Saturday Night Live kicked off its 2026 season with a brilliant opening sketch that directly addressed what fans had been discussing online for weeks. The comedy show cleverly mocked the entertainment industry's obsession with extending popular franchises long after their natural conclusions.
Finn Wolfhard Hosts Netflix-Style Parody
Hosted by Stranger Things star Finn Wolfhard, the pre-recorded sketch presented itself as a glossy Netflix trailer. It announced that despite the show's recent finale, Stranger Things would return in every conceivable format. The premise was deliberately excessive, highlighting how streaming services prioritize viewer numbers over narrative conclusions.
Character Spinoffs Get the Satirical Treatment
The parody began with Strangerous Minds, featuring Steve Harrington as an inner-city drama teacher in Los Angeles. This clever riff on Dangerous Minds played with the long-running joke about Steve being perpetually stuck in teenage mode, well past the point when most characters would have matured.
Next came The Wheeler Report, which transformed Nancy Wheeler into a 1990s investigative journalist. The sketch presented her as a destined crime reporter, even showing her covering the infamous O.J. Simpson white Ford Bronco car chase.
Mike Wheeler's Manhattan Misadventure
The most elaborate segment featured Mike Wheeler living in 1990s New York as a writer in a Sex and the City-style romantic comedy. In one hilarious scene, Mike, Lucas and Dustin awkwardly discuss their sex lives over cocktails, creating a stark contrast with their monster-fighting Hawkins origins.
Mike's storyline included him writing about his relationship with Eleven, culminating in the memorable line: "When you've dated Eleven, even tens fall short." The sketch portrayed him as a cocaine-addled New Yorker humorously unable to move on from his past.
Notable Absences and Internet References
Will Byers was conspicuously missing from the parody. The sketch explained this with a single line: his coming-out scene was "still going." This directly addressed widespread criticism about the scene's extended length in the final season.
The parody also mocked internet speculation about a nonexistent ninth episode called Conformity Gate. The fake trailer claimed this fan-favorite episode actually existed, suggesting everything viewers saw was an illusion planted by Vecna. Netflix officially addressed this speculation on January 7, 2026, with Stranger Things' Instagram bio stating: ALL EPISODES OF STRANGER THINGS ARE NOW PLAYING.
Audience Reactions and Cultural Commentary
Online discussions focused on specific moments rather than the entire sketch. Steve's age joke "I was 17 for 10 years" became one of the most repeated lines in comments. Viewers particularly loved the Mike in Manhattan segment, with many demanding it should "happen ASAP."
The Conformity Gate reference received immediate attention, with fans noting the parody finally acknowledged their online debates about the mysterious ninth episode. Some audience members revealed the Duffer brothers were present during the live taping, adding another layer of humor to the experience.
Perhaps most interesting was the grudging recognition among viewers that despite generally hating franchise extensions, these fake spinoffs seemed oddly compelling. Several comments admitted they would actually watch these hypothetical shows, highlighting the sketch's clever balance between criticism and entertainment.
Minor Character Perspectives
The parody extended to minor characters with Stranger Things: Oops, All Mike's Dad. This segment retold the entire series from Ted Wheeler's perspective, showing Hawkins' most famously hands-off father watching television completely unaware of Demogorgons in his house or his children's disappearances.
Saturday Night Live's opening sketch successfully captured the current entertainment landscape where hit shows rarely get clean endings. Instead, they spawn countless spinoffs, prequels and sequels as streaming services chase viewer engagement. The parody worked because it understood both the industry's mechanics and fan culture's relationship with beloved franchises.
