Stranger Things Star Teases a Finale That Sticks the Landing—No Game of Thrones-Style Letdown
Worth the wait: the long-anticipated debut matched the dream, electrified the crowd, and set a new standard from day one.
Stranger Things is finally winding up for its big goodbye, and yeah, the expectations are sky-high. Think Lost- or Game of Thrones-level pressure. The cast and the Duffer brothers seem very aware of that, and they are already trying to calm nerves about how this last stretch lands.
The vibe from the cast: more than just tears
Maya Hawke, who plays Robin Buckley, told Collider she walked away from the ending genuinely happy. Not in a spoiler-y way, but in a hey-I-feel-good-about-where-this-goes way. She said she was surprised by how joyful some of the final scenes felt, and that the characters end up in a place that matched what she had been hoping for. It lines up with the optimistic noise we have been hearing from her co-stars and the creators.
The creators know the finale minefield they are walking into
Matt and Ross Duffer have been unusually frank about studying what worked (and what didn’t) in other famous TV endings. Matt told GamesRadar+ they’ve been combing through past seasons and other shows’ finales, figuring out what to keep and what to avoid, and trying to apply those lessons to season 5. He also isn’t pretending they can please literally everyone, which, honestly, is refreshing.
'I think that the chances of that are 0.5%.'
That’s Matt’s way of saying: they’re aiming high, but they’re realistic. At least they’re going into this with eyes open.
Release plan: Netflix is turning this into a holiday event
Netflix is rolling out the final season in three chunks, which is a little unusual and very 'see you again in two weeks' of them:
- Volume 1: November 26
- Volume 2: December 25
- Volume 3: December 31
So if you wanted to spend the holidays in Hawkins, congrats, that’s the plan. Between Hawke’s confidence in the character endings and the Duffers openly course-correcting based on other finales, they’re clearly trying to stick this landing. Whether it’s perfect is up for debate in, oh, about five weeks.