Originally appeared on E! Online
Getting the Upside Down right-side up was harder than expected.
After “Stranger Things” concluded its fifth and final season, co-creators Ross Duffer and Matt Duffer detailed how difficult it was to complete the finale amid their chaotic production timeline.
“We went into production without having a finished script for the finale,” Matt explained in the documentary, “One Last Adventure: The Making of Stranger Things 5.”
“That was scary because we wanted to get it right. It was the most important script of the season,” he said.
With such a big production team to complete the final season, the 41-year-olds had a lot of responsibility to get their work in as soon as possible.
“We were getting hammered constantly by production and by Netflix for episode eight,” Matt recalled. “It was the most difficult writing circumstances we have ever found ourselves in. Not just because there was the pressure of we had to make sure the script was good, but there’s never been so much noise at the same time.”
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“It was the longest time we spent with the writers on a single episode,” he continued, “just breaking it down beat by beat, pushing that thing to get as good as it could, just being honest and truthful with the show has always worked out for us.”
But that doesn’t mean the Duffer Brothers didn’t know where the story was going.
“It’s all plotted out,” Matt — who shares two kids with fiancée and “Stranger Things” hair designer Sarah Hindsgaul — emphasized. “I just have to write it. We are just low on time.”
“I used to be seven days a week,” he recalled of past seasons. “I can’t do it anymore. I have two kids now and I just — it’s a tough career to have with kids.”
For the writing team, Eleven’s fate was the biggest point of contention. After all, the series concluded with fans wondering whether the teen (Millie Bobby Brown) had actually sacrificed herself to destroy the Upside Down and save the world.
“God, I don’t know how to play this,” the doc, out now, saw Matt admit in the writer’s room. “The longer it goes, the more stories you have to tie up and the more character arcs you have to end. The more expectations there are with the audience. How do you meet those expectations but surprise the audience still?”
And the Duffer Brothers knew that the final episode was essential to conclude the beloved series after nearly a decade. As Matt put it, “It’s terrifying because you see these shows that people love and adore and the ending falters. They just discard the rest of the show.”
While the duo continued workshopping the finale, they needed to get the cameras rolling since the scene where Holly Wheeler (Nell Fisher) herds her classmates from the Creel house into the Cave was meant to have a summertime look.
“I haven’t read eight through and we are shooting it,” Ross told the crew amid filming. “I have never done something like this before. I don’t love it.”
But ultimately, the brothers were able to bring their larger-than-life story to an end. And on the final day of filming, they had a special message for everyone on the team.
“This is, without a doubt, without hyperbole, the best crew we’ve ever worked with,” Matt shared in his emotional reflection. “We felt your love and passion every day. We came in here not knowing what the hell we were doing and I learned from the crew. We made a lot of friends.”
Mike Gavin of NBC Local asks cast members from “Stranger Things” — including Caleb McLaughlin, Maya Hawke and Jamie Campbell Bower — to pick their characters’ best looks.
