UPSIDE DOWN

Netflix Crashes as ‘Stranger Things’ Finale Drops

As some users tuned in to watch the episode on New Year’s Eve, they encountered technical issues.

The series finale of one of Netflix’s biggest shows was met with complications when it finally dropped Wednesday night. The final episode of Stranger Things aired as scheduled at 8 p.m. ET on December 31, but some users encountered an error message that read, “Something went wrong. Sorry, we’re having trouble with your request. You’ll find lots to explore on the home page.” According to Variety, the site crashed for about a minute—shorter than the outage on Nov. 26, when the platform went down for roughly five minutes after the series’ fifth season premiered, debuting with 59.6 million views and marking Netflix’s biggest-ever opening week for an English-language title. The crash prompted some fans to take to X to express their frustration. “NETFLIX CRASHED PLS LET ME IN I DO NOT HAVE NEW YEARS PLANS #StrangerThings,” one user posted. “My Netflix has crashed twice already three mins into the stranger things finale,” another wrote. While some users experienced issues on the site, others watched the highly anticipated finale, the last episode ever of the series, as it aired in more than 620 theaters across the U.S. and Canada on Dec. 31 and Jan. 1, an event that drew 1.1 million RSVPs, according to co-creator Ross Duffer.