‘Stranger Things’ Sadie Sink Says This Surprising Series Finale Moment Snuck Up on Her: “I Wasn’t Expecting to Get That Worked Up”

Summary

• Collider’s Steve Weintraub talks with the cast of Stranger Things ahead of Season 5, Volume 1.
• Finn Wolfhard, Sadie Sink, Gaten Matarazzo, and Caleb McLaughlin look back on their first read of the season finale and what it was like to film.
• The cast also share unforgettable fan interactions and their favorite movies from Steven Spielberg and Christopher Nolan.

It’s been a long and dangerous journey for the kids of Hawkins, Indiana. When Netflix’s Stranger Things first introduced us to our party, they were just kids playing D&D in a basement. Now, as Vecna’s (Jamie Campbell Bower) legion escapes the Upside Down, they’ll have to join forces with the friends they’ve made along the way to fight for everything and everyone they’ve ever known.

With the Season 5, Volume 1 series premiere on the horizon, Collider’s Steve Weintraub had the opportunity to sit down with the cast. In this interview, Finn Wolfhard, Sadie Sink, Gaten Matarazzo, and Caleb McLaughlin try to explain the emotional weight of reading and filming the conclusion to a decade-long chapter of their lives. Given what we’ve seen in previous seasons, and what the Duffer Brothers have put the cast and fans through emotionally, tensions are high in the lead-up to the two-volume final season as we wait to learn who will be left standing when the dust clears.

Check out the full conversation in the video above or the transcript below, where the cast also share unusual fan encounters and debate the ultimate Steven Spielberg and Christopher Nolan movies.

‘Stranger Things’ Stars Weren’t Prepared for That Finale

“It snuck up on us.”

COLLIDER: What was it like reading the series finale script for all four of you? I heard it was all in a group, but what was that experience actually like? Because it’s really like the closing of a huge chapter of your life.

SADIE SINK: Emotional. I wasn’t expecting to get that worked up. It snuck up on us, I think.

FINN WOLFHARD: I was pretty convinced that I wasn’t going to get emotional, and then there was one line. I don’t remember, even, what it was. I started saying my line, and I started kind of choking up a bit.

GATEN MATARAZZO: Then just wildfire, dude.

WOLFHARD: And Gaten was behind me…

MATARAZZO: How are you gonna do that to me?

WOLFHARD: And then he went like this, he, like, grabbed my shoulder, and then I saw him, and he was tearing up. Then I looked around the room, and it was like dominoes. Except Caleb was still trying to keep composed at that point. But then later, when we were actually shooting, I feel like emotions hit for everyone.

SINK: Oh, God. I remember that.

WOLFHARD: It was crazy.

CALEB MCLAUGHLIN: Yeah. It was.

MATARAZZO: [Laughs] What the fuck was that?

MCLAUGHLIN: No, no, because I want to explain it, but I can’t.

SINK: Yeah, it’s hard to talk about it.

WOLFHARD: It’s hard.

It’s this is a no-spoiler zone.

MCLAUGHLIN: Cool. Thank you for being honest.

Vecna touching a scared Will’s face in Stranger Things.Image via Netflix

I’m a really big fan. I don’t want to know. I want to watch it.

SINK: Good!

WOLFHARD: That’s how it should be. Why would you want to know?

MATARAZZO: I never understand that.

MCLAUGHLING: It honestly felt like an anime. Like one of those scenes, like those ballads, with the score in the background, and it’s slow and beautiful. I was looking at everyone’s face, and that’s how I felt, if anybody gets what I’m saying.

WOLFHARD: Yeah, no, I do. I totally do.

MCLAUGHLING: Like a flashback. It almost felt like a flashback.

WOLFHARD: But it was in person.

MCLAUGHLIN: You know what I mean?

WOLFHARD: Yes! Yes.

MCLAUGHLIN: Like it was slow and glowy.

MATARAZZO: What?! I wish I saw that.

WOLFHARD: Yeah. It felt like it was a flashback, but it was happening.

The Cast Share Bizarre Fan Interactions

“Your question is disturbing.”

Dustin Henderson, Mike Wheeler, Lucas Sinclair, and Will Byers putting their hands together in the trailer for Stranger Things Season 5.Image via Netflix

I want to ask a few other types of questions, just because you’ve been asked a lot about Stranger Things. For all four of you, what’s been the most unusual fan interaction you’ve had?

WOLFHARD: You know, I’ve had a fair bit.

MATARAZZO: Sure.

WOLFHARD: I feel like for me, one time I was at a signing, like, like signing autographs at a table, at a record store, and there was a girl that came up with her family. She had, like, seven of her family with her, and she came up, and the mom, it was almost like she was more into the prospect of me signing than the kid was. The kid, I was probably 15, she was probably 15, and she was looking at my water that was half drunk, and she was like, “Can I have the water?” And I went, “No. No, you can’t. No, you can’t have my water. I’m still drinking it.” And she was like, “Why not?” I was like, “Because. You know what? Nice to meet you,” or whatever. And then there was a whole scuffle where the family was saying that I was, like, a dick for not giving her the water. That was weird. That was a very weird interaction. I think about that all the time.

