As The Long Wait For Stranger Things’ Final Season Continues, I’m Revisiting A Big Eleven Clue That I Originally Overlooked

The entertainment industry hasn’t been the same since Stranger Things premiered on Netflix back in 2016, and the wait for the fifth and final season has felt almost endless… mostly, as far as I’m concerned, because almost three full years have passed since the Season 4, Volume 2 finale back in July 2022. I’d honestly been mostly desensitized to the wait after I heard the Duffer Brothers clear the air about their “eight blockbuster movies” promise about Season 5, but a reminder of one thing has reactivated my need for new episodes.

That one thing was when I realized that May 27 was the three-year anniversary of Netflix releasing Stranger Things Season 4, Vol. 1. It had somehow seemed like just yesterday that I’d spoken to Millie Bobby Brown and other cast members about all the distance in the fourth season. Hitting that anniversary when we still don’t have a precise premiere date in the 2025 TV schedule or even a teaser trailer drove me to take a look back at some earlier clues, and there’s one that I may have overlooked at the time.

So, join me on a blast to the past for a look at the clue about Eleven that may be more meaningful than I gave it credit for.

Eleven Is Wanted By Hawkins P.D.... At Least

This particular clue was released back on January 30, 2025, and CinemaBlend’s Danielle Bruncati wrote about what it could mean at the time. I just wasn’t in Stranger Things mode back then due to the wait and didn’t pay it the attention it may have deserved, so I’m going to finally dive back into it now. It came in the form of a “MISSING” poster for Jane Hopper, a.k.a. Eleven, shared on social media. Take a look:

I don’t want to put too much stock into the descriptions of Jane Hopper or even what she was last seen wearing, but rather the offer of a “reward totaling $3000.00“ that will be paid for “all leads which result in the location of Jane Hopper or her body.” Aside from the troubling idea of “or her body,” that’s a lot of money for potentially many leads in post-earthquake Hawkins. I'm assuming there's not exactly a budget surplus in the destroyed town when Season 5 kicks off!

And if you don’t believe me, let’s look at some numbers! In doing my due diligence now to make up for what I overlooked back in January, I checked out the Inflation Calculator for American currency from the U.S. Department of Labor website. The most recent data available at the time of writing indicates that $3000.00 in October 1987 equals out to $8,346.79 in April 2025. (October 1987 is an estimate based on the reveal that Season 5 will be set in fall of that year.)

Of course, the caption of “Who’s *really* looking for Jane Hopper?” indicates that the funding for that offer of more than $8.3k is coming from much higher up than Hawkins P.D. Plus, this is Stranger Things we’re talking about. One of the very first mysteries of the series concerned who was secretly running Hawkins Lab and trying to recapture Eleven.

But there’s more to the poster than just the promise of a reward for the location of Jane Hopper, dead or alive.

Hawkins P.D. Has A Voicemail

Luckily, Netflix didn’t disable the voicemail function of the Instagram post between late January and late May, because doing my due diligence of course meant that I had to call the number listed in the photo. For whatever it’s worth (if anything), my iPhone lists the number as going to Montpelier, Indiana. This is the message:

While the recording doesn’t identify the speaker, I feel pretty confident that the voice isn’t coming from Callahan or Powell. Under normal circumstances, I’d imagine Mr. Wheeler and possibly even Mrs. Wheeler perking up at the mention of acting as “responsible citizens of Hawkins,” but the circumstances in their town ahead of Season 5 certainly aren’t normal.

What I find interesting about the message is that once again, there’s no indication of why Jane Hopper would be a priority for Hawkins P.D. It does sound more like the Police Department is looking for her for her own safety than the text of the poster does, but that doesn’t make it sincere. Personally, I want to know more about this Emergency Task Force, since the phrasing makes it clear that it’s a separate group from Hawkins P.D.

Does this mean something significant for Season 5? Can I at least hope for the returns of Powell and Callahan, who have been some of my favorite minor characters going back to when they were talking to Troy about Eleven breaking his arm back in Season 1? Should I have just left this Instagram post behind in January and waited for news from Netflix about Season 5 hopefully coming sooner rather than later as summer kicks off?

Considering that my crackpot theory about Lucas’ watch in a behind-the-scenes photo pointing toward a time jump ahead to 1989 was wrong, I’m quite cautiously optimistic whenever I speculate nowadays.

What’s Next For Season 5?

Believe it or not, this January post about the hunt for Jane Hopper was actually the last Season 5 post on Stranger Things’ Instagram account as of May 30, 2025. All the more recent posts have been about the Stranger Things: The First Shadow Broadway play. That said, the show’s X account (formerly Twitter) confirmed that they’re “going to TUDUM," which hopefully means a long-awaited update on Season 5 rather than more news about the stage production.

If you’re curious and/or hopeful enough to tune in to TUDUM, the event will stream live on May 31 starting at 8 p.m. ET for anybody with a Netflix subscription. You can also rewatch all four seasons of Stranger Things on Netflix, which I may just need to do ahead of Season 5. Season 4 may have come to a memorable ending back in 2022, but finer details can fade over three years of waiting!