Stranger Things Season 5 Cast Reflects On Challenging & Rewarding Scenes

Stranger Things Stars Reflect On Most "Taxing" & "Rewarding" Scenes As Final Season Begins Charlie Heaton's Jonathon and Natalia Dyer's Nancy looking worried at something while in the Upside Down in Stranger Things season 5 By  Ash Crossan  &  Grant Hermanns Published 2 minutes ago Sign in to your ScreenRant account Summary Generate a summary of this story follow Follow followed Followed Like Like Thread Log in Here is a fact-based summary of the story contents: Try something different: Show me the facts Explain it like I’m 5 Give me a lighthearted recap

With the show having launched many of their careers, the Stranger Things cast are looking back on some of their favorite scenes from the hit Netflix series. Since its premiere in 2016, the sci-fi horror series has been one of the biggest of millenniums, becoming Netflix's most-talked about show of all time and standing alongside such other giants as HBO's Game of Thrones and AMC's Breaking Bad of consistent popularity and streaming success.

Across its five seasons, Stranger Things has seen a number of stars come and go, but the majority of its teenage and young adult cast go on to other major things in the wake of its success. Whether it's Finn Wolfhard starring in both the latest IT and Ghostbusters movies, Millie Bobby Brown leading everything from Netflix's Enola Holmes movies to the Monsterverse, or even David Harbour being propelled to leading man status in lieu of the supporting roles he had been known for, the show's popularity has only been the start for many.

As many of their careers continue to grow, Stranger Things season 5's story is bringing everyone back for one final story. Set a little over a year after the season 4 finale, the series sees Hawkins still recovering from the devastating Rifts opened by Vecna, spreading the influence of the Upside Down across the town. With the anniversary of Will's disappearance in season 1 on the horizon, and the government hunting for Eleven again, she and her friends come together for one final hunt to kill Vecna for good.

Ahead of the season's premiere, ScreenRant's Ash Crossan interviewed Millie Bobby Brown, Noah Schnapp, Charlie Heaton, Maya Hawke, Natalia Dyer and Joe Keery to discuss Stranger Things season 5. The group reflected on their various experiences with the Netflix series, particularly the show's taxing overnight shoots and the rewarding character growth they all explored across the show's five seasons.

Stranger Things Season 5 Came With Some Of The Show's More Taxing Scenes For Brown & Schnapp

With the show's debut season having been filmed in 2015 before arriving in 2016, Schnapp and Brown have been on a literal 10-year journey with Stranger Things, beginning at the age of 11 and continuing through 21. As the show presented them with a variety of intense set pieces to film, Schnapp admitted that "all the night shoots" proved some of the most taxing to produce, recalling feeling "I'm so tired" and that "I want to go home" during those days, but looking back and finding "they were so fun".

Brown concurred that there wasn't much of her time on the series in which she looks back as it being so intense to the point of physical exhaustion. The two-time Emmy nominee did, however, tease that "there was one day" in Stranger Things season 5 that proved extra demanding to film, while also recalling a few of the days in the New Mexico desert in season 4 as being a challenge.

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Reflecting on filming the final day of season 5, in particular, Schnapp called it a "very bittersweet" experience for him. Brown, meanwhile, found herself flashing back to the day she was cast in the series, in which the Duffer brothers asked her on a phone call, "Can you be our Eleven?", calling it "one of the best days of my life." She subsequently found her final day of filming being "the craziest feeling ever" and lamented the feeling of "a piece of me being left behind."

"Obviously, it hit all of us on the last day," Schnapp expressed. "But even before then, I was writing notes for everyone to say goodbye, thank you letters, just writing through all the memories that I've had with everyone. It really helped me understand how impactful all these people have been on my own personal journey of growing, and saying goodbye to that and leaving it behind was definitely hard."

Keery, Heaton, Hawke & Dyer Underwent Some "Really Important" Growth With Their Characters

Much like their younger co-stars, Stranger Things was only the beginning of the road for Keery, Heaton, Hawke and Dyer, with the group all going on to star in everything from the Ryan Reynolds-led Free Guy to the upcoming Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping adaptation.

Even still, the show gave them a real range of character arcs, with Keery's Steve Harrington going from a stereotypical jock character who was nearly killed off early in the show's run to being one of the younger characters' key supporters, and Heaton's Jonathan Byers going from pent-up loner to free-minded protagonist.

In reflecting on their favorite bits of character growth across Stranger Things' five seasons, Keery began by pointing to Steve and Dustin's "colliding" in season 2, describing it as a "really fun change of pace" for his character that ultimately led to the "whole different doorway" that he'd best be known for.

