One of the earliest signs that Stranger Things was going to become a cultural sensation after season one hit all those years ago was “Justice for Barb.” Shannon Purser’s minor character—Nancy Wheeler’s best friend—became a viral sensation when she was taken into the Upside Down during the first season, never to return as Will Byers eventually did. Her cruel fate, and the lack of acknowledgement by the characters at season one’s climax, saw an outpouring of Stranger Things‘ first fans looking for answers.
There weren’t really any answers to find. “The one note that we consistently got back was, “What about Barb?’ And we’re like, ‘It’s a show about Will,’” Ross Duffer recently reflected to TIME magazine.
“Netflix kept harassing us about it,” his brother and fellow producer, Matt, added. “And it turns out they were right.”
The viral outpouring for Barb has led to the character getting grim nods ever since season one sidestepped the fact that she was gone for good (no lab-made fake bodies for her, unlike Will). After we left her corpse in the Upside Down during season one’s climax, she’s appeared a few times, through archival footage and photographs, and, well, as a corpse. Barb’s most prominent appearance was in season four’s midseason climax, which saw poor Nancy tormented by big bad Vecna about his plans for abducting victims from Hawkins over the years… including Barb, whose rotting body makes an appearance in Vecna’s hallucination.
Although Barb’s embrace by the audience has now seen her passing acknowledged as part of Stranger Things‘ grander mysteries (without her death, Hawkins National Lab’s experiments would never have been exposed, and she gets a proper funeral sendoff in season 2), fans have constantly wanted to see more of her, even if it is mostly just as a dead body. Now, it seems something similar, at least, will be making an appearance in the upcoming fifth and final season: TIME Magazine’s set visit explicitly describes Barb’s body being covered in “inky-black vines” and “half buried in the ground” for a set that is, presumably, part of the season’s exploration of the Upside Down.
We already know that this final season wants to give some kind of explanation for what the real nature of the Upside Down is, so it’s not surprising that it’ll involve making a return trip. Will Barb be a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it cameo? Will, all these years later, her decaying corpse be the key that unlocks all the show’s mysteries? Are the Duffer Brothers rejoicing over finally being free to not have to talk about Barb ever again?
We’ll begin to find out when Stranger Things returns to Netflix for season 5 starting November 26, with more episodes coming December 25 and December 31.