What Happened to the Pregnant Women in Stranger Things Season 5 Officially Confirmed

The fate of the pregnant women in the Upside Down in Stranger Things season 5 has finally been confirmed by the Duffer brothers. Over the last decade, Stranger Things has become one of the most influential and culturally significant shows on TV, and one of Netflix’s cornerstone properties. The series finale, “The Rightside Up,” finally brought the show to an end on December 31, 2025, wrapping up many loose ends in a feature length episode, but there were still some questions that went unanswered after Stranger Things’ finale, and one concerned Dr. Kay’s test subjects in the Upside Down.

While she’s explaining her attempted escape from Dr. Kay’s (Linda Hamilton) lab Stranger Things season 5, episode 5, “Shock Jock,” Kali (Linnea Berthelsen) reveals that she came across a lab full of pregnant women in the Upside Down. The fate of these women wasn’t directly revealed in Stranger Things season 5, leading some to wonder whether the heroes destroying the Upside Down also sacrificed these innocent lives. A recent article by The Wrap, however, sees the Duffer brothers reveal this wasn’t the case, as “those pregnant women died because [Eight’s] blood did not work.”

“Either way, Eleven’s choice is, I think, courageous and selfless, because even though she’s having to leave her friends behind, she’s protecting any other child from experiencing what she experienced. Just look at what Kay was trying to do with all those pregnant women. All those pregnant women died because that blood did not work. But if that were to work, then you’ve got dozens of children who are going to grow up just like her and that are going to be turned into weapons and abused.”

Why Were There Pregnant Women in the Upside Down in Stranger Things Season 5?

Kali explains in “Shock Jock” that Dr. Kay and her team abducted her and brought her to the Upside Down in order to run experiments with her blood. Kay hoped to infuse pregnant women with Eight’s blood in order to make a new generation of psychic children, replicating the very same experiments run by Dr. Martin Brenner (Matthew Modine) prior to Stranger Things season 1. Eight’s blood was not suitable for this purpose, however, so all these pregnant women became sick and died long before the Upside Down was destroyed.

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Kay hoped to repeat the experiment that allowed both Eight and Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown), and all their siblings, to be born. Brenner, however, used Henry Creel’s (Jamie Campbell Bower) blood for his original experiments, and this was more pure and more successful. This meant that Eight, Eleven, and the rests’ powers came from them being infused with One’s blood, which Stranger Things: The First Shadow, the stage play prequel to Stranger Things, revealed had been altered after absorbing a remnant of the Mind Flayer and spending 12 hours in Dimension X, the Abyss, as a child.

While One’s blood worked in making psychic children, Eight’s was not strong enough, which is why Kay targeted Eleven throughout Stranger Things season 5. Eleven’s powers are very similar to One’s, and she has been proven time and again to be the strongest of her siblings, but Eleven still managed to slip through Kay’s fingers. Whether Eleven is dead or not, Kay is no longer able to use her blood, so her experiments have been cancelled, but it’s just a shame these pregnant women in the Upside Down sacrificed their lives for this cause.

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