Netflix’s Stranger Things Season 5 Is Bringing Back A Dead Character

Potential spoilers follow.

Netflix’s “Stranger Things” is so infused with the paranormal that a central season 1 arc features a lost family member communicating from the other side. Granted, the “other side” here is the decrepit alternate dimension called Upside Down, and the very alive Will Byers (Noah Schnapp) is simply using its strange logic to communicate with his mother Joyce (Winona Ryder). Still, the sentiment is there, and the show eventually reveals that certain people do seem to return from the dead.

One of them is Martin Brenner (Matthew Modine), the ominous doctor who’s responsible for the tests performed on psychokinetic powerhouses like Jane “Eleven” Hopper (Millie Bobby Brown) and the series’ big bad Vecna, aka Henry “One” Creel (Jamie Campbell Bower). Modine knows a lot about “Papa” Brenner. In an interview with Vulture, he stated that the supposedly dead character may still have unrevealed aces up his sleeve, quoting numerous times where Brenner has survived overwhelming odds due to unknown reasons.

“I wouldn’t want him to be dead. Three things are curious to me: How did he survive the Demogorgon? How did he survive One? And when Eleven tries to use her power against Dr. Brenner after blowing three guards in the air, he unflinchingly thwarts her and says, ‘You didn’t think it was going to be that easy, did you?’ She couldn’t get it to work on him. Is there something more to Brenner than meets the eye?”

All of this might be just talk if it wasn’t for one thing. On November 27, Modine posted an Instagram video of himself gleefully sitting in a makeup chair wearing assorted prosthetics to make him look bald and disheveled — complete with hashtags like #strangerthings5, #drmartinbrenner, and #indestructible. Looks like Brenner is really going to be back, folks. 

Brenner is implied to die in the Demogorgon attack of the “Stranger Things” season 1 finale, “Chapter Eight: The Upside Down.” However, he returns in season 4 in a slightly less villainous capacity, only to be left to die once more in the episode “Chapter Eight: Papa.” Now, it seems that even the combined effect of gunfire and the unforgiving desert aren’t enough to keep him down.

Not that Brenner is the only person to make a surprise “Stranger Things” comeback, though. Dacre Montgomery’s Billy Hargrove is a formidable presence throughout seasons 2 and 3, and his death in the season 3 finale, titled “Chapter Eight: The Battle of Starcourt,” does nothing to stop him from returning for season 4 in hallucination form. Likewise, Vecna himself is effectively a “reborn” Henry Creel, and the connection between the two forms the central mystery of season 4 part 1. David Harbour’s Jim Hopper seemingly dies in the season 3 finale, only to resurface in Russia in season 4. Even poor, innocent Bob Newby (Sean Astin) keeps turning up after his death in the season 2 finale — in Joyce’s memories, if nowhere else. 

Considering all this and the fact that Brenner already has one surprise return under his belt, Modine’s comments and social media post may not sound quite as surprising. Eleven and “Papa’s” season 4 arc on “Stranger Things” ended with at least a partial reconciliation, so anything could happen between them. Now, all we can do is wait until “Stranger Things” season 5 drops in 2025 to find out how Brenner returns, and in what capacity. While we’re at it, let’s hope that Eddie Munson (Joseph Quinn) also manages to slip through death’s door for one last guitar solo.