You have Netflix to thank for Eleven surviving 'Stranger Things' Season 1

Justice for ... Eleven?

It didn't come to that, of course. But it could've, if the Stranger Things creators had gone with their original plan.

In an interview with CinemaBlend, Ross Duffer revealed that Eleven was originally supposed to stay dead when she sacrificed herself at the end of Season 1:

Maybe I shouldn't say this because I like to pretend that it was all planned out, but it was originally pitched as a limited series. So it was like, Eleven was gonna sacrifice herself and save the world and then that was gonna be it, because there was a moment where limited series were a big deal.

What saved Eleven was that Netflix didn't want Stranger Things to be a limited series. Duffer continued:

This is where the business side comes in. When we started pitching it it was like 'we don't make money off of limited series.' And I remember when we went into Netflix and we pitched this they were like 'well, we like this but how could it keep going?' And you're just sort of riffing in the moment and we were like 'well Will's back from this other dimension and he's not doing very well.' And they were like 'great!'

So instead, Season 1 ends with a little tease about Eleven's potential return, and Season 2 quickly reveals that Eleven didn't stay in the Upside Down for long.

There's probably an argument to be made that Stranger Things 1 would've been better off letting Eleven die.

You could argue that killing off Eleven would've made a more logical ending for Season 1. There's no good reason to assume that she'd have survived, and Eleven's death would've brought the entire story to a tidy (if tragic) end.

But had Eleven stayed dead, we wouldn't have gotten those priceless scenes of her eating Eggos with Hopper or getting a bitchin' new makeover from her sister in Stranger Things 2. I don't know about you, but I'm perfectly happy to accept Eleven's miraculous return if it means she gets to stick around.