As Vecna might say, “It’s time.”
Time for the series finale of “Stranger Things.”
And it there’s one thing that five seasons and 50 episodes over 10 years have shown, it’s just how much times have changed.
Particularly the appearances and styles — and ages — of the stars of a show set in the 1980s.
At a recent celebration of the final season at The Paley Museum in Manhattan, NBC New York showed cast members pictures of their characters from each season and asked them to select their favorite and least favorite look.
“Whoa, that’s sad,” said Caleb McLaughlin, who plays Lucas Sinclair. “Favorite is five. Least favorite, maybe three…He was just an awkward teenager, and the shorts were killing me. It was hot. The shorts were so stank.”
Maya Hawke, who joined the cast in Season 3 as Robin Buckley, was unable to pick a favorite…or least favorite.
“It’s complicated,” she said. “Three is most iconic. Five is most me…like I like how I look here the most. And then four is awesome and I think my favorite season, maybe. I don’t know. So, I can’t even answer!”
She did, however, have an easy answer when asked for her favorite Steve Harrington look.
“I just gotta go five,” she said of the character played by Joe Keery. “I mean look at him, he’s just gorgeous. What can you say? Headphones on, shirt on. Look at that face. Five! Right? He’s just getting better, aging like a fine wine. Like a pair of old Levi’s.”
Most of the main cast was in attendance at The Paley Museum on Dec. 18 for a screening and behind-the-scenes conversation about the final season, with the two-hour series finale set to be released on New Year’s Eve.
Millie Bobby Brown, who played Eleven, was unable to attend, so the show’s creators, Matt and Ross Duffer, were asked to pick their favorite look for the show’s main character.
“You gotta go with the iconic pink dress and the jacket,” Ross Duffer said of Eleven’s Season 1 look. “She looks so bad a– there.”
“Yeah,” Matt Duffer agreed, “I love the buzz cut.”
It’s a look that Eleven’s nemesis, Vecna, knows all too well.
No character has had a more drastic change in appearance in the show than Jamie Campbell Bower, who plays Vecna in a vine-wrapped body, Henry Creel in a wool suit, and 001 in an all-white uniform.
So, which one does he like best?
“This one,” he said with a laugh while pointing to his face.
It’s time…to look back at how the appearances of other main characters have changed through each season of “Stranger Things.”
Gaten Mattarazzo – “Dustin Henderson”
Finn Wolfhard – “Mike Wheeler”
Noah Schnapp – “Will Byers”
Natalia Dyer – “Nancy Wheeler”
Charlie Heaton – “Jonathan Byers”
Sadie Sink – “Max Mayfield”
David Harbour – “Jim Hopper”
Winona Ryder – “Joyce Byers”
