Hold on tight, because the end of Stranger Things is coming, and the cast and creators are just as emotional as you are! After almost a decade of captivating audiences worldwide, the beloved series is gearing up for its final, epic season. But can the Duffer brothers, Matt and Ross, deliver a satisfying conclusion that lives up to the hype? Let's dive in and see what they, and the stars of Stranger Things, have to say about bringing this cultural phenomenon to a close.
Imagine this: It's early November 2025. The Duffer brothers, the masterminds behind Stranger Things, are struggling to discuss the show's impending finale. It's not just the pressure of satisfying millions of fans or the fear of spoilers leaking. It's something deeper. As Ross Duffer puts it, "It makes me sad, because it’s easier to not think about the show actually ending." They're facing the bittersweet reality of saying goodbye to a world they created and nurtured for so long.
Rewind to a decade ago. The Upside Down was a foreign concept. Vecna, Mind Flayers, and Demogorgons were creatures of the brothers' imagination. In 2015, these self-proclaimed nerds and movie buffs were on the verge of launching their first-ever TV series. Stranger Things, a supernatural adventure drenched in 80s nostalgia, was their love letter to Steven Spielberg and Stephen King. Their pitch to Netflix was simple: "John Carpenter mashed up with ET." While the cast included established actors like Winona Ryder and Matthew Modine, the show heavily relied on a group of relatively unknown young actors. But here's where it gets controversial... Many thought a show led by kids couldn't possibly succeed. And this is the part most people miss... The show's strength was in its focus on the underdog. The first season, released in the summer of 2016, shattered Netflix records and quickly became a cultural phenomenon.
Now, consider this "Would you rather" scenario for the Duffer brothers: Would you prefer the challenge of launching a brand-new sci-fi series with no guarantee of success, or the pressure of sticking the landing on a massive hit adored by millions, knowing that every detail will be dissected by an army of superfans?
After some thought, Matt Duffer admits, "I would rather have the pressure of trying to stick the landing." Back in 2015, he and Ross released their first (and so far only) feature film, a chilling horror flick called Hidden. To their disappointment, it went straight to video-on-demand. "You can’t even watch it high definition right now," Matt laments. "So Stranger Things felt like we had been given this second chance, which a lot of people don’t get." The brothers felt immense pressure to make the most of this opportunity. Now, he says, they feel more secure, adding, “Even if people don’t love the final season, I know that Ross and I will continue to be allowed to make things.”
Ross chimes in, “When we started, Netflix was an underdog, we were an underdog, and everyone loves a good underdog story. So it is a strange thing, 10 years later, to be the opposite of that. It’s a little surreal.”
Matt adds, “We almost prefer to be uncool. I don’t know how cool we are. We’re still not cool.” In Stranger Things, being uncool is a badge of honor. The brothers have successfully brought nerd culture into the mainstream. Dungeons & Dragons, a central element of the show, has experienced a surge in popularity, reaching levels not seen since its 1980s heyday. “I hope we made some of this nerdy stuff cooler,” says Ross.
He elaborates, “You know, the show is ultimately about outsiders. When Matt and I were young, especially in high school, we were just making little movies, and we were in drama club, and we had trouble fitting in. We just felt very separate from everyone else, and it was a very scary time for us. So part of the goal of the show was just to go, no, there are people out there like you, and your differences are what make you cool.” Matt points to Eddie Munson, the metal-loving leader of the Hellfire Club, as the embodiment of this ethos. “In many ways, we think of the show itself as Eddie, because Eddie is the person I wish had existed in high school, but did not exist.”
Season four, released in 2022, left an undeniable mark on pop culture. Kate Bush's "Running Up That Hill (A Deal With God)" became an anthem after being featured in a pivotal scene where Max (Sadie Sink) escapes Vecna in the Upside Down. The song soared to the top of the charts, giving Bush her first UK No. 1 single since 1978. “We had no idea it would go viral in the way that it did. We were surprised, and Kate was surprised, by how much it connected with younger people. Kate thought that was really cool,” says Ross. And guess what? There's even more "Running Up That Hill" in season five!
“Again, she’s been so great about it,” says Matt. Did she send a cake or flowers, to say thank you? “We did get a gift from Kate Bush, but it was way cooler than flowers,” says Ross. “It was this gilded bird cage with animatronic birds inside it, and you wind it up, and the birds chirp a little song. It’s very cool, very unique and very Kate Bush. Only Kate Bush would give this present.”
Having celebrated the careers of 80s icons like Ryder and Modine, the Duffer brothers have recruited another legend for the final season: Linda Hamilton, the iconic Sarah Connor from The Terminator. Hamilton plays Dr. Kay, a steely military scientist in charge of a mysterious laboratory. “We needed to sort our Dr Brenner replacement,” explains Ross. “And because this was the final season, we wanted someone intimidating, but in a very different way than Modine.” Hamilton is “super-highly intelligent”, so she is believable as the scientist, “but at the same time, Linda can shoot a gun, she can get in a fight, she’s tough, and that toughness was perfect for the final season”.
“She’s kind of scary,” agrees Hamilton, calling from her home in New Orleans. Hamilton is renowned for her physical roles. As Sarah Connor, she is one of the greatest action heroines of all time. Will there be more action in Stranger Things? “There are a couple of real fightin’ moments,” she laughs. “I mean, I do walk into every stunt rehearsal and go: ‘I’m 68 years old! When do I get to not have stunt rehearsal?’” She has a stunt double, who was also her double on the last Terminator film. “But I’m carrying my own there. Doing at least half of it.”
