The Duffer Brothers Reveal STRANGER THINGS Cast Got “Too Emotional” Filming the Finale: “You’re Not Supposed to Be Upset!”
The emotional weight of wrapping up Stranger Things ended up hitting both the cast and creators harder than expected.
As the beloved Netflix series approaches its epic conclusion with Season 5, Matt and Ross Duffer revealed that filming the last few episodes was so intense, they actually had to remind the actors not to get too emotional while shooting the final scenes, at least not yet.
“It was hard to even get through take after take,” Ross Duffer told Variety, recalling how difficult it was to shoot scenes that should have been lighter.
“You're just going, ‘They're feeling every moment of this.’ Occasionally, they were actually too emotional in moments when it was a little too early in the scene. We're like, ‘You're not supposed to be upset!’”
The fifth and final season of Stranger Things promises to deliver a heavy dose of heartache and high-stakes action as Eleven, Will, and the gang face off against Vecna for one last showdown. But behind the camera, emotions were already spilling over long before the final episode wrapped.
Maya Hawke, who plays Robin Buckley, reflected on how much the experience changed her as a performer. “I think it changed me as an actor forever,” she said.
“I am a different actor today, and I think a better actor, because of that opportunity to do a scene that was on such a high-stakes emotional day of my life that was also a high stakes emotional scene. It was just this extraordinary gift. But I did spend 12 hours in a rolling cycle of weeping.”
Joe Keery, who plays fan favorite Steve Harrington, shared a similar sentiment about the long, emotional shoot.
“Everybody was feeling the fatigue of shooting for a year,” he said. “Everyone was looking forward to being done, but then once you get to the finish line, you look back and think, ‘Oh, man, can I just have one more?’”
Matt Duffer admitted that saying goodbye after spending a decade on the series was harder than expected. “I'm never going to spend 10 years on something again, I don't think, where you become this much of a family with the people who are working on it,” he said.
“It was really hard. Each day was saying goodbye. Each of those actors only had to say goodbye once. Ross and I had to do it four different times. Every time I'm like, 'I'm not going to break!' And I broke every time.”
According to the official synopsis for Stranger Things 5, “Scarred by the opening of the Rifts, our heroes are united by a single goal: find and kill Vecna. But he has vanished – his whereabouts and plans unknown. As the anniversary of Will's disappearance approaches, so does a heavy, familiar dread.
“The final battle is looming – and with it, a darkness more powerful and more deadly than anything they've faced before. To end this nightmare, they'll need everyone – the full party – standing together, one last time.”
Volume 1 of Stranger Things 5 premieres November 26, followed by Volume 2 on December 25, and the final Volume 3 on December 31. Get ready, because it sounds like this farewell to Hawkins is going to be as emotional for fans as it was for the cast and crew who brought it to life.