--- title: 'Stranger Things' Meant to Kill Off This Popular Character description: The Duffer Brothers apparently intended to end the first season very differently — but ultimately showed mercy to this hit character. canonical: https://time.com/5011841/stranger-things-death/ author: Raisa Bruner article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-11-06T18:04:40.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:48:30.923Z og:title: Stranger Things Was Going to Kill Off This Character og:description: Luckily, The Duffer Brothers changed their minds about this character's fate og:url: https://time.com/5011841/stranger-things-death/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte3602d2db8dd0433/6988b8d9a988ca3edb6badfc/gettyimages-633056278.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3000 og:image:height: 1688 og:image:alt: The 23rd Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards - Press Room og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Stranger Things Was Going to Kill Off This Character twitter:description: Luckily, The Duffer Brothers changed their minds about this character's fate twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte3602d2db8dd0433/6988b8d9a988ca3edb6badfc/gettyimages-633056278.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # _Stranger Things_ Was Originally Going to Kill Off a Very Surprising Character > Sponsored content. 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Every edition is assembled by TIME editors rather than generated automatically. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-brief-2026q3/newsletters?i=870f4e91-d0e7-49e9-82e8-07fc9f2facb6&cr=time-nl-brief-2026q3-v1)  by [Raisa Bruner](https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/)  ## Raisa Bruner Nov 6, 2017 6:04 PM UTC  The co-stars of 'Stranger Things,' pose during The 23rd Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards on January 29, 2017 in Los Angeles, California. The co-stars of 'Stranger Things,' pose during The 23rd Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards on January 29, 2017 in Los Angeles, California. Frazer Harrison—Getty Images  by [Raisa Bruner](https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/)  ## Raisa Bruner Nov 6, 2017 6:04 PM UTC [_Stranger Things_](http://time.com/4994339/stranger-things-season-2-explained/) might have been a very different show if it had only lasted one season. In fact, one of the most popular characters would not have made it out alive, according to [CinemaBlend](https://www.cinemablend.com/television/1721579/stranger-things-originally-planned-to-kill-off-a-major-character). According to new comments made by show creators [Ross and Matt Duffer](http://time.com/4985669/stranger-things-cast-duffer-brothers/) at a Q&A event, one of the Netflix series’ breakout stars, [Millie Bobby Brown](http://time.com/4770216/stranger-things-millie-bobby-brown-mtv/), was originally slated for a tragic demise before they decided to expand the show to keep it going for future seasons, rather than cap it off after only one season. “Maybe I shouldn’t say this because I like to pretend that it was all planned out, but it was originally pitched as a limited series,” Ross Duffer explained, [as Cinemablend reports.](https://www.cinemablend.com/television/1721579/stranger-things-originally-planned-to-kill-off-a-major-character) “So it was like, Eleven was gonna sacrifice herself and save the world and then that was gonna be it, because there was a moment where limited series were a big deal.” Luckily for us all, Eleven — played by 13-year-old fan favorite actress [Millie Bobby Brown](http://time.com/5003930/most-influential-teens-2017/item/millie-bobby-brown-13/) — survived her brush with the Demogorgon and came back to win audience hearts once more on the [much-hyped and much-watched](http://time.com/5008471/stranger-things-2-neilsen-ratings-binge/) second season. And with more seasons in store, it looks like they made a good choice by scrapping their first plan and keeping her character in the mix. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5011841/stranger-things-death/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5011841/stranger-things-death/"},"headline":"Stranger Things Was Originally Going to Kill Off a Very Surprising Character","datePublished":"2017-11-06T18:04:40.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:48:30.923Z","description":"Business sense dictated this character's twist of fate","url":"https://time.com/5011841/stranger-things-death/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Television","celebrities","Stranger Things"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte3602d2db8dd0433/6988b8d9a988ca3edb6badfc/gettyimages-633056278.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Raisa Bruner","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte3602d2db8dd0433/6988b8d9a988ca3edb6badfc/gettyimages-633056278.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"The 23rd Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards - Press Room","caption":"The 23rd Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards - Press Room","creditText":"Frazer Harrison—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5011841/stranger-things-death/","name":"Stranger Things Was Originally Going to Kill Off a Very Surprising Character"}}]}] ```