Stranger Things’ Brett Gelman Details “Conflicting Emotions” About Season 5 Final Episodes
No one had a better track record of being right-ish than Murray Bauman.
After joining Stranger Things in season two, Brett Gelman’s paranoid—but not too paranoid, he ultimately proved—conspiracy theorist became a much-needed dose of comic relief between Starcourt mall showdowns and narrow prison escapes in Russian snow tundras.
As creators Matt Duffer and Ross Duffer gave the cast their scripts for the TV phenomenon’s one last adventure—Volume. 1’s three episodes premiere Nov. 26 on Netflix—Gelman admitted to enduring some “very conflicted emotions.”
His initial response to pouring over Murray’s final scenes?
“The gratitude I normally feel—which is even up, because the seasons get better and better,” Gelman exclusively told SYFY Wire at Stranger Things’ red carpet premiere Nov. 6 in Los Angeles. “Excitement to play him again. And very sad that I’m not going to get a chance to do it past this season and work with these amazing people.”
Similar to Murray—a journalist-turned-private-investigator, turned fighter-against-Vecna’s-warpath, turned reluctant-matchmaker-for-Jonathan-and-Nancy (to name a few)—Gelman, too, has worn many hats while building what most actors would consider an ideal resumé. Between stage performances and scene-stealing moments in everything from Fleabag to Twin Peaks, a stopover in Hawkins fit neatly into his consistently eclectic career timeline.
And come the final episode—which reportedly has a two-hour runtime—he’ll be sitting side-by-side with fans in the theater.
“I’d love to see the whole thing in the theater,” said Gelman. “I think it’s a cinematic experience.”
As for how to pregame in the meantime, Gelman suggested a watchlist packed with the Duffer brothers’ signature influences.
“Watch Spielberg [movies] from the ’80s,” he recommended. “Watch John Carpenter films. Watch Jim Cameron films from the ’80s. Robert Zemeckis films from the ’80s. All of those.”
The highly anticipated fifth and final season will release on Netflix across three premiere dates, with Vol. 1 on Nov. 26, Vol. 2 on Dec. 25 and the series finale on New Year’s Eve.
