Stranger Things is coming to a close with a three-part final season split over two months. No, wait, come back! As creators the Duffer Brothers reveal, it's actually allowing the Netflix series' endgame to expand even more in scope this time around.
"I'm also excited about the first volume because, in season four, we weren't aware that it was going to get split in two," Ross Duffer said in an interview with SFX Magazine. "It's not Netflix's fault, it's nobody’s fault. There was the pandemic, and we ended up dividing it in two so we could get episodes out sooner. But this time, we knew we were going to divide it into two, so it really is in two halves. Volume One really exists as its own mega-movie. It has its own climax."
To that end, the 'finale' of Volume One – the fourth episode in Stranger Things season 5 – is described by Ross as "the hardest thing that we've ever done on a technical level."
Ross added, "Episode four was the most challenging episode we've ever made, and that includes the finale – though on an emotional level, the finale was the hardest. I don't know how many days I found myself crying, and I'm not someone who cries very often outside of watching Pixar movies."
If you're still on the fence about Stranger Things season 5's release plans (Volume One on November 26 is followed by Volume Two on Christmas Day and the finale on New Year's Eve), star Gaten Matarazzo – who plays Dustin in the long-running Netflix series – is keen for it to help return us to the Good Old Days of TV discourse.
"I'm glad they're parcelling it up over the course of several release dates," Matarazzo said. "I think that'll bring a sense of engagement to the show over time that we don’t really see a whole lot of in the streaming era. I miss when there were weekly Game of Thrones and weekly Breaking Bads and engagement online and talking with friends about what's happening, and watch parties."
Forget watch parties, Stranger Things is all set to go theatrical for its finale. According to reports, the two-hour finale will be available in select cinemas on December 30.
The Duffers have already teased that they've known what the last scenes will be for several years now, and you'll soon be able to see what they've been cooking up in the Upside Down on the biggest screen possible.
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