STRANGER THINGS Star Gaten Matarazzo Talks About the Evolution of His Character and the Fifth and Final Season

The Duffer Brothers were careful to write a story in Stranger Things that was engaging and original, making not only a series, but a phenomenon that took the world by storm.

They hired a young cast that we have been able to watch grow up in front of us, with the show giving each and every one of them the opportunity to tell their own story as well as be part of the larger one on screen, and each of them have been given a spotlight to show off their badass skills.

Gaten Matarazzo is among that young cast, and he has brought the multifaceted character Dustin Henderson to life.

What started out as a role some could have written off as comedic relief, Dustin turned out to be one of the smartest members of the group, who has gone on to have a relationship, save the world and his friends, and mourn the loss of someone he loved. The guy has range, and he opened up about playing Dustin in a new interview with ABC News.

In the discussion, Matarazzo talked about how co-creators Matt and Ross Duffer prepared their cast for the inevitable end of their Upside Down adventures, saying:

“We knew going in that we were approaching the end of it. We had been told pretty early on in the process. I mean, from the first season, it wasn’t clear whether we’d have a second [season] at all and then once it gained some success, which we were very grateful for, then I think Matt and Ross, our creators, knew that they wanted to have an end in sight and understand when they were going to wrap it up.

“Because a lot of shows that are quite successful tend to bank off that success for a good long time—and then they get wrapped up in a situation that they don’t know how to end—I think they knew that they wanted to have somewhere to go. And so they kept that in mind and we knew it would probably be about four or five seasons.”

He went on to talk about Dustin’s evolution through the show’s run:

“I think [being comic relief] was always pretty much the intention with the character from the beginning, and I think the [bigger] challenge was kind of trying to bring a bit more nuance there and not just go with quippy one-liners, which I’m really grateful for.

“They wanted all their characters to feel really well thought out and we had the time to do that. We had the time; we had several seasons, a lot of time invested in these characters to bring a lot of depth over the course of these five seasons.

“So I think that, yeah, that depth comes along the way and it’s really fun to do and I always enjoyed it. It kind of brings a little bit less of that pressure on me, [and] I can have a little bit more fun.”

While Matarazzo is obviously unable to give much info on the upcoming fifth and final season, he did talk a bit about it’s scope, saying:

“It’s a lot of fun. It was a lot of fun to make and [the Duffer brothers] knew going in that it was going to be huge and there was an expectation set to make sure that it kind of lived up to what [season] four brought in.

“Four was huge, bigger than I think we initially thought it was going to be so [season five], it’s large and it’s long, which I’m excited about. And since it took so long to make, I think it’s refreshing to a lot of people that there’s a lot of show there.”

Stranger Things season five, episodes 1-4 will be released on Thanksgiving, November 26; episodes 5-7 will be released on Christmas, December 25; and the series finale will drop on New Year’s Eve, December 31st.