The boys’ parents were all on set, crowded around the monitors as they shot their final scenes. “It was misty-eyed for sure,” Matarazzo says.
Wolfhard compares it to the ending of a big sports movie. “You know, when the whole team wins the championship? That’s how it felt. It was really sad, but also like… It was the last game –”
Matarazzo chimes in: “Game seven, baby.”
“– and all of us were retiring. That’s how it felt, honestly,” Wolfhard continues.
When they wrapped on the last shot of the finale, confetti was shot across the soundstage, and the actors and crew broke down in tears. The boys laugh as they remember the moment – mostly because, in their words, it was so embarrassing. They promise that there’ll eventually be footage out there, much to their chagrin. “Literally, like, all of us can’t even talk, because we’re crying so hard,” Wolfhard says. “But it was really special. We bonded extra hard that day. I’m just excited to see [the finale], honestly. The first time I’m gonna see it is gonna be in theatres.”
The week before we spoke, a quote did the rounds from an interview in which Wolfhard suggested that before the cast read the scripts for season five, they were concerned that it could falter in a similar fashion to the final season of Game of Thrones. Cue the headlines: “Finn Wolfhard Worried About Stranger Things 5 Because Game of Thrones Was Torn to Shreds”, etc.
His co-stars scoff that the quote was taken out of context. Wolfhard himself is convinced that they’ve created something special. “It felt really good to shoot, and that’s such a rare thing,” he says. “It is true, though. People are always hyper-critical of [finales]. And I feel like, after seeing so many finales, I just do feel like we did a great job.”
“I also know there is a stereotype, but there are plenty of shows that do it really well,” Matarazzo adds. “Breaking Bad has a great fuckin’ ending.”
People hated The Sopranos’ finale when it came out, Wolfhard adds. “And it’s literally the best ending.” He wants to be clear, though: he doesn’t think their finale is going to be controversial. And definitely not Game of Thrones–grade controversial. Nor does he think that it will take people time to get what they were trying to do, à la The Sopranos. “I don’t think it’ll be like that at all,” he says.