MATARAZZO: You’re still drinking it is the best excuse.

WOLFHARD: “I’m still drinking it.”

MATARAZZO: “I’m still loving this water.”

WOLFHARD: Not that it’s disturbing. “Your question is disturbing, but I’m actually still drinking it.”

That’s very weird.

MATARAZZO: But they’re pretty standard for the most part. It’s kind of once in a blue moon that it’s bizarre in the slightest.

WOLFHARD: Maybe it’s normal for us.

MATARAZZO: I had two kids knock on my door at home in my town in New Jersey.

SINK: Oh, I had that too.

MATARAZZO: Two guys knocked on the door, and I was like, “This is weird.” It was a weird time of day, too. It was, like, 9:30 in the morning. The fact that I was up was crazy. I peeked out and I saw that it was, like, two maybe eight-year-old girls, and I was like, “Cookies.”

WOLFHARD: You were excited.

SINK: Girl Scout cookies.

MATARAZZO: I thought it was Girl Scout cookies. Fully in jammies. I swing open that door, and they were nervous, and then I look out onto the cul-de-sac, and it was this guy in his car, and he just yells, “Can they get a picture with you?” Like, their dad, I think. I was like, “Eh, I’m a tad busy.” I felt bad because these kids don’t know that’s inappropriate. They’re eight years old. They’re like, “Whatever.”

What’s funny about this is it’s weird how people feel so entitled. It’s a weird thing.

The ‘Stranger Things’ Cast Agree on the Ultimate Steven Spielberg Movie

They also share their favorite Christopher Nolan movie.

Steven Spielberg dons a tux in a red carpet shotImage via Collin Xavier/Abaca Press/INSTARimages

Do you guys have a favorite Steven Spielberg movie?

MATARAZZO: That’s a really good question. Oh, man.

WOLFHARD: Jaws.

MATARAZZO: It’s Jaws.

SINK: It’d maybe have to be Jaws.

MATARAZZO: Jaws for me specifically, but also, I want to think of a more fun…

WOLFHARD: War Horse. [Laughs] Imagine.

I’ve asked a lot of different people, and it’s never been War Horse.

WOLFHARD: That’d be really awesome if it were.

MATARAZZO: They made a play out of War Horse, and all the horses were like exoskeleton puppet things that were crazy.

WOLFHARD: Then maybe that’s my favorite musical.

MATARAZZO: I don’t know if it’s a musical. I think it’s just a play.

WOLFHARD: I think Jaws is.

One person hasn’t answered.

WOLFHARD: I heard him say Jaws.

MCLAUGHLIN: Jaws, but I think he doesn’t think I… [Laughs] He looked at me really hard when I said it.

No, I didn’t hear you say Jaws. That’s why I was looking at you.

MCLAUGHLIN: I thought you were like, “You’re lying.”

WOLFHARD: Dude, that’s what I saw. I was like, “He thinks I’ve never seen a serious film before.”

MCLAUGHLIN: To clarify that I know what Jaws is, wasn’t it in, like, not Long Island or Staten Island or Montauk or something, but it’s in New York, though, right?

MATARAZZO: An adjacent.

WOLFHARD: It’s Massachusetts.

I think it was Cape Cod.

WOLFHARD: Yeah. Similar vibe.

MCLAUGHLIN: But yeah, because I think Stranger Things, they wanted it to be like the small town thing, right? So I’ve seen Jaws.

WOLFHARD: Originally, Stranger Things was written to be on a beach.

Image via Universal Pictures

My other filmmaker question is your favorite Chris Nolan movie?

MATARAZZO: Oh, wow.

SINK: Interstellar.

WOLFHARD: Yeah.

MCLAUGHLIN: Yeah.

MATARAZZO: It might be Dunkirk for me.

SINK: Oh, interesting.

WOLFHARD: Those are the Dark Knight movies.

SINK: Oh my God! Oh, it might have to be that…

MCLAUGHLIN: Oh, with Bane.

WOLFHARD: Yeah, with Bane. The Dark Knight Rises.

There’s no right answer. I’m just curious.

SINK: It might be Dark Knight Rises.

WOLFHARD: Honestly, for me… He also did The Prestige, which I’ve never seen, actually. I’ve never seen The Prestige. People love it.

the-prestige-christian-bale-social-featureImage via Buena Vista Pictures Distribution

Related

Why ‘The Prestige’ Is One of Christopher Nolan’s Best Films

Are you watching closely?

Oh my God, that’s a fantastic movie.

WOLFHARD: But what was the first thing that we said?

SINK: Interstellar.

WOLFHARD: Interstellar. That’s my favorite.

MCLAUGHLIN: I just saw that for the first time this year. It blew my mind. I’m like, “What did I miss out on?”

WOLFHARD: It’s amazing.

Stranger Things Season 5, Volume 1 premieres on Netflix on November 26.

Release Date

2016 – 2025-00-00

Network

Netflix

Directors

Matt Duffer, Ross Duffer, Andrew Stanton, Frank Darabont, Nimród Antal, Uta Briesewitz

Writers

Kate Trefry, Jessie Nickson-Lopez, Jessica Mecklenburg, Alison Tatlock