Here's Every Major Character Who Died in Stranger Things Season 3

By all accounts, Alexei should be a bad guy. The Russian scientist is trying to open the gate to the Upside Down, after all. However, the Slurpee-loving fellow turns out to be instrumental in helping Joyce and Hopper figure out what the Russians are up to and telling them how to stop the Gate from being opened. Along the way, Alexei finds joy in all-American pastimes like going to the carnival — unfortunately, that's where he meets his end. After winning an oversize Woody the Woodpecker, a Russian operative shoots Alexei for betraying his country, and he dies with his translator Murray by his side.

In season two, Billy is a total bully, but he gets some redemption in season three after becoming the Mind Flayer's host. He spends most of the season trapped inside his own body as the Mind Flayer uses him to build a Flayed army and create the ultimate monster, but thanks to Eleven reminding him about his mother (and his humanity) during a critical showdown at the mall, Billy regains control of his body. The former bad guy uses every ounce of strength he has to put himself between the Flayed and Eleven, and sacrifices himself in the process. The Flayed stabs him right in the heart with one of its tentacles, but Max's big brother defies our expectations and goes out a hero in the end.

Heather, we hardly knew ye. Billy's lifeguard co-worker is also his first victim after being possessed by the Mind Flayer. He turns her into the first human Flayed, and she then converts her parents (including her newspaper editor dad). Like the rest of the Flayed, Heather turns into a puddle of ooze that combines with the other victims to create a massive monster that goes after Eleven.

The Hawkins Post writer Bruce is the actual worst. In life, he's a misogynistic jerk who enjoys taunting Nancy and dismissing her ideas on the grounds that she's a woman. He's not much better in death, either. Bruce becomes one of the Flayed and stalks Nancy through the hallways of the Hawkins hospital. She smashes him over the head with a fire extinguisher before he can infect her, and his body dissolves to join the rest of the Flayed.

No, we still can't believe it either, but for now at least, Hopper appears to be dead. He fights with the Terminator wannabe Russian operative who killed Alexei on the landing next to the machine that the Russians built to open the gate. While he manages to push the operative into the machine, killing him, Hop also traps himself on the landing in the process. Knowing there's no way to get back behind the safety of the glass where Joyce is waiting to turn the keys that will destroy the machine, he gives her a sad nod to turn them anyway, leaving him with little to no chance of survival.

It should be noted that we don't see Hopper disintegrate, and there is a postcredits scene that reveals there's an unknown American in the Russian prison three months after Hopper's death. But for now at least, we have no choice but to believe that Hop sacrificed himself to save his family, friends, and ultimately, the world.