Listen, this is the last time we’ll ever get to pose this question. So we have to take the chance to do it. It’s now or never, you know? Stranger Things 5: The Finale is out in the world now, and Steve Harrington’s fate has been decided once and for all—his death, or lack thereof, is written in stone and Farah Fawcett hairspray. And, so, we have to ask: Does Steve Harrington die on Stranger Things? Walk with us.
Does Steve Harrington Die on Stranger Things?
No. Steve Harrington does not die in Stranger Things 5: The Finale. And that means Steve is officially marked safe and alive on Stranger Things as a series overall. There’s always been a deep worry about Steve’s fate; he is a character who knows how to throw himself into danger, and he does get hurt A LOT. But the question of whether Steve would die in Stranger Things 5‘s final episode seemed to take on an almost fevered pitch. Everyone really seemed to believe that Steve WOULD die. He seemed just too loved to survive.
And it certainly didn’t help that the Duffer Brothers seemed to delight in teasing us with the possibility of Steve Harrington’s death. It turns out one of their Steve death teases did come true, though… almost.
Stranger Things 5: The Finale Did Give a Steve Harrington Death Fake-Out
Not funny! Even though Steve Harrington didn’t die on Stranger Things 5: The Finale, the series certainly teased the possibility of his death. One part of The Party’s plan to defeat Vecna on Stranger Things 5 involved Steve, Dustin, Robin, Jonathan, Nancy, Lucas, Will, Mike, and Joyce climbing up Hawkins’ radio tower in the Upside Down. The team intended to wait for the tower to pierce into The Abyss, then use it to climb into that dimension and save the children that Vecna had kidnapped.
But, red alert! The radio tower ended up not perfectly aligning with any of the rifts that Vecna made between the Abyss and the Upside Down. And so it snapped clean off as it scraped against the other dimension! As the antenna tumbled down to the ground, its gravity caught one Steve Harrington in its wake and sent him tumbling over the side of the radio tower. For a minute, it really seemed like Steve was going to die on Stranger Things 5: The Finale… Especially as he lost his grip on the side of the tower, and he started to fall to his doom.
Steve’s Near-Death Did NOT Happen
But this near-death experience was just to get our heart rates up as we watched Stranger Things 5: The Finale. After an unnecessary cut to black, Steve, in fact, does not die in the final episode of Stranger Things. Of course, Steve just slipping to his death couldn’t be the way our favorite hero went out. Instead, one Jonathan Byers catches Steve’s arm and pulls him up to safety. Phew!! We were ALREADY crying.
The Duffer Brothers Told Us Steve Would Fall Off Something High in Stranger Things 5: The Finale, But They Made It Seem Like He Would Die
It turns out, the Duffer Brothers already told us that Steve was going to fall off something high on Stranger Things 5‘s finale. They demonstrated that very thing to Jimmy Fallon using Funko POP! Figures when he asked them to create a diorama of the finale. In their recreation using toys, they showed us Steve falling off the table. But it sure seemed like no one caught him! We guess Funko Jonathan couldn’t move fast enough.
Even though both this in-episode fake-out and the Duffer Brothers’ tease were NOT necessary for our mental health, we’re sure glad Steve didn’t die on Stranger Things 5: The Finale in the end.
All the Times Steve ALMOST Died on Stranger Things
As we celebrate Steve’s survival on Stranger Things, it’s fitting to look back on his long resume of almost dying on the series.
In Stranger Things‘ first season, Steve runs unarmed back into the Byers’ home to help fight the Demogorgon. Eventually, he finds a weapon against it… a baseball bat. In Stranger Things 2, Steve almost dies because he throws himself at too many Demodogs to help save the kids he’s looking after and protects them in the Upside Down tunnels under Hawkins while badly injured. But he also almost dies way more mundanely on Stranger Things 2, when Billy Hargrove smashes his head with a plate and almost punches him to death.
In Stranger Things 3, Steve is kidnapped and tortured by Russian spies, alongside Robin. But Steve definitely takes the brunt of their “interrogation.” And finally, in Stranger Things 4, Steve gets dragged through water and into the Upside Down by angry hive mind vines. He’s then attacked and nearly strangled by demobats.
We’re feeling like Steve deserves a nice long vacation after not dying in Stranger Things 5: The Finale.
In the End, Steve Harrington Gets to Live Happily Ever After on Stranger Things
And happily, we’re feeling like Steve will get some peace. Since Steve Harrington does not die on Stranger Things, we get to see where his story takes him. And, in fact, he gets to live happily ever after. Eighteen months after his adventures defeating Vecna concluded, Stranger Things: The Finale shows us Steve is where he is happiest, helping kids. He’s the baseball coach at Hawkins High… And also the Sex Education teacher. Go figure! He grades easy and wants to buy a house in Hawkins. We bet he also looks out for the freaks and weirdos and makes sure no jock is ever mean to them at the high school. Steve is still super close with Dustin, and he, Robin, Jonathan, and Nancy have promised to meet up once a month.
One day, we know Steve Harrington is going to make a great dad in Stranger Things‘ unseen future, and that’s all because… he didn’t die! Yay!
Rotem Rusak is the Editor-in-Chief at Nerdist. She thinks Steve, Robin, Nancy, and Jonathan’s ending on Stranger Things was perfect, but Eddie Munson should have been there with them. Perhaps she cried while writing this piece.
Stranger Things: The Finale is now streaming on Netflix.