Interestingly, Hamilton was considering retirement when Stranger Things came calling. “I had a hip injury, and I was in pain, and limping, and I couldn’t get an injection until I was getting ready to do a job,” she says. She told her agent she didn't think she could do another TV show. “I just got really defeated there for a minute. And then he called me months later and said: ‘Stranger Things just called and asked if you’re free from June to June, and I said yes.’” She laughs. “We know each other so well. I did not hesitate to say, yes, let’s talk.”
She was already a fan of Stranger Things and admits to being a fangirl. Walking on set for the first time was “very overwhelming, quite frankly. I didn’t have a lot of time with the Duffer brothers. Everything is so overly large in that show, and they didn’t coddle. They trusted me to put a character together that was going to come alive on camera, but you don’t know if you’ve done the right thing until you’re halfway through that first day and go, yeah, yeah, yeah, I’m finding it.”
In the season four finale, a weakened Vecna opened another gate to the Upside Down, blurring the lines between the two dimensions and setting the stage for an epic showdown. Season five picks up with Hawkins under military quarantine, jumping forward to November 1987. The show has meticulously recreated the 80s, from the cars to the technology, even down to the food packaging. “A time that I’ve lived through!” says Hamilton. “My God, the 80s. My joke has always been that when a young actress comes up to me and says: ‘Knowing everything you know, what’s the most important thing for a young actress?’ I say: ‘Never go on film in the 80s.’” She laughs. “I know that a lot of people are enchanted by the 80s, but the 80s was not, to me, the greatest. So it’s really funny that here I am, at my age, playing someone back then, in that look.” The hair is large in the show. “The hair is very large.”
Here's a surprising twist: Hamilton refuses to watch herself on screen. As a fan, shouldn't she watch the final season? “No, I’m afraid not,” she says sadly. “It’s terrible, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything I’ve done and wished I couldn’t do it again, and do a little bit more.” She refuses to put herself through it. “But I did get to read it, and be in the rooms with the actors during the readings and totally feel it.” She had the live-action experience? “Yes. It was amazing to be in that room for the final two episodes. Just, a blob of crying twentysomethings. It was really, really powerful to be part of that. Just a crying blob of children.”
The Duffer brothers cheekily respond to Hamilton's reluctance to watch the show. “That’s what she’s saying,” says Ross. “She’s gonna watch the show! I know other actors who are in the show and watch it, but fast-forward through their scenes. I’ll try to convince her, because she has to watch it.”
Back in the present, the younger cast members – Caleb McLaughlin (Lucas), Gaten Matarazzo (Dustin), Finn Wolfhard (Mike), and Noah Schnapp (Will) – are sharing breakfast, reminiscing about becoming Halloween costumes. Schnapp says he would try to guess which scenes would inspire costumes. Matarazzo recalls, “Like when we did the stuff in season four, where we dressed up in the ghillie suits, and I was wearing your bandana,” turning to McLaughlin. McLaughlin jokingly disputes this, leading to a playful family-like bicker.
These actors have shared the unique experience of growing up together on screen, in the public eye. They were barely teenagers when they started Stranger Things. "When you’re younger, you tend to normalise weird situations around you,” says Matarazzo. “It’s not something you recognise as being peculiar until you’re a little older.” When not filming, Matarazzo attended a regular school, which kept his life grounded. “It made a difference later on, but really, I always felt the most normal when I was with these guys. Even though it is a very weird environment, it was normal to me. It was normal to us. I felt the most comfortable when I was with them.”
It must be bittersweet for them that Stranger Things is ending after consuming nearly half their lives. “Playing these characters has been amazing, and I think their storylines have come full circle, and it’s time for that to end, right?” says McLaughlin. “But growing up with these guys, and having the family that we’ve built, is something I won’t get again. I’m gonna miss that a lot.”
Wolfhard reflects, “So it feels weird to come up with surface answers, because the hard part, for me, is that it is a lot to process, and it is really emotional. There’s a lot of layers to it.”
On the last day of filming, everyone was present. “We can’t officially say what we shot, but yeah, we were all together on the last day.” This was not typical, as actors often finish at different times. Matarazzo emphasizes the importance of being there for each other: “There were people who had wrapped a few days or maybe even a week prior, who decided to stay and make sure that everybody was there for that last day. That was a very necessary experience. It’s been 10 years.”
The Duffer brothers had long envisioned the final scene. They dedicated weeks to crafting those last 30 minutes. “That’s where we started, because we knew that if we didn’t get those 30 minutes right, then it didn’t matter how much time and effort and quality was put into what preceded that. It wouldn’t matter,” says Matt. This was a first for them, and once satisfied with the ending, they built the rest of the season around it. “We were able to design it so that it would be building towards those last 30 minutes,” he explains.
Then, for a moment, he echoes the sentiments of millions of eagerly awaiting fans: “Hopefully, it works.”
Stranger Things 5 part one is released at 1am on 27 November, followed by three episodes on Boxing Day and the finale on New Year’s Day.
So, what do you think? Will the Duffer brothers deliver a satisfying finale? Do you agree with their approach to the ending? And what will you miss most about Stranger Things? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
