Is Kali bad in Stranger Things Season 5? What the fans and showrunners are saying

Kali Prasad, or Eight, as she was named at the same Hawkins lab where her 'sister', Eleven, also got her powers, has certainly made her mark on volumes one and two of Stranger Things Season 5.

Having first appeared in season two, her return in these final episodes has brought a notably different characterisation.

She’s angry, she’s vengeful, and she’s convincing Eleven there’s only one solution to stop Vecna and the military experiments on children like her for good - that they both must die.

It’s this ominous death pact hanging over the show that has fans questioning what Kali’s motives are, and just which side she's on. Let’s look at the current theories as we’re just days away from finding out once and for all…

Is Kali bad?

While there’s nothing to prove that Kali is an outright villain, she has seemingly convinced Eleven - or El - that it’s the right thing for them both to sacrifice themselves. And this has fans suspicious.

The arguments against Kali being bad include the horrific circumstances she’s experienced up to this point. She has been trapped in the Upside Down version of the laboratory, while the likes of the sinister Dr Kay and the government harvest her blood to create more children with supernatural powers.

This has, understandably, left her cynical and her outlook bleak. She believes the only way to end the cycle of doctors creating an army of children like her and El is for them to die - no blood, no more experiments.

So she’s doing her best to convince El the two of them must sacrifice themselves, along with the destruction of the Upside Down - which has been proven to not be an alternate reality, but a wormhole connecting their world to something called The Abyss.

The other argument for questioning whether Kali should be trusted or not is her actual powers. Whereas El can use telekinesis, Kali has the power of creating illusions and projecting images into people’s minds.

Could she be manipulating those around her?

What are the latest fan theories about Kali?

Across the likes of X and Reddit, fans have been busy speculating - and opinion is divided.

Some have cleverly dismissed the idea that Kali is manipulating them with the likes of the wall that has appeared around the Hawkins lab in the Upside Down.

One theorised that Kali’s illusions are just that - they don’t tangibly exist. And, as they wrote, 'when we see Kali’s powers in use, there is not a physical representation of it, it’s all in the victims mind. The car physically crashed into the wall. Hopper's knife was physically still stuck into the wall. I don’t think the wall is a manifestation of Kali’s powers.'

Stranger Things season 5 clues from the cast and writers

However, there are a few things still making some suspicious, including hints from the cast and showrunners themselves.

To start, when asked in an interview to describe the fifth and final season in one word, Caleb McLaughlin who plays Lucas opted to use the word "Traitor". Could the traitor be Kali?

As for the Duffer Brothers - the twin brothers who created the show - they told SFX (per GamesRadar), "Kali shifts things a lot for Eleven, and I think it'll be surprising for people to see how she ultimately fits into the story."

We're excited about that, because it immediately changes the tone. And obviously, the way things ended with Hopper leaves a lot of tension between them."

When is the Stranger Things finale?

Fortunately fans don't have long to wait to find out how it all ends with Kali, El and co.

Stranger Things season five, episode eight - the series finale - will release at 1am on New Year’s Day for viewers in the UK. In the US, it’ll be out on December 31.

All other episodes are currently available to stream on Netflix - here's everything you know about how to watch Stranger Things Season 5 Volume 2.