up some kind of foundation or fund for me to donate money, like charity. And that’s not me, OK? If I needed money I wouldn’t ask for no f***ing charity. I’d rather stick a gun up my ass and pull the trigger. So whoever did this... I don’t know why they did it. I don't understand it. I wouldn’t know what a GoFund foundation is in a million years. My life is very simple. I don't go to outside sources like that.”

He continued: “Yeah, it is embarassing, but I'm sure I'll get over it like anything else." Rourke went on to admit he’d done a “terrible job” managing his career, and confirmed a friend had lent him money. “Eventually, I’ll say who it was,” he said. “He helped me out of a jam. Covid and the writer’s strike killed my money.”

"Don’t give any money," he told his fans. "And if you gave money, get it back. I’m going to talk to my lawyer… and get to the bottom of this.”

He then described the situation he found himself in with a prior rental home (presumably the one he moved out of before renting the home at which he was threatened with eviction), making a number of accusations about the conditions he was living in.

“I was in a really bad situation with the place I was renting. Everything was good for five or six years and then two scumbags from New York bought the house and they wouldn’t fix anything," he said. "So I said, 'I’m not paying rent because there’s mice, there’s rats. The floor’s rotten. One bathtub, there’s no water. In two different sinks, there was no water.'

"But I would never ask strangers or fans or anybody for a nickel. That's not my style. It's humiliating and it's really f***ing embarassing. They said it's up to $100,000. I wouldn't take a f***ing nickel of charity from anybody. So we'll get to the bottom of this, and like all storms, it will pass. And I'll go to work and things will get back to whatever normal is."

He then said he was “very grateful” for what he currently has. “I got a roof over my head. I’ve got food to eat,” he said, before holding a banana skin up to the camera. "Everything's ok, just get your money back. Please. I don't need anybody's money, and I wouldn't do it this way. I got too much pride, man."

Stranger Things fans have concocted a theory that suggests a true, secret ending episode to the series is coming out this week — and now the community is having to issue a warning not to get upset when it turns out to be false.

Warning! Spoilers for Stranger Things Season 5 Episode 8, The Rightside Up, follow:

In the wake of Stranger Things Season 5’s divisive finale, the so-called ‘Conformity Gate’ theory has spread like wildfire across social media, especially TikTok. It posits that the lengthy epilogue we saw in the final episode was an illusion created by villain Vecna, who remains alive and well. So the theory goes anyway.

The ”clues” fueling this theory include students having their hands positioned in the same way Henry Creel does during the graduation scene at Hawkins High, the shorter hairstyles worn by the likes of Nancy, Mike, and Karen, and the appearance of the “WHATZIT?” board game (the kidnapped children knew Henry as Mr. Whatsit).

The Duffer Brothers could make Stranger Things the greatest series if the Conformity Gate theory is real. This could be the ultimate cinematic illusion, a dream sequence. What if Mike is inventing his own ending or Vecna is creating an illusion? Nothing in the finale feels right. pic.twitter.com/hsOItizWj9

— Fzy (@leofzy) January 5, 2026

If that sounds like a stretch to you, there’s more. Fans are fussing over a blank yellow poster spotted in the background of the graduation, and the final shot of the Dungeons & Dragons books, which appear to spell out “X A LIE.” The Abyss was once known as Dimension X, the world from which the Mind Flayer and all the demo monsters originate. Oh, and if you're wondering why all those characters (where is Vickie?) were mysteriously absent from the epilogue, Vecna doesn’t know they exist, so they’re not part of his illusion. The theory even includes a supposed release date for the true final episode of Stranger Things: January 7, 2026.

this conformity gate theory is INSANEEE, if it doesn’t happen we truly are better writers than the duffers #conformitygate #StrangerThings5 pic.twitter.com/xskLExHXIe

— Adnan (@AdnanLovesCats) January 4, 2026

The Conformity Gate theory sounds like a spot of harmless fun, but now some Stranger Things fans are warning each other not to get upset when it turns out to be absolute nonsense.

“Don’t be mad at the Duffer Brothers tomorrow,” one concerned fan told the Stranger Things fan in a thread posted to the show’s subreddit (Matt and Ross Duffer are the creators and showrunners of Stranger Things). “Nobody is at fault except for the fans themselves. Before the finale, people fell bait to theories and then were disappointed at the show for not delivering what they expected.

“What more could you want? They left El’s ending open to interpretation, and made a beautiful ending for all characters. We don’t need to know what happened to Erica, or Mr Clarke or a random military dude who had a screen time of four seconds. Just use common sense, everyone returned to their normal lives.

“Sure there were inconsistencies, but just be grateful we got an on par finale. Sure the Duffer Brothers said some stuff in interviews but I’m just ignoring it. All I have to say is that there is no final, final episode. None of your gates are real. The gate to the show is closed.”

A lot of this has to do with a dissatisfaction from some fans at the way Stranger Things ended. Some have taken issue with the final battle with Vecna and the Mind Flayer, wondering why the demo monsters weren’t around to help out. Others aren’t happy with the ambiguity of Eleven’s ending. Some have pointed out various “plot holes” that they believe diminish the fifth and final season in various ways (what happened to the military?). Some fans really want this Conformity Gate theory to be true because they just don’t like the way Stranger Things ended.

