Being a part of the 10-year journey of the Duffer Brothers’ Netflix game-changer, stranger things, This is no small feat – something that is not lost on the cast, many of whom joined the series as children.
In a wide-ranging conversation with Variety, the group and creative minds behind stranger things Discusses the powerful emotional reactions he experienced in his final days working on the pop culture phenomenon. And though they weren’t able to discuss any major plot points, they did talk about what it was like making the final season. One thing each story had in common? There were a lot of tears.
Charlie Heaton, who plays Jonathan Byers, shared that Noah Schnapp, who plays Jonathan’s brother Will, broke a dam at the table read. “I was sitting across from Noah and Finn [Wolfhard, who plays Mike Wheeler]I assumed it might be emotional, But 20 minutes in – and we’re not even a third of the way into the script – Noah is bawling his eyes out in deep sobs, And then Finn was crying, It really freaked everyone out,
“It would be interesting if that were the case,” Wolfhard said. [footage] Come out sometime, because it would be too embarrassing. The whole thing is just about crying. I was like, ‘I’m not going to cry. I’m going to feel pretty normal, and it’s going to be great.’ And then halfway through, I started bawling my eyes out completely.
Despite participating over Zoom, villain Vecna also had tears in her eyes. Jamie Campbell Bower said, “Just because I’m watching these people go through this emotional experience and thinking about how helpful this show has been to people, I started crying.” “That’s all I could say to Matt and Ross [Duffer] Was, ‘Thank you. Thank you for making this such a big part of so many people’s lives.”
The River of Tears continued during the actual shooting of the final season. Matt Duffer said, “We were really able to structure it in such a way that every actor’s last day was their last scene,” which gave the farewell even more significance.
“It really adds to the emotion of that moment and that day,” shared Natalia Dyer, who plays Nancy, the powerful journalist and Mike’s older sister. “It almost felt a little macho and indulgent—but in the best way possible.”
Schnapp recalled what it was like to be there for her on-screen mother, played by Winona Ryder, on her last day of filming. “I was holding her, just crying. I didn’t want to say goodbye. I didn’t expect it to weigh so heavily on me. I realized after that how important that relationship was to me. She was really a second mother to me growing up, and not having this show to keep us together was really hard.”
Eleven, played by Millie Bobby Brown, couldn’t even keep it together herself. “I screamed more than I thought I would,” he said. “While I was personally and professionally at the point where the show was over, I realized in that moment that the ending was so real and I probably wasn’t emotionally prepared.”
With Caleb McLaughlin and Gaten Matarazzo-Wolfhard and Schnapp, stranger things‘ Original D&D The kiddos—even the kids—took it pretty hard.
McLaughlin shared, “I knew I was going to cry because I kept asking everyone last week, ‘Are you going to cry tomorrow? I want to know if you’re going to cry! Because I’m not crying.’ I was probably the first one to cry and I never stopped crying.”
Wolfhard described his reaction at the end: “I remember looking at everyone and saying, ‘Let’s not go out. Let’s stay with each other as long as possible in this moment before we go out.’ Because then it becomes everyone’s business. It’s not just our thing anymore. It’s not just us.”
Schnapp continued to reflect, “We were just sitting there, clinging to each other, hugging and crying for 10 minutes of silence – all these people were waiting for us outside. I’ve never experienced anything like that.”
Matarazzo continued, “Certainly on my part, on a day like that, as much as there were tears, it really felt like a big party to celebrate the entire accomplishment of this show. And to be able to be there from the beginning to the end is a really cool perspective that I only share with a few members of the cast. They gave us a family on that show.”
stranger things Returns to Netflix on November 26th.
Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.