Finn Wolfhard Admits Stranger Things Cast Feared a Game of Thrones-Style Finale Backlash
Mark your calendars: Season 5 hits Netflix next month—your next binge is almost here.
Stranger Things is finally heading for the exit, and the cast knows how high the bar is. Finn Wolfhard says everyone is feeling the heat to stick the landing and avoid the kind of finale backlash that swallowed other mega-shows. The upside: after reading the scripts, he sounds relieved.
The finale tightrope
Talking to Time, Wolfhard said the team is very aware of how Game of Thrones and Lost took it on the chin for their endings and does not want a repeat. The Duffers have apparently done their homework, studying all-timer finales like Six Feet Under and The Sopranos. Good role models if you are trying to end a phenomenon without a riot.
"The way that Game of Thrones got torn to shreds in that final season, we are all walking into this going, We hope to not have that kind of thing happen. But then we read the scripts. We knew that it was something special."
That Thrones blowback in 2019 still hangs over TV finales in general. It did real damage to how some people remember the show, and Stranger Things clearly does not want that shadow on its way out.
The pressure was already there
Wolfhard also opened up about how intense it got during season 4. Between sky-high expectations and strict COVID protocols, he says he started hyperventilating on set and it built into a full-on panic attack. Part of the weirdness, he explained, was that plenty of the background performers were also fans, which made the set feel like a fishbowl. Not exactly a calming environment.
He describes filmmaking as inherently chaotic, which is even tougher when you are a kid trying to be easy to work with. Back then he did not really know how to speak up or ask for a break. Being 13 and suddenly recognizable everywhere was both incredible and, as he put it, subconsciously terrifying.
When it drops
- Season 5, Volume 1: November 26
- Season 5, Volume 2: December 25
- Season 5, Volume 3: December 31
No pressure, right? But if Wolfhard is this confident in the scripts, that is a promising sign.