“Stranger Things” creators Matt and Ross Duffer and cast members Gaten Matarazzo, Noah Schnapp, Caleb McLaughlin and Finn Wolfhard are spending Halloween with fans at Italy’s Lucca Comics and Games Festival, where they reminisced about their long journey to Season 5 and played up its grand finale.
“Obviously, it’s stressful trying to figure out how you want to end the show,” Ross Duffer told the panel’s packed crowd. “Luckily, it was about six or seven years ago that we knew at least what the final scene is. We always knew what the last 40 minutes were going to be.”
“You are having to let go in a way and say goodbye,” added Matt. “So we weren’t thinking about that too much when we were writing that final episode. But once we read it through with [the actors], we realized how much it reflected our own experience. And hopefully that emotion that we felt writing it — and our actors felt performing it — is going to come through to the audience.”
Asked about how their characters evolved over time and more specifically in the final season, Wolfhard — who plays Mike Wheeler and was just 13 years old when “Stranger Things” catapulted him to international fame — said his character “evolved in a lot of ways that kids and people generally evolve and grow up, but under incredibly weird and sort of disturbing circumstances.” Wolfhard added that the show “does sort of mirror our own lives … obviously, for us, we weren’t like fighting inter-dimensional monsters or anything. But we did have an unorthodox sort of childhood that we went through being with each other.”
As for Mike’s role in the upcoming season, Wolfhard teased: “I think he’s specifically more into sort of keeping the group together, and a bit more active in his leadership role of the group.”
“I was super stoked about jumping into this [season],” said Matarazzo, who plays Dustin Henderson. “I like the fact that Matt and Ross were kind enough to write in some new challenges for me as an actor, which I think have been really fun to tackle.” He added that it was also “a little nerve wracking. But I always think that I do my best work when I’m under pressure and when I’m a little bit anxious.”
McLaughlin noted that Lucas Sinclair has become “a very complex character over the years,” adding: “Starting from Season 1, we do kind of see him being this defensive, skeptical character and we try to understand where that comes from. But then, in Season 5, I feel like I’ve kind of come to a full circle of who that guy is. He’s very caring, very sensitive, and I feel that Max [Mayfield, played by Sadie Stone] has brought that out in him.”
Noah Schnapp, who plays Will Byers, called his evolution “specifically a great one.”
“I mean, all the characters are amazing, but I really do resonate with Will. I think what’s beautiful about his story is that he doesn’t struggle with one single insecurity or worry. He’s always going through different things,” he said. “And I think that’s what makes him so real is that people aren’t defined by one struggle, but they are always juggling multiple different things.”
Schnapp added: “I think what the Duffers did so beautifully is that in each season they explore his personal struggles and his trauma with being taken to the Upside Down, and then his abusive father, and his identity with himself and his self-exclusion from his friends. And so many different things that he’s he’s juggling. This makes him such a real person. I think you could never do that realistically and authentically in one season.
“What our show embraces so well is that it’s told over such a long period of time. So that slow burn and slow understanding of who you are is is just what makes it so real,” he continued. “I appreciate that the Duffers did take their time with it, and when we get to the final season, I feel particularly satisfied with how you know it all closes up. Will learns to finally find his voice, and learns that it’s OK to be just who you are, and that’s kind of one of the core themes of our show.”
Netflix‘s fandom event at Lucca, which is Europe’s biggest comic convention, is part of the hit show’s global goodbye tour across 25 cities and six continents comprising immersive events, screenings and experiences inspired by Hawkins, the Upside Down and every era of the series.
The Lucca stop included a trailer reveal — that was not open to the press — a fan Q&A and an immersive “Stranger Things” pavilion set up by Netflix in the medieval town’s Piazza San Michele square. It will be followed by an exclusive fan screening of Episode 1 of “Stranger Things” Season 5 on Nov. 13 at the Odeon Luxe theatre in London’s Leicester Square.
The presence of “Stranger Things” at Lucca marks a high spot for the event. “Netflix is creating a major narrative around Lucca. Getting [to launch] their top content, places us on a par with the world’s major capitals that we certainly can’t compete with in terms of number of inhabitants,” Lucca Comics director Emanuele Vietina told Variety. Milan-based entertainment marketing company QMI-Cova leads programming of Lucca’s film and TV strand. The festival runs Oct. 29-Nov. 2.
The final “Stranger Things” season will have eight episodes, with Netflix releasing the first four (Volume 1) on Nov. 26, the next three (Volume 2) on Dec. 25 and the two-hour finale on New Year’s Eve. In an unprecedented move, the streamer is also releasing the finale in more than 350 movie theaters on the same night, playing through Jan. 1, 2026.
