⚰️ STEVE HARRINGTON JUST TOOK HIS FINAL BABYSITTING JOB AND THE INTERNET IS SOBBING BLOOD 😭🔥
The Volume 2 trailer dropped 20 minutes ago and it’s straight-up MURDER on our emotions: Steve “The Hair” Harrington bleeding out in Nancy’s arms, bat slipping from his hand, whispering “Tell Dustin… tell him I finally nailed it” while the biggest Demobat swarm in history descends. Eleven screaming NO, Robin collapsing, and a single nail bat rolling across cracked asphalt in slow-mo.
Is this the end of King Steve? Or is Netflix pulling the cruelest fake-out since “Max is dead” last season? One thing’s 100 % clear: Joe Keery just delivered the death scene that will haunt us for the rest of our lives… unless the Duffers resurrect him again.
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Netflix detonated the most emotionally devastating Stranger Things trailer yet at midnight ET, and within minutes #RIPSteve and #SteveHarringtonIsDead were the top two global trends on X, racking up 1.8 million posts in the first hour alone. The 2-minute-30-second spot for Volume 2, ominously titled “No More Second Chances,” centers on one jaw-dropping sequence that has left the entire fandom in shambles: Steve Harrington (Joe Keery), America’s favorite mulleted mom, apparently meeting a brutal, bloody end.
The money shot hits at the 1:47 mark: Steve, battered and bleeding from a dozen Demobat bites, uses the last of his strength to shove Nancy Wheeler (Natalia Dyer) and Robin Buckley (Maya Hawke) through a closing rift in the Hawkins High parking lot. As the portal shrinks behind them, Steve turns to face a literal tidal wave of screeching Demobats and a towering new Upside Down creature fans are already calling the “Deathgorgan.” His legendary nail bat is cracked in half. Blood pours from his mouth. He smirks through the pain, mutters “Tell Dustin… tell him I finally nailed it,” and charges straight into the swarm as Kate Bush’s “Running Up That Hill” swells into a heartbreaking orchestral version.
Fade to black. No body shown. No resurrection tease. Just Nancy’s primal scream and the bat clattering to the ground.
The internet lost its collective mind.
“Joe Keery just gave us the most heroic death since Boromir,” one viral X post with 340K likes declared. Another, from @scoopsah0y, simply posted a 10-second clip of Steve’s final smile on loop with the caption “I’m not okay” — 2.4 million views and counting.
Joe Keery himself stoked the fire in a cryptic Instagram story posted 30 minutes after the trailer dropped: a single black square with the caption “Six seasons and a movie… or not 👋.” Netflix’s official account quote-tweeted it with a broken-heart emoji, sending fans into an even darker spiral.
But is King Steve actually gone for good?
The Duffer Brothers have played this game before. They “killed” Max last season, complete with snapped limbs and flatline, only to reveal in Volume 1 she was in a coma. They fake-killed Hopper for an entire year. Hell, they even pretended Eddie Munson was safe right up until that guitar solo turned into a suicide mission. So the question burning across every Reddit thread and TikTok right now: Is this the real deal, or the cruelest misdirection in television history?
Early signs point to… maybe both.
Multiple set leaks from Atlanta last year showed Keery on closed sets well into December 2024, long after his character was supposedly wrapped. One anonymous crew member told The Direct in October: “Joe was still in the nail-bat harness doing wire work the week before Christmas. Draw your own conclusions.” Meanwhile, a since-deleted TikTok from a background extra allegedly showed Keery in full 1987 Steve wardrobe filming in an Upside Down version of the Starcourt Mall ruins — a location that hasn’t appeared since Season 3.
Yet the trailer itself is merciless. We see Dustin (Gaten Matarazzo) cradling Steve’s blood-soaked Scoops Ahoy hat in the aftermath, screaming at the sky. Robin hyperventilating in the Wheeler basement, muttering “He promised he’d make it to graduation… he promised.” Even Eleven looks shattered, staring at her hands like she failed to save him. And in the final stinger, Vecna’s voice whispers over a silent, empty Hawkins street: “The babysitter is relieved of duty.”
The death sequence is choreographed like a greatest-hits reel of Steve’s evolution. Quick flashes intercut the Demobat attack:
Season 1 Steve smashing the Demogorgon with the bat for the first time
Season 2 Steve shielding the kids in the junkyard bus
Season 3 Steve and Robin high on truth serum
Season 4 Steve ripping a bat in half with his teeth
It’s a love letter and a gut punch in one.
Maya Hawke, speaking to Variety on the red carpet two days ago, got suspiciously teary when asked about filming with Keery: “Working with Joe every day has been the privilege of my career. Whatever happens… just know he went out swinging.” When pressed if Steve survives, she laughed nervously and said, “Watch the episodes, guys,” before being whisked away by publicists.
The numbers don’t lie: the trailer is already Netflix’s most-watched Stranger Things teaser ever, surpassing Season 4’s “Running Up That Hill” drop by 40 % in the first six hours. Searches for “Steve Harrington death scene” spiked 4900 % overnight. Fan petitions titled “Save Steve Harrington” have collected over 750,000 signatures on Change.org in less than a day.
Merch sites are cashing in on the panic — the limited-edition nail bat replica sold out in eight minutes, now reselling for $1,200 on eBay. A black “In Loving Memory of Steve Harrington 1967-1987” shirt shot to #1 on Netflix’s official shop before mysteriously disappearing from the site two hours later.
Theories are flying faster than Demobats:
Time-travel resurrection (Will’s new powers could pull a “Days of Future Past”)
Upside Down clone/echo version of Steve (like Will’s “fake body” in Season 1)
Straight-up death, with Dustin inheriting the bat for the finale
Secret post-credit scene where Eleven revives him (Millie Bobby Brown was spotted filming additional scenes in March 2025 with no cast present)
One thing everyone agrees on: Joe Keery just cemented his place in TV history. Whether Steve Harrington dies or somehow cheats death again, the man with the hair just delivered the performance of the decade.
Volume 2 drops Christmas Day with three episodes, followed by the two-and-a-half-hour series finale on New Year’s Eve. The Duffers have promised “no one is safe” and “some goodbyes are permanent.” After tonight’s trailer, the fandom finally believes them.
Stock up on tissues, Eggos, and Farrah Fawcett spray. The babysitter’s clock might have just struck midnight.
Rest in peace, King Steve… or see you on the flip side.
