SNL Mocks Stranger Things Conformity Gate Craze & Netflix's Spin-Off Plans

"Stranger Things" came to a close at the end of 2025 with the show's fifth season. While the finale itself was almost perfect, except for one big mistake, some of the most passionate fans have been speaking out about their dissatisfaction with certain moments. So much so, in fact, that they were convinced that the so-called final episode was meant to be a massive illusion created by Vecna, and a secret ninth episode was coming to fix all the supposed problems. Dubbed "Conformity Gate" because of how the characters of "Stranger Things" went to to have supposedly predictable, boring endings to their stories, the theory came and went without being fulfilled. 

But that made it perfect for "Saturday Night Live" to have some fun with host Finn Wolfhard by imagining not only what a "Conformity Gate" episode would have looked like but also concocting some potential spin-offs for Netflix to keep the "Stranger Things" train on the tracks. 

"Stranger Things" fans will want to check this one out, because while it does poke fun at the series likely being milked like the cash cow it is, it also features cameos by none other than fellow cast members Gaten Matarazzo and Caleb McLaughlin. Watch below!

"SNL" starts off by putting a comedic spin on some potential spin-off ideas that you could easily see panning out at Netflix. For example, Steve Harrington is working at Hawkins High School now, and "Strangerous Minds" imagines if he had to deal with some difficult inner-city teens. Plus, Nancy Wheeler takes her journalism career to the next level when she sneaks into the back of O.J. Simpson's famed white Ford Bronco during his famous high speed chase in the 1990s. 

But things take a surprising turn when Mike Wheeler's future as a writer looks a lot like "Sex and the City," bringing in Dustin and Lucas as his fellow martini-slurping friends just trying to navigate their complicated romances. Gaten Matarazzo has a particularly hilarious moment when he references his brief "Neverending Story" romance with Suzie in the show's third season, though Finn Wolfhard gets the best bit when his nose starts bleeding. But it's not because he has powers. It's because he's having some of that booger sugar. 

"SNL" also pokes fun at Will's much-discussed coming out scene in "Stranger Things" season 5, as if it's still happening, and the Wheeler family's worthless patriarch also gets his own spin-off.

However, it's the "Conformity Gate" episode that wraps things up, putting Mike, Dustin, and Lucas in the location where we last saw Eleven in the show's finale. But when it's time for their telekinetic friend to show up, it's just Kenan Thompson doing what he does best.