Stranger Things explained: How long was Will in the Upside Down? (2024)

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Stranger Things explained: How long was Will in the Upside Down? ›

1983 - 1984

From the looks of it, Will is trapped in the Upside Down for just a week, even if it felt much longer. Additionally, season one sees a time jump after Will is rescued with the series closing a week or so before Christmas, which again seemed to suggest it was a matter of days he had been gone for.

For a week, Will evaded the creature while his family and friends desperately searched for him. Although he was eventually rescued and returned to normal life, his time in the Upside Down left him with a mysterious connection to the alternate realm.

It was revealed in Stranger Things season 4 that Vecna has been pulling the strings behind the Upside-Down's incursion throughout the show's events, so he may have intentionally kept Will alive in the Upside Down.

For seven years, Vecna put the lifeforms of the dimension under his thrall by combining them all to a shared hive mind, in part thanks to his bond to a creature later known as the Mind Flayer, whose appearance he shaped into a gargantuan spider and who eventually became his vessel to act on Earth.

Barb's death implied that whatever the slug does didn't take, so the Mind Flayer reached out to Will instead. It could be that the Mind Flayer needed a younger host, or Barb may have simply died while the Demogorgon was attempting to infect her.

With Eleven opening a gate and the Demogorgon's actions in Hawkins, this was likely the first time that elements from both dimensions mixed. The events of the dimensions bleeding together likely locked the Upside Down in November 6, 1983, in some kind of endless time loop.

Eleven recognizes Will in a photo at Mike's house. She reveals her telekinetic powers to Mike, Lucas, and Dustin. She then tells them Will is "hiding" from the Demogorgon in the Upside Down and is stuck there.

While this could be considered a Stranger Things plot hole, Joyce was loudly calling out letters when Will would hit the corresponding light. Therefore, it's possible that Will was able to guess which light represented which letter and talk to his mother this way.

Why did the Demogorgon take Will? ›

In any event, like many predators, the Demogorgon simply took any opportunity to hunt and acquire prey, and generally preferred solitary or isolated victims. Sometimes, the Demogorgon, instead of eating its prey, would capture them in an attempt to breed more Demogorgons, as it did to Will.

Due to some particles from the Upside Down latching onto Will, the Mind Flayer was able to possess Will, allowing Vecna to use him as a human spy in Hawkins, though Will's family and friends eventually drive the creature out of Will and Eleven closes the interdimensional portal, cutting off the Mind Flayer's control.

When Vecna arrives to claim his victims in Stranger Things season 4, a grandfather clock chimes, acting as an omen of death. Interestingly, a clock can be heard just before Will is taken in season 1, episode 1, "The Vanishing of Will Byers," as he rides home on his bike.

In the Upside Down, Will evaded the Demogorgon for a week, showing his great ingenuity, ability to hide, and creativity. Somehow, Will figured out that his presence in the Upside Down could affect electrical devices in his home dimension, and Will began attempting to communicate with his mother.

Why Did Vecna Go After Max? As Vecna continued to go after young victims in order to open more portals, he set his sights on Max Mayfield, since she was investigating the deaths of Chrissy and another student named Fred Benson with help from her friends (including Dustin, Steve, and her boyfriend Lucas).

He used his restored powers to brutally murder the other test subjects and workers, and attempted to do the same to Eleven. However, Eleven overpowered him and sent him through a gate to the Upside Down, where he gradually transformed into the being known as Vecna.

The history of the Upside Down remains mysterious. Exactly how and why it came into existence is unclear. Dustin theorized the Upside Down had existed for thousands, if not millions of years.

November 6th, 1983: Will Disappears From Hawkins, Indiana

At first, it seems like he is nowhere. But Stranger Things doles out the explanation in a slow, careful, and fascinating manner. It turns out that Will has traveled to an alternate dimension called the Upside Down, which is stuck in 1983.