As for Hawke, on the other hand, she celebrated Robin Buckley going from "someone who really needs a lot of help" to someone who has "the capacity to be helpful," finding it to be a "really special piece of development for Robin." Dyer similarly loved getting to flip the script for Nancy from her more straight-laced personality in season 1 to someone with more agency:

Natalia Dyer: Yeah, I think going from someone who's a bit of a rule follower or a little more cautious about things really coming into herself and her strength, listening to her gut and her instincts. I think that's really important.

Looking back at some of their moments to get to film, Keery and Dyer recalled a late-night shoot with the two of them and Hawke, Finn Wolfhard and Gaten Matarazzo, in which they were so tired they "were burnt out and delirious" while filming.

"It was kind of funny," Keery shared. "You've got shields, and it's heavy, and it's dirty. Sometimes it just dawns on you, like, 'Wow, this is a pretty crazy situation.' For whatever reason, I just remember Maya and Natalia in their full gear, [posing]."

This also led Hawke to recall filming the final Upside Down sequences in Stranger Things season 4's ending, some of which she initially found to be "the most miserable" to shoot at the time, but now remembers "most fondly." Between the "night shoots and second unit shoots" requiring her and her costars to do everything from "climbing over the vines" to "getting strapped up to the walls", Hawke found herself relishing, in particular, the final day of shooting season 4, even as Heaton and the group humorously recall they were "moments you weren't in":

Maya Hawke: And then, our very last day on season 4, where we were all gacked up in the thing when we were walking out of the Creel house. I really loved that.

Natalia Dyer: Yeah. I'm just thinking of that one day in season 4, when we were looking at the ceiling all day. I think someone was on a wire. It's those little moments.

Despite some of their prior fun experiences, Dyer teased that "some of my favorite moments are from this season," none of which she can actually talk about just yet, to which Heaton and Hawke agreed. The latter expressed being "the happiest this season by a long shot," while the former still called season 4 "really fun" being out in the New Mexico desert with the younger cast and it being "hard to pick" his favorite.

Be sure to dive into some of our other Stranger Things season 5 coverage with:

• Shawn Levy explaining why Stranger Things season 5 is the end for the series
• Millie Bobby Brown assuring Stranger Things season 5's ending will avoid other finale complaints
• Noah Schnapp confirming that Will Byers gets a definitive ending in the final season
• Charlie Heaton explaining how Jonathan Byers' story is different from prior seasons
• Shawn Levy addressing the ambiguous fate of the Byers family's dog nine years after season 1
• Shawn Levy naming his favorite Stranger Things scenes

Stranger Things season 5 volume 1 premieres on November 26 at 8 p.m. EST on Netflix, followed by volume 2 on December 25, and the finale event on December 31.

516 9.2/10 8/10

Stranger Things

10 stars 9 stars 8 stars 7 stars 6 stars 5 stars 4 stars 3 stars 2 stars 1 star Like Follow Followed TV-14 Drama Mystery Horror Science Fiction Release Date 2016 - 2025-00-00 Network Netflix Showrunner Matt Duffer, Ross Duffer Directors Matt Duffer, Ross Duffer, Andrew Stanton, Frank Darabont, Nimród Antal, Uta Briesewitz Writers Kate Trefry, Jessie Nickson-Lopez, Jessica Mecklenburg, Alison Tatlock 7 Images Eleven looking into an opening of the Upside Down with pink light in Stranger Things season 1Jim Hopper (David Harbour) grabbing Jonathan's (Charlie Heaton) shoulders in Stranger Things season 1©Netflix/Courtesy Everett CollectionEleven with cables all over her head in Stranger Things season 4Vecna looking towards Will in the trailer for Stranger Things season 5 (2025)Max and Eleven in Stranger ThingsNetflixStranger Things season 2, episode 2 "Trick or Treat, Freak".MovieStillsDBThe Upside Down in Stranger Things season 5Courtesy of Netflix Close

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• Millie Bobby Brown Jane 'Eleven' Hopper
• Finn Wolfhard Mike Wheeler

Main Genre Drama Genres Drama, Mystery, Horror, Science Fiction Creator(s) Matt Duffer, Ross Duffer Executive Producer(s) Shawn Levy, Dan Cohen, Curtis Gwinn, Cindy Holland, Karl Gajdusek, Iain Paterson, Matt Duffer, Ross Duffer Producers Rand Geiger, Justin Doble, Lampton Enochs Seasons 5 Streaming Service(s) Netflix Franchise Stranger Things Powered by Expand Collapse

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