Leaked Stranger Things season 5 photos confirm [SPOILER] is really dead

Sad news for Eddie Munson (Joseph Quinn) fans, it looks like his character is really dead. Stranger Things season 5 is finally in production a newly-leaked set photo shows Dustin (Gaten Matarazzo) walking by Eddie's headstone. You can check out the photos here.

To make matters worse, it sounds like the town of Hawkins still blames Eddie for everything that happened in the fourth season since it looks like someone defaced his grave and painted "burn" on it. We can only see the word "burn" in the photo, but I think we can all guess what the rest of the message says.

On a lighter note, Dustin is wearing a Hellfire Club shirt in the scene, so at least it seems like the gang is going to keep Eddie's memory alive in perhaps the best way. It's also worth considering when this photo might be taken in consideration of the overall Stranger Things timeline. There has been a lot of rumors swirling that the fifth season willl feature a significant time jump early on, mostly to help explain how mature the kids look, but also to propel the story forward.

However, it seems like the season will begin with us getting to see the fallout from season 4. The fourth season ended somewhat abruptly in many ways. Despite giving us a 2 1/2 hour finale episode, the final moments of the show were relatively quick and we didn't get to see the characters really mourn Eddie or address the damage done by Vecna and the Upside Down.

That's obviously going to be important moving forward. Maybe the first episode, or the first half, will focus on resolving/wrapping up the end of season 4 before jumping ahead in time, in which case it the photo of Dustin by Eddie's grave is more likely from the past than the future.

What about that Kas theory?

As fans know, Munson's character died at the end of the fourth season after more or less sacrificing himself to the evil bats from the Upside Down. Still, Stranger Things fans have been actively campaigning for Joseph Quinn to return and questioning if his character is "really" dead since the moment that scene aired.

There are many theories floating around online that Eddie might actually become Vecna's righthand man and vampire lietenant Kas the Bloody-Handed. Not to burst anyone's bubble, but it really seems increasingly unlikely that that theory is going to happen.

On April Fool's Day in 2023, the @strangerwriters X (formerly Twitter) account said the official title of season 5, episode 2 was "Kas the Bloody-Handed," but it was never confirmed (they didn't show a script title page like they usually do, plus it was April Fool's Day).

Then there's the fact that Quinn hasn't shown any signs of returning to the show and is likely still overseas working on his next film Gladiator 2. The photo of his grave just seems to further indicate that Eddie is well and truly dead.

Let's also remember that Stranger Things has never brought anyone back from the dead. I mean sure, Eddie could be the first, but it hasn't happened yet so there's no precedent for it apart from some fun Kas theories.

All of that, plus the fact the Duffer brothers have repeatedly said they're focusing on the main characters, returning to the show's season 1 roots, not adding new characters (apart from Linda Hamilton), and supposedly not even bringing Eduardo Franco back as Argyle, really makes it seem like Eddie's time on the show is finished.