Winona Ryder Nailed Joyce’s Big Vecna Showdown in Just Two Takes for Stranger Things Season 5
After years of buildup, the climactic moment is here.
Joyce Byers finally finishing Vecna in the Stranger Things season 5 finale was brutal, cathartic, and absolutely not over-rehearsed. Winona Ryder wanted the moment to feel messy and human, so she basically showed up, did the deed, and got out.
Ryder kept Joyce's killing blow raw
Ryder told Netflix's Tudum she deliberately avoided rehearsing the beheading and aimed to capture it in as few takes as possible so the emotion would hit the way it should.
"I love Jamie [Campbell Bower] so much. I remember when he was in that position and we were talking about bands, and he is the most lovely person. I came in that day just for that. You can't rehearse a scene like that. You just have to sort of save it for the take. I think I only did it twice."
So yes, that final swing you saw? It was pretty much done live, with all the nerves and adrenaline intact.
What actually happens in that finale beat
If you lost track of the finale's geography, here is the quick, cleaned-up version of who did what and when in 'The Rightside Up'.
- After the Party and their pals take out the Abyss-dwelling Mind Flayer, the Hawkins crew literally gathers inside its body.
- Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown) uses her telekinesis to pin and impale a vine-wrapped Vecna.
- While everyone flashes back to the friends they have lost over the years, Joyce steps in with an ax and ends Vecna for good, taking his head clean off.
Why the Duffers wanted Joyce to land the final blow
Co-creator Ross Duffer told Variety that Joyce is the group's protector and, frankly, the show's mom. Having her finish Vecna was both character-true and weirdly overdue: we have seen her carry that ax for seasons, but we have never really watched her use it. Giving her the beheading was their version of finally letting her swing.
Duffer added that in the edit, they layered in those quick memories of Bob specifically to charge Joyce's emotions. The idea was to make the moment less of a simple fist-pump and more of a release valve for years of damage. The scene is a victory, sure, but it is also the characters purging the trauma this evil brought into their lives.
As far as final blows go, letting Joyce be the one to close the book on Vecna with a couple of raw, mostly unrehearsed takes feels exactly right.