Netflix’s phenomenon Stranger Things is coming to an end. Season 5 promises to be an epic conclusion to the town of Hawkins and the characters we’ve grown up with and loved. With Hawkins under military lockdown, the kids and adults band together to kill Vecna once and for all. But with his deadly scheme of kidnapping Hawkin’s children and whereabouts unknown, it’s going to take a lot to finish him. Check out our interview with the cast of Stranger Things Season 5.
The Duffer Brothers (Matt and Ross Duffer) pitched Netflix their idea for Stranger Things back in July 2016, little did they know that it’d become a global sensation. The series tugged on the heartstrings of nostalgia for fans of 1980’s sci-fi films and featured a great story and cast of characters. They were also able to discover Millie Bobby Brown, Finn Wolfhard, Caleb McLaughin, Joe Keery, and Natalia Dyer who were cast in their teens to twenties. After creating Netflix’s most popular original show, Stranger Thing Season 5 will wrap up a decade long adventure. We also got to chat with the Duffer’s about bringing it all together for one last ride.
In an exclusive conversation with Lifestyle Asia, the cast and creators of Stranger Things share their struggles, emotions, and surprises for the last season of the Emmy winning series. This interview features Finn Wolfhard (Mike Wheeler), Caleb McLaughin (Lucas Sinclair), Natalia Dyer (Nancy Wheeler), Charlie Heaton (Jonathan Byers), Joe Keery (Steve Harrington), Maya Hawke (Robin Buckley), and showrunners Matt and Ross Duffer.
Interview: The cast of Stranger Things Season 5 on the end of a 10-year adventure
You all have literally grown up while filming Stranger Things, how did it feel filming Season 5 knowing the series was going to end?
Charlie: It was extremely emotional. It was a journey that started in our 20s and continued for 10 years of our lives. In that process I changed, I grew, and I learned a lot. Being on this journey with my friends has also been incredible and I’ve never experienced anything like it.
Natalia: Everybody feels like they grew up with the show and the characters. It’s a very unique experience and I wouldn’t trade it for anything.
After filming all five seasons of Stranger Things, do you have a story of your favourite moment on set?
Finn: It’s funny because we shot the show for so long, it’s kinda like asking “Whats a favourite moment from your life?” If were to go back in time, there would be so many moments everyday on set. Caleb said this a few days ago and it’s not really a funny story, just crazy and very surreal. It’s when we got to visit the White House and meet president Barrack Obama, that was crazy. I mean we knew the show was big, but that was when it we realised it was on a different level. But yeah, like being able to travel together, it all blends in and I’ll only be able to tell stories once it’s over in retrospect. Now though we’re still sort of telling the end of this story together.
As an actor, is there any scene from the series where you felt most proud of your performance as Lucas?
Caleb: I think I’m just proud of the whole thing. As an artist you want to give yourself 100 percent and I feel that I’ve given my whole self to the work as Lucas. I’ve tried to give every scene like my most energy. I don’t want to point something out because a scene may stick out to somebody else, but I believe each scene builds from the last and I approach every scene that way. So everything together creates that moment. For you to understand a moment, this scene had to live as well. So I’m proud of the whole thing as I had great people to look up to and admire. Sometimes I’ll read scenes with Finn and I’m like, “No, no you did that!” and he’ll give me a note or praised what I did the last time. So I couldn’t have done it on my own.
Finn: And we can’t exchange notes in any other show either. If we’d did that we’d be killed. (Caleb laughs) But because Caleb and I know each other for so long, we’re able to give honest feedback between takes to one another.
Without giving too much away, what was the hardest scene to film this coming season?
Caleb: The duality of emotion and action. For me, fighting Jason in Season 4 and dealing with the emotions of Max at the same time was draining. Season 5 is my first time doing stunts at this level and it’s exhausting.
Finn: Yeah, you gotta prepare for the physical parts. We rewatched older episodes to give back into the world of Hawkins and also hung out with each other outside set to keep the spirit of the show alive. I knew it would be a year shoot and so I exercised for the first six months of filming and I knew there would be a bigger action sequence at night that I would be a part of. So I prepared my stamina for a lot of long nights. After the action scenes were filmed I immediately stopped working out, which is probably not a good idea.
Maya: I have to do a long monologue in the opening of the first episode that pays tribute to Robin Williams in Good Morning Vietnam. I had to make that monologue sound like a real radio show. That was such a challenge for me to say so much but not be annoying or boring.
Charlie: You basically set up the whole thing and what happened to Hawkins after Season 4 and it didn’t feel that way at all.
Joe: Probably trying to fit in my jeans again.
Natalia: There are a lot of physically demanding scenes in the show that left all of us sore.
Charlie: It’s a beast y’know. You’re filming 14 to 16 hour days, it’s relentless, it’s physical, your up at 5AM and you must look awake. It’s a marathon that we all went on together and it’s amazing that it all worked out.
Stranger Things Season 5 showrunners The Duffer Brothers on the final battle for Hawkins
When shooting the last season of Stranger Things, was there a scene that you always dreamed of filming?
Matt: The coolest thing about Stranger Things is that we’ve been able to scratch our itch making it. We wanted a Jurassic Park sequence and we had that in the mall sequence in Season 3. We also always wanted to do a Nightmare on Elm Street movie and we did that with Vecna in Season 4. A lot of the things we dreamed of as filmmakers we have been able to do because of the massive Stranger Things sandbox.
Ross: Well, we have a pretty big battle sequence. Like a war scene and we’ve never done anything like that before. It definitely was not an easy thing to do but that was a big box we wanted to check.
Matt: It’s out of our system now.
Linda Hamilton is an 80’s icon and the latest addition to the show. How did you get her involved and what was a highlight working with her?
Ross: Incredible. We grew up as fans of Linda and when you meet someone as iconic as her you’re nervous thinking if they aren’t the nicest person and difficult, but Linda was anything but. She was kind and enthusiastic and willing to do anything and she was just so excited to be part of the show. That was the most surreal thing for us, when we met her she was such a fan of the series to the point where – she doesn’t watch anything she’s in – she said we ruined the final season for me because I can’t watch it. I mean, maybe she fast forward her bits.
Matt: That’s what I told Linda! Just speed past your scenes and if you don’t like it let your children watch it. She’s fine. She’s gonna watch the show. We’re gonna make her watch it.
Why did you feel that Season 5 was the right time to end the series?
Matt: It’s something we realised after Season 1. After writing Season 2 we all thought we’d would end at Season 4, but after writing Seasons 3 and 4 it became very clear that we had way too much story to do four seasons. I mean, Seasons 4 and 5 are massive, they would probably add up to three seasons worth of material. It was dictated by the story but we also knew we wouldn’t be able to keep the series going for 10 seasons because it’s a coming-of-age story ultimately. So once the kids transitioned from childhood to young adulthood and from young adulthood to adulthood, that’s the end of the show. At that point there isn’t anymore show and we’ve said what we needed to say. So that’s it, this is the culmination of, hopefully, an epic and emotional coming of age journey.
Stranger Things Season 5: Volume 1 will premiere on 26 November with Volume 2 releasing on 25 December and the finale on 31 December. Watch past seasons here.
All images by Netflix Malaysia
Note : The information in this article is accurate as of the date of publication.
