Stranger Things fans have been comparing one part of the show’s finale to the music video for Linkin Park’s classic track ‘In The End’.
The hit Netflix series came to an end on New Year’s Eve with a two-hour finale. To wrap up the fifth and final season, the heroic group of friends came together for one last time to defeat the evil Vecna.
Split into three volumes, the final instalment saw some of the main characters travel into the alternate, dystopian dimension where the villain resides in an attempt to take him down one last time.
To some though, the desert-like Abyss looked familiar, with many taking to social media to highlight its likeness to Linkin Park’s music video for ‘In The End’.
In the music video for the fan-favourite 2000 track, founding member Mike Shinoda is seen walking through a barren landscape that has an eerie, yellow and brown colour palette. When placed side-by-side, there is a noticeable similarity to that of the Abyss in Stranger Things – and fans have been quick to make quips about it.
“My favourite part of the Stranger Things finale was how they had the final fight in the same place Linkin Park shot a music video,” one person on X/Twitter wrote, sharing a snippet of the 2000’s video alongside a screengrab of the series.
My favourite part of the Stranger Things finale was how they had the final fight in the same place Linkin Park shot a music video https://t.co/SZtrOiEWia pic.twitter.com/nYPjZ646Nf
— Pintmonster (@pintmonster69) January 2, 2026
@mikeshinoda you created the dimension X in 2000 lol
— kike_rdz (@gabee_islas) January 3, 2026
It starts with one thing… Vecna doesn’t know why 🎵🌫️
— Robin (@Robin1900rb) January 2, 2026
“It starts with one thing… Vecna doesn’t know why,” someone else joked, paraphrasing the opening lyrics of the song, while another tagged Shinoda in the tweet and said: “You created the dimension X in 2000 lol”.
Also on Twitter, one people joked that “Linkin Park walked so stranger things could run”, while someone else took things a step further, using AI to remake the music video with the characters Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown) and Venca (Jamie Campbell Bower) singing the parts of late frontman Chester Bennington and rapper and multi-instrumentalist, Shinoda.
Check out more fan responses below.
KKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK#StrangerThings5 #LinkinPark pic.twitter.com/dQFZVL89UW
— Carlos Campbell (@Carlos_Campbel) January 3, 2026
Linkin Park walked so stranger things could run pic.twitter.com/wnsQJuZNmy
— vids that go hard (@vidsthatgohard) January 2, 2026
Linkin Park been stuck in dimension X form stranger things since 2000 pic.twitter.com/PXzXGMsyYZ
— Backstage (@Backstagebs1) January 1, 2026
I didn’t expect stranger things to have any relation with linkin park but here we are pic.twitter.com/xS60CuATW0
— mary (@croftvanlaeken) January 4, 2026
Both of these things cost 400m to make btw. How tf did they make stranger things look like a linkin park music video from the early 2000’s pic.twitter.com/rjKp08hW32
— Joe 𒉭 (@JoeVowles) January 2, 2026
Alongside a star-studded cast including Finn Wolfhard, Winona Ryder, David Harbour, Joe Keery, and Maya Hawke, the final season of Stranger Things also came with an impressive soundtrack featuring hits from ‘80s icons like Kate Bush, Michael Jackson, Diana Ross, ABBA and more.
It was the classic David Bowie track ‘Heroes’ that closed out the final episode, and show creators later revealed that the suggestion was put forward by Keery as it felt like “the anthem” of the entire series.
Not all fans were satisfied with the final season, with volume two’s conclusion having one of the worst fan ratings of the entire run. Despite mixed responses though, the finale debuted to an impressive 59.6million views – a new record for an English-language title on Netflix.
Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter last week, The Duffer Brothers addressed the ambiguity around the central character, Eleven, and later admitted they wished they hadn’t done any interviews explaining the final episode.
NME described the first volume of season five as “the big, bold beginning of the end” in a four-star review. “Perhaps inevitably, volume one feels a lot like an appetiser for the rest of the season. But even in piecemeal form, Stranger Things has a flair for epic and emotionally resonant storytelling,” it read.
“After all those years, this smart, big-hearted sci-fi show still has the power to turn your head upside down.”
As for Linkin Park, the band recently wrapped up the North American, South American, and European dates of their latest tour – which included a sold-out slot at Wembley Stadium in late June. Since then, they have shared official footage of ‘The Emptiness Machine’ from that concert, and announced their first Australian tour dates in 13 years, which are set to kick off later this year.
While some fans were divided over the comeback following Bennington’s death – and Dead Sara singer Emily Armstrong joining the line-up – when the band started the live shows, Shinoda explained that this version of Linkin Park was “not about erasing the past”.
