Fan Theories: Who Is the American in ‘Stranger Things’?

Hopper Stranger Things

Spoiler alert for Stranger Things 3

If you haven’t seen Season 3 yet, stop reading this and watch it!

Stranger Things broke all of our hearts at the end of Season 3, but the post-credit scene had fans investigating who is the American in Stranger Things 3.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0tMOPSohuOg

There are many theories on which character is the American, fingers-crossed, it’s Hopper. But we wanted to breakdown each of the fan theories, and see how likely each of them may be.

Jim Hopper

I think many fans, including myself, want the American to be Hopper, but as we’ve seen from the past three seasons, you can’t always get what you want. So where’s the proof the American is Hopper? I think the best sign the Hopper is still alive (and maybe is the American) is the fact that we never seen his body. I get that he died in an explosion, but on TV, I think it’s safe to say if there isn’t a body, maybe they aren’t dead. Perhaps somehow when the blast went off, Hopper went to the other side, and the Russians pulled him out. Regardless, I don’t think this is the last we’ve seen of Jim Hopper, whether its flashbacks or if he is the American.

https://gph.is/g/4DAny3z

Billy Hargrove

I know this seems far-fetched. We saw Billy die, and it was a pretty brutal death, but one fan’s theory is a solid case for the American being Billy.

Stranger Things theory on Billy from StrangerThings

So maybe Billy’s clone was the one who died? Stranger things have happened in Hawkins…

 

Dr. Brenner

Okay, so how did the Russians know so much about the upside-down already? Could it be El’s creepy father/ kidnapper has fed them information because he is the American? Maybe. I have no idea, but I think this is a reliable theory – and seems to be the most popular among fans. After all, there is an age old rule in television – if you don’t see someone die on screen, then they’re probably not dead.

“I think we’ll leave Brenner’s fate, you know…We wanted to hint at that, he very may well still be out there. In Season 1 we don’t show his death. Not like we did with something like Bob. If we were going to kill him, we’ve always said we would really kill him,” the Duffer Brothers commented when asked about Brenner’s fate in Season 2. “I think the audience deserves an actual Brenner death if we’re gonna kill him. So we want to keep this idea that he may still be out there.”

Also, I have to say… Don’t you think that Dr. Brenner being locked up and tortured by the Russians, seems like poetic justice for El?

Kali, El’s sister

I think we would all like to never relive Season 2, Episode 7 “The Lost Sister,” but this a mildly strong theory. The Russians couldn’t open the gate without coming to Hawkins, so then how do they have a Demogorgon locked away in the Russian facility? We know El can unlock the gate to the upside-down, so it’s not crazy to assume Kali can as well.

Barb

I’m going to start this off by staying I think this is the least likely scenario for the American. Despite the “Justice for Barb” campaigns (which we understand – and we which she had gotten justice too), Barb is 100% dead. So unless you can bring people back to life, then I think we should all let her rest in peace.

Who do you think the American is in Stranger Things? Let us know in the comments below!

 

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  1. I believe it is Hopper. The explosion wasn’t a normal explosion. We saw the Russians in Hazmat suits disintegrate into a sludge. When Joyce goes out onto the balcony around the machine we see no sludge where Hopper was standing. My theory is the Russians were attempting to make a bridge through the upside down. One entrance in Russia, the other in America. I believe they had succeeded on their end and were trying to open the door in America to make it through. I think Hopper went into the upside down and was taken captive by the Russia’s who were already in it. They closed the door on this side forcing them to retreat. The evidence that supports this is the demigorgon in Russia. It shouldn’t be able to do anything of the doorway is closed, but as we see in the clip it is doing things.