After 10 years and roughly 10,000 miles traversed across Hawkins, Indiana, on bikes, “Stranger Things” is coming to an end. Season 5 will wrap up Matt and Ross Duffer’s story of Dungeons & Dragons–obsessed misfits Mike Wheeler (Finn Wolfhard), Dustin Henderson (Gaten Matarazzo), Lucas Sinclair (Caleb McLaughlin), Will Byers (Noah Schnapp), and Max Mayfield (Sadie Sink)—along with the telepathic escaped experiment Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown)—fending off the fiendish residents of the Upside Down.
Before the debut of the final season’s first batch of episodes on Nov. 26, we sat down with Brown and Schnapp to dig into their favorite endings of all time, the Season 5 moments they asked the Duffer brothers to include, and the parts of Season 1 that Brown doesn’t remember filming.
What is your favorite ending of all time, movies or TV? And how does it stack up against the ending of “Stranger Things”?
Millie Bobby Brown: The end of “Harry Potter.” That’s probably my favorite film, the last one. I think it’s very similar in many ways [to “Stranger Things”] because you’re following these children, and you’re trying to tie their storylines and character arcs together toward the end. It’s probably the same amount of runtime. I mean, what was it? Ten years for them, too?
Noah Schnapp: My favorite ending is “Game of Thrones.” I’m kidding!
That would be an extremely controversial answer.
MBB: So this is Noah Schnapp. He likes to say every controversial thing ever.
At this point, you probably know your characters better than most people. Is there anything about their final arc or final moments that came completely from you?
NS: There was actually a scene in Episode 8 that wasn’t written, that I was like, We didn’t close this story well enough. I told the Duffers, and I was terrified—like, Oh, my God, should I not? I can’t. I’m stepping out of place. But I just had to say something, and they did write in a little scene to close a chapter, a storyline. Then I started bringing it up again, and they were like, “OK, no, shut up. You get one.”
MBB: There are a couple things, but it’s mostly [in the] performance. This is the last time we get to do this, and then the story is out there and finished forever, so making sure that we do justice to all the characters and all their relationships and stories is very important. Eleven rarely smiles, so there was a moment [on Season 5] where I wanted her to.
Courtesy Netflix
Is there a moment from this season, or any other season, where the person sitting next to you did something that inspired you as an actor?
MBB: There’s a scene in Season 4, where Noah is crying in the van, that I just love. And then in Season 5, there is just one scene where I felt like, I’m in the room for this and that’s pretty cool.
NS: There are so many moments with Millie specifically. Unfortunately, I don’t get to watch many of them because we don’t work together too much. But then when I see them on the screen, literally almost all of her scenes, I’m screaming through them, or crying. It’s very hard for me to cry at these scenes, because I just know them so well, I know what happens. Millie is one of the few characters that can get into her role and make me sob. There’s a scene in Season 3 when she’s reading the letter with Hopper [David Harbour]; all of the Hopper and El stuff makes me really emotional.
There’s a scene in Season 5 that I didn’t expect to feel much at all. And I watched it, and I was just sobbing. She’s so good at accessing her emotions and making them feel so real and touching.
Is there any moment that you’ve rewatched from the entirety of “Stranger Things” where you feel, Wow, I nailed that? And anything you’d want another crack at?
NS: If I could do it all again, sign me up for reshoots. I’m there. I just would love to tweak little things here and there in everything I watch.
MBB: You say that, but what we did and the choices we made were right for that time in the character. I know I could tweak a few things, but I could truly do that about everything. I could have a conversation with you right now and go, “I wish I actually said that instead.” I could walk through life doing that, but it’s just not worth it.
My favorite movie is “About Time,” and [the main character] keeps going into the closet and closing his fists, and he’s able to go back to a certain memory and change it. But at the end of the movie, he lives one day where he changes it, and one day where he doesn’t, where he just lives in the present. He does everything. He says thank you to the cashier lady; he’s running; he’s spending more time with his children; he’s off his phone. That is how I lived this season. I have no regrets, and I’m very proud of the work I’ve done. So I’m not going back in the closet and wanting to change anything.
NS: Going back in the closet?
MBB: Yes, I’m actually a gay woman.
What is your No. 1 piece of advice for young actors?
NS: If you are truly passionate about it and truly love it, then it will happen for you. You just have to trust the process and trust the timing. Everyone is on different timelines. Everyone always says, “Don't compare, don’t compare.” But it is true. You can’t follow anyone else’s path. Trust that you are exactly where you’re meant to be, and keep at it.
Rejection is redirection. You’re going to get rejected 1,000 times and 1,000 times again, and that’s just part of the business. You have to trust and accept that and know that those roles maybe weren’t meant for you, and you follow that to what eventually will lead to where [you belong]. Who would have ever thought that we stepped into that room for “Stranger Things” and that changed our lives. You just never know when you’re around the corner from it.
You’ve told the story of how it felt to wrap your final scene. But what was the next day like?
MBB: I flew to London the day after for Christmas with my family, and I got to go meet my nephew who was just born. So I was really excited. I spent so, so much time with my onscreen family, more than my off-screen family, my real family. So it was very bittersweet to say goodbye to everyone, but I was also really excited to hug my sister and see my nephew. I think it’s really hitting now, honestly, just like doing the press tour. It’s very hard to think about doing this for one last time with your friends and reflecting on your childhood so intimately. Some of this feels like therapy in a way.
NS: The day after, for me, I had a callback for something in L.A. that I didn’t end up getting. I flew there, I was alone in a hotel room, and I was now looking forward to whatever next projects that I was stepping into, thinking: Oh, my God, I don’t want to work on anything else. I just want to do “Stranger Things” forever. I was just so devastated, like I’ll never get that back, that experience on set. Then the next day I was fine.
MBB: It’s like a breakup. It’s like the girls get over it quicker. But I honestly feel like it was one day of just crying, then I was like, OK, so what’s next? Like, no, I gotta keep going. Harness that El and Will in you and find that strength to go “I’m so proud of what I’ve done.”
Courtesy Netflix
How much do you remember about wrapping on Season 1 compared to wrapping on Season 5, and what has the difference between those two moments taught you about how you’ve changed, both as an actor and as a person?
MBB: I remember wrapping Season 1. It was the night of my first kiss. I was so nervous. And then they wrapped me, and I truly thought I was never going to see these people again. Because also, Season 1 ends and Eleven dies. I was even more convinced that if this gets renewed, I’m not coming back; so to be able to come back was an absolute joy, and here I am.
NS: Season 1, I was in, like, three scenes, and I don’t remember wrapping it.
MBB: Isn’t it crazy that we don’t remember things? That’s how young we were. I don’t remember doing certain scenes. A lot of the lab stuff in Season 1, I just don’t really remember. I remember meeting Matthew Modine [who played Dr. Martin Brenner] for the first time. I remember “Hello,” the song by Adele, coming out the day that I had to bang on the door because he trapped me in that box. I remember school. But I don’t remember the scenes where I’m in the bath with Hopper and Joyce [Winona Ryder] in the gymnasium. It’s so funny. All the salts that they put in for me to actually float, that was itching me. That’s all I really remember.
What skill set do you have specifically because of “Stranger Things” that you find the most valuable moving forward?
NS: Learning to be vulnerable and letting your wall down. Both of us have had to be so vulnerable on the show. Like you, especially in Season 1, with all the screaming and the emotions, and you just have to not care that anyone’s watching and leave all your humility at the door.
MBB: Leave your humility at the door, for sure. I’m also really responsive to music. I found that out during the show, and now take that with me in my career and other projects.
This interview has been edited for clarity and length.