“Absolutely delusional,” said one fan. “There is no evidence,” said another. “Please think critically and stop buying into dumb conspiracies.” “This is some Mass Effect 3 ending levels of cope,” one fan of both Stranger Things and BioWare’s sci-fi role-playing series suggested. “I remember back in 2012, fans like myself were so fucking dissatisfied with Mass Effect that it resulted in many fans creating the Indoctrination theory as a way to cope. It entails the main character Shepard was being mind controlled by the Lovecraftian machines which meant that the shitty ending was nothing more than a trick. That’s how bad Mass Effect’s ending was.”

The Duffer Brothers have done the rounds in the wake of the finale’s release, explaining their thinking in multiple interviews. They’ve even confirmed a spinoff will answer one burning question from Season 5. Perhaps it’s time to let it go. And if you’re really desperate for more, there’s the Stranger Things documentary, One Last Adventure: The Making of Stranger Things 5, due out January 12.

Image credit: Netflix.

Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.

Jack Black has revealed his regret at turning down the role of Syndrome in The Incredibles, admitting he shouldn’t have been so difficult and just accepted the part.

Speaking on Capital Breakfast's Christmas day show to promote his new movie, Anaconda, Black said he thought Syndrome was a one dimensional character and asked for a rewrite, which writer and director Brad Bird declined.

“I was offered — and I do regret it, saying no — I was offered Syndrome in that fantastic movie, The Incredibles,” Black revealed. “One of my favorites of all time by the way. And I said no, because I was like, ‘Er, Brad Bird, never heard of him. This character that you’re offering me is a villain but he’s kind of one dimensional. I’m interested but I’d like to see a rewrite. Will you add some dimensions to this character?’ And he was like, ‘You’re done. Get out of here.’"

The Jumanji, School of Rock, and Kung Fu Panda star continued: “And I learnt a valuable lesson. Because then the movie came out and it was one of the best movies ever made. I was like, ‘Why was I being so difficult?’”

The role of Syndrome, Mr. Incredible's obsessed fan turned supervillain, went to Jason Lee (My Name Is Earl, Mallrats). Pixar’s The Incredibles came out in 2004 and enjoyed critical and commercial acclaim, making over $630 million at the global box office. The Incredibles did so well it spawned a sequel, with The Incredibles 3 confirmed to be in the works. Anaconda, meanwhile, is now up to $88.4 million at the global box office.

Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.

Netflix has announced One Last Adventure: The Making of Stranger Things 5, a behind-the-scenes documentary on the show’s fifth and final season.

Due out on Netflix on January 12, the film follows the cast, creators, and crew as they bring the final season to life — and say goodbye. One Last Adventure: The Making of Stranger Things 5 is directed by Martina Radwan, who commented:

“I’m endlessly grateful to the Duffer Brothers for trusting me with a front-row seat to this incredible journey. Spending a full year on set with them was a true privilege — and an absolute thrill. Being able to get close and watching them bring this beloved show to life in real time, was pure joy. I only wish I could travel back in time and document Seasons 1 through 4. From the cast to their long-time collaborators, everyone welcomed me with remarkable generosity, openly sharing their personal and collective experiences from a decade of creative filmmaking. The Duffers always push boundaries and inspire everyone to be better, including myself. Their process and the show represents everything I love about filmmaking.”

The trailer, below, teases the film, which touches on the Duffer Brothers' internal discussion around the fate of Eleven, played by Millie Bobby Brown. This is something the pair have discussed in detail in various post-release interviews.

One last time. Watch the never-before-seen behind-the-scenes documentary on the making of Stranger Things 5. Premiering January 12. pic.twitter.com/5FNvTNlvuz

— Netflix (@netflix) January 5, 2026

The Duffer Brothers also issued a comment: “Growing up in Durham, North Carolina, we dreamed of becoming filmmakers — but Hollywood felt impossibly far away. Everything changed when we watched the behind-the-scenes documentaries for The Lord of the Rings — on-the-ground films that showed the real nuts and bolts of how a massive production actually gets made. We saw how stressed Peter Jackson was and thought: yep, that’s the dream. With the decline of physical media, that kind of behind-the-scenes storytelling has largely disappeared. We wanted to bring it back.

"One Last Adventure: The Making of Stranger Things Season 5 — beautifully captured and directed by Martina Radwan — is our attempt to do just that. If you love Stranger Things, or if you’re simply curious how a major Hollywood production comes to life, this one’s for you.”

Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings also influenced the Season 5 finale. Last week, the Duffer Brothers said the lengthy Season 5 finale epilogue and its end credits were inspired by The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King.

“We thought about [The Lord of the Rings] Return of the King a lot, just in terms of the length of the epilogue,” Matt Duffer told Deadline. “I always defend the Return of the King epilogue, but I’m one of those hardcore Lord of the Rings fans, to the point where I’ve watched all extended editions in a row on a single day. If you do that, the epilogue feels absolutely perfect and not long at all. In fact, if it felt shorter, it would feel absolutely distressing.

“I think, Stranger Things, if you watch Season 5 all the way through, it’s going to feel great. You just want to spend extra time with these characters. Anyway, that was sort of the reference for the epilogue. Then we love the credits at the end of Return of the King. So that was the initial idea, and they were these very simple illustrations.”

Stranger Things may have come to an end, but we’ve got plenty more on the show, including the Duffer Brothers explaining why the demogorgons didn’t help Vecna out in the final battle, and first details on the live-action spinoff.

Image credit: Netflix.

Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.