Let's Speculate Endlessly About The Title Of Stranger Things Season 5 Episode 1
When Netflix officially declared November 6 as "Stranger Things Day," they promised theatrical screenings, pop-up events across the country, and so much more. Chosen to commemorate the in-universe date in 1983 that marks the disappearance of Will Byers (Noah Schnapp) into the Upside Down, November 6, 2022, will forever be known as the day "Stranger Things" fans everywhere kicked off their wild speculation regarding the show's final season.
As part of the day's festivities, the official "Stranger Things" Twitter account posted an image of the title page from the first episode of season 5, with the caption "season 5. chapter one. the crawl. happy stranger things day." Thanks for all the lowercase letters, clearly millennial social media account manager!
season 5. chapter one. the crawl. happy stranger things day pic.twitter.com/xCdNLjD7Yt
— Stranger Things (@Stranger_Things) November 7, 2022
When we last saw our faves at the end of season 4 volume 2, the crew had all reunited in Hawkins following separate battles, only to see a horrifying line dividing their Midwest town. One side boasted blooming flowers and plenty of living wilderness, while the other looks like something out of Vecna's nightmarish hellscape. The Upside Down and reality have converged, which means our heroes (and the government) are no longer the only people who know about the other realm.
We already learned earlier this summer that the final season would stay in Hawkins, Indiana instead of forcing our beloved characters to have mini-adventures across the globe, but now that we know the title of the first episode, we can begin the tinfoil hat-wearing process of trying to predict how season 5 will kick off.
Is 'the crawl' a reference to the growing line?
The "Stranger Things" kids have a history of adding cute little nicknames to the weird stuff they discover, usually inspired by terms used in their favorite game, "Dungeons & Dragons." The Demogorgon, Vecna, the Mind Flayer, and the kids' class distinctions are all names pulled from "Dungeons & Dragons," even if the monsters they encounter in the Upside Down don't look like they do in their D&D handbook. I did some digging through my wife's Dungeon Master guide and couldn't really find anything regarding "A Crawl" or "The Crawl" in terms of any specific monsters or phenomena, but that isn't to say that Will Byers, Mike Wheeler, Dustin Henderson, or Lucas Sinclair won't refer to the line separating our world and the Upside Down as "The Crawl," especially if that line starts spreading like some sort of interdimensional wildfire.
At the end of season 4, the fire(?) of the Upside Down looked to be spreading throughout Hawkins, so there's no telling how far the danger will unfurl. It's not like the line is serving as some sort of invisible barrier, so there's bound to be some crossover between the worlds. Demobats will absolutely fly into the "healthy" side of Hawkins, and foolish cops will definitely cross the line to investigate the Upside Down. No guarantees as this is wild speculation, but don't be shocked if "The Crawl" ends up being the name given to the dividing line.
Is The Crawl a new nickname for a character?
"Stranger Things" creators The Duffer Brothers love to hide meticulous details throughout the series, so I took a look at some of the previous "Chapter One" episodes of the show. Season 1 gave us "Chapter One: The Vanishing of Will Byers," which obviously set the stage for the adventure that would lead us to this moment. "Chapter One: MADMAX" opened season 2, and introduced us to fan-favorite addition, Max Mayfield (Sadie Sink), who has evolved to be one of the best characters on the whole dang show. Season 3 kicked off with "Chapter One: Suzie, Do You Copy?" and introduced us to Dustin's girlfriend Suzie Bingham (Gabriella Pizzolo), the brilliant computer whiz who has continually helped our heroes in clutch moments. The most recent season began with "Chapter One: The Hellfire Club," introducing us to the "Dungeons & Dragons" group that welcomed the boys once they started high school, led by Dungeon Master Eddie Munson (Joseph Quinn), arguably the most important (and most heavily memed) character of the double-volume season.
Going by this practice, there's a possibility that "The Crawl" is the nickname or code name of a new and important character. The Duffer Bros. have hinted that the series will likely see a time jump, so perhaps this is someone we've yet to meet or a nickname developed for an existing character based on behavior we'll see throughout the season.
Selfishly, I'd love it if "The Crawl" is the nickname of Lucas' little sister Erica (Priah Ferguson). Ferguson was promoted to series regular in season 4 but had a major role in season 2 by crawling through the air ducts in the Starcourt mall to find a secret room occupied by the Russians. Given her small stature compared to most of the other main characters, Erica often crawls into spaces others can't get to. Maybe this is the name someone gives her in reference to her standard role in the group.
Is Eddie Munson crawling back to us?
Speaking of fan-favorite characters, The Duffer Brothers definitely didn't anticipate how popular Eddie Munson would become, because they likely wouldn't have had him sacrifice himself at the end of season 4 had they known. Eddie Munson died in the Upside Down, not in our reality, which means that his death doesn't necessarily have to play by the rules of mere mortals. Now that Hawkins and the Upside Down are one and the same, maybe "The Crawl" is the name of Eddie's journey to return to his friends. Bringing Eddie back would be the ultimate act of fan service, but I highly doubt anyone would complain.
As far as this writer is concerned, they made a massive mistake by killing off Eddie, and this would be a fantastic way to right such an egregious wrong. If Eddie is capable of crawling back, that could theoretically also mean that anyone else killed in the Upside Down could also crawl back. How that works for people like Chrissy Cunningham (Grace Van Dien) who died while in Vecna's control in the Upside Down but their catatonic body was manipulated in the real world has yet to be seen, but maybe an undead version of Vecna's victims will have the ability to crawl over to the other side.
After all, the lyrics of "Master of Puppets" by Metallica, the song Eddie was playing before he died, contain the line "Come crawling faster..."