Warning: This article contains a minor spoiler for the final season of "Stranger Things," but fear not, it won't ruin your viewing experience. It's been almost a decade since the internet was taken over by the hashtag #JusticeForBarb. Indeed, the creators of "Stranger Things," Matt Duffer and Ross Duffer, didn't think that Shannon Purser's character Barbara Holland, or her untimely death in season one, would make such an impact on fans. However, the uproar was so intense that the Duffer brothers decided to finally give Barb (kind of) the closure her character deserves in the Netflix series' forthcoming fifth and final season.
According to Time's Eliana Dockterman, who was treated to a tour of the series' set during filming of the final season, Barb's body can be found "half-buried" in a tunnel. Years after her disappearance in the Upside Down without a trace, her body is reportedly covered in vines and bears a bleeding gash on her neck. A grim, grisly final look at a fan favorite who vanished in a pool.
For Matt and Ross, now almost a decade removed from "Stranger Things'" 2016 season one release, they finally realize what they had—and subsequently lost—in Barb. As Ross recalled to Time, apparently with a lingering eye roll, "The one note that we consistently got back was, 'What about Barb?' And we're like, 'It's a show about Will.'" To which Matt added, "Netflix kept harassing us about it. And it turns out they were right."
With Ross admitting the brothers "neglected" Barb, he concluded, "As such, Hawkins neglected her, and it made her that much more famous." The show's final season—which will see the conclusion to the Upside Down and its monsters terrorizing Hawkins' citizens—will release in three installments this Fall and Winter. The first four episodes will go live on Nov. 26, followed by three more on Christmas Day and the finale episode on New Year's Eve.
As for what the final season will have in store for the show's beloved characters—portrayed by Finn Wolfhard, Millie Bobby Brown, Gaten Matarazzo, Caleb McLaughlin, Noah Schnapp, and Sadie Sink—the season's synopsis promises it will open with a "heavy, familiar dread." "The final battle is looming," it continues. "And with it, a darkness more powerful and more deadly than anything they've faced before. To end this nightmare, they'll need everyone—the full party—standing together, one last time."
