Stranger Things: 4 theories about (spoiler) and the ladder

What happened to Hopper in “The Battle of Starcourt?” We shared four theories about Hopper and the ladder in his final scene of Stranger Things 3.

There are spoilers below for the Stranger Things 3 finale! Please turn back if you haven’t finished the season yet.

It’s been a few weeks since the Stranger Things 3 premiere, and many fans are still talking about what happened to Hopper (David Harbour) in the season finale, “Chapter Eight: The Battle of Starcourt.”

Hopper, as it seemed to happen, perished when Joyce turned the key and caused an explosion that destroyed the machine the Russians were using to keep the Upside Down open.

While I’m pretty sure everyone is pretty convinced Hopper is still alive, fans are piecing together more and more proof Hopper did, indeed, escape the blast.

A Reddit user spotted a ladder that leads down the chasm between the Russian machine and the new gate to the Upside Down. There’s a shot in the final sequence from the Russian base (around the 49-minute mark of the episode) that shows Hopper standing on the platform looking back Joyce. That ladder is a few feet from Hopper.

In his eyes, he’s telling her to turn the keys, and she looks back knowing what she has to do and that it will kill him. Then, the screen goes black, there’s a delay, and the next thing we see is the machine exploding, frying some Russian dudes.

Shortly after, Murray and Joyce flee the remaining Russians and run right into the US military led by Dr. Saw Owens, who we last saw in Stranger Things 2. 

We never see Hopper die. His body is never found to our knowledge.

So, let’s talk about a few theories related to that Ladder in the Stranger Things 3 finale and how Hopper could have used it to escape.