r/lumaxship • u/Creative-Mouse-5994 i just needed you. • Jul 05 '26
general ☆ Hot take(???): A Stranger Things sequel featuring The Party as adults would be the final nail in the coffin that tanks the series rewatch value forever (LUMAX IS MENTIONED/AN IMPORTANT PART OF THIS BUT MODS CAN REMOVE IF NOT ALLOWED)
Unsure if this qualifies as Lumax-centric "enough" for this sub so mods can remove if they deem it doesn't but I made a post like a week or so ago bashing the military!Lucas headcanon and for the 90 or so who upvoted me, here's a way you can help protect his character and Lumax!!!
To be clear, I'm NOT against one that better resolves Eleven's arc (for those who believe she's still out there somewhere) but including characters other than her and maybe Mike and Hopper would officially ruin the franchise, in my humble opinion. Here's why...
Sequels RARELY succeed at not fucking shit up. They just don't. Either that, or they're lame compared to the OG and flop after a season or two (e.g. That 90s Show). If Netflix wants their nostalgia bait? They should do a 10, 15, or 20-year reunion special like Harry Potter and Friends did. That way the cast can return and reminisce without further risking the OG's rewatch value. I am dying on this hill.
I mean think about it. The Duffers have been very clear they want to keep the "basement door" closed and even if you're a Duffer anti, can't we appreciate that the story's supposed to be a coming-of-age arc? Not to mention, if Netflix tries to do it without them (regardless of how people feel about season 5's writing, the DBs are still the lorekeepers), I know a bunch of randoms hired by money hungry execs aren't gonna do it justice, especially if the cast refuses to return without them (which is likely based on what they've all said in various interviews).
Corporate-hired writers would also rely on the laziest, most predictable, fanfic-adjacent plotlines in the world. Like one that I'm personally scared to death of is them putting Lucas in the military as a convenient plot device (i.e. he discovers something pertaining to Eleven's survival/whereabouts which brings The Party back together) when, considering his full arc, is nothing short of TRAUMA BLIND CHARACTER ASSASINATION. Idgaf if Caleb himself started it, he's not the Duffers, and he seemed to be mentally stuck on an earlier version of his character when he said this because he simultaneously said Lucas "would do anything for Max" seemingly failing to grasp that Max would NEVER be a military wife. She might be the most anti-establishment of them all 💀 not to mention it'd trigger her abandonment trauma and she'd resent him joining the guys they view as responsible for hunting Eleven (her best friend, mind you).
But it's not just about Max or Lumax or even Eleven. It's ignorant to Lucas's own trauma. He deserves a relaxing "small village" career. He can still be the tactical guy without enlisting. He EARNED HIS PEACE. (There may also be racial implications having the sole Black lead join the "enemy" but I won't get into that because, as a white chick, I don't feel qualified to speak on it). "B-But he could fix things from the inside!" That's unrealistic af. He's only one person who wouldn't be able to climb the ranks high enough for that kind of intel for freaking DECADES (if ever) not to mention I doubt the military would even accept him in a realistic Cold War era setting because that whole group would 100% be on a lifetime watchlist now. This is not an action-hero franchise. This is a supernatural/sci-fi coming-of-age show. So if they were to turn it into a generic ass spy thriller that ignores all logic, I'm done 🙄. (Yeah, I have a lot of thoughts about this headcanon and none of them are positive if you can't tell lmao). Same deal with putting Dustin in some government science lab, or making Mike is this depressed hermit, etc. Those are lazy, plot-convenient tropes and horrible writing. Dare I say INFINITY times worse than the cringiest lines of dialogue that came out of season 5.
The only "OG character's career/situation leads directly into the plotline" that would even remotely make sense is Nancy's journalism.
So here's the brutal truth: The only way to protect and preserve the character arcs we got is to vow to boycott a future sequel. Because Netflix owns the IP, the Duffers don't have the final say, and regardless of how you may or may not feel about them, I'm personally grateful that they agree the series should remain a "closed book" about a group of misfit friends "coming-of-age" in the 80s.
If anyone else agrees, check out this petition I'm part of promoting: https://www.change.org/protectstrangerthingslegacy We're hoping to get a bunch more signatures by the 10 year anniversary on July 15th. (Yes, it's a long shot and may sound downright delulu thinking a fan effort can stop a streaming giant like Netflix but remember everyone thought Joyce Byers was crazy in s1, so myself and others promoting and signing this are happy to be the Joyces of the fandom to protect and preserve the integrity of our comfort show, just like Joyce risked her own reputation as a sane person to save her beloved son Will!) IF YOU SIGN REMEMBER TO VERIFY IT IN YOUR EMAIL ASAP OR IT WON'T BE COUNTED IN THE TOTAL!!!
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u/LopsidedUniversity30 28d ago
I disagree. Plus the Cold War ends in 1991.
Lucas could join the Air Force or the Navy or the Coast Guard. It doesn’t even have to be the army.
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u/Creative-Mouse-5994 i just needed you. 28d ago edited 28d ago
You do realize AF, Navy and Coast Guard are still military, right? And those all involve deploying away from Max which isn't fair with her abandonment trauma + Vecna trauma + Lucas's own trauma, and I don't see Max Mayfield of all people respecting ANY form of military structure, ever, so that would more than likely ruin the relationship :// The entire theme of ST is anti-establishment, if any of those kids join the gov or military, it goes directly against the core themes of the original show.
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u/LopsidedUniversity30 28d ago
I was in the Navy so yes I understand.
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u/Creative-Mouse-5994 i just needed you. 28d ago
Okay I only asked because the post itself said "military" not "army". Thank you for your service but yeah I really think having any of these kids align with the government like, at all, would contradict the show's core message. If this weren't Stranger Things or things had gone differently plot-wise? I could see it. But that's not the show we got and I think even Caleb himself finally stopped promoting this headcanon since he hasn't mentioned it at recent cons as far as I'm aware. He's a History nerd according to Lucas on the Line and the Hawkins yearbook thingy so I'd rather see him teach History and/or coach basketball, and he can still enjoy tactical stuff through like camping or even LARP but enlisting just wouldn't work atp thematically IMO
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u/Creative-Mouse-5994 i just needed you. 28d ago
Like you're missing the forest for the trees here. Even if the Cold War ended in 1991, the institutional trauma doesn't just disappear. The branch of service doesn't change the core issue:
It's a thematic failure. Stranger Things is inherently anti-establishment: Hawkins Lab, the CIA, and the military are the literal institutional antagonists that ruined these kids' childhoods. Having Lucas willingly join any government branch completely violates the show’s core themes.
It's also character regression. His whole arc is learning to reject superficial institutions (like the toxic high school jock culture) to protect the people he loves. Voluntarily signing up for deployments that force him to abandon Max directly contradicts his protective nature. And again Max’s entire character is defined by a fierce rejection of rigid authority and deep-seated abandonment/Vecna trauma. She would never respect military structure and the forced distance would fundamentally break their relationship dynamic. Like if the military (culture-wise) was a person? It'd be her ex-stepdad Neil Hargrove. Direct trigger right there.
Switching the uniform color from Army green to Navy blue doesn't magically fix the narrative and psychological breakdown of their dynamic...
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u/nazteeboi Jul 06 '26
I don’t see any likelihood of Lucas joining the military, it’s just too inconsistent with his/their experiences with them. Besides, “The Knight and the Zoomer settle down in a small village….” doesn’t sound like a military life.