The Stranger Things Creators Made 1 Last-Minute Change To The Finale
This was such a good call.
Spoiler alert: This post discusses the final scenes of Stranger Things Season 5.
The Duffer Brothers have been very clear that they had the Stranger Things ending planned from the start, but they did deviate a bit from their initial plans. In the show’s last scenes, Mike leads his Dungeons and Dragons party (which now includes Max) in one final quest, before they shelve their character sheets once and for all. The show could have ended there, but the co-creators were inspired to add one final button that wasn’t part of their vision at first.
As the party metaphorically closes the book on their childhood, Mike’s younger sister Holly storms into the basement, starting her own campaign with her friends. The Duffer Brothers revealed that this addendum came about once they realized how pivotal Holly had become to the series’ final season.
“Initially, when we came up with [the ending] a very long time ago, it was the kids — the ‘kids,’ in quotes — play one final game of D&D, put their books away and go upstairs. And Mike was going to shut the door, closing the door effectively on childhood. So that was the idea,” Matt Duffer told Variety. “Once we introduced Holly, and this is one of the reasons we were so interested in bringing Holly and her friends and Derek into the show, was to be able to have a passing of the torch moment.”
The Duffers’ plan at the beginning was for the show to end with a D&D scene mirroring Season 1’s opening moment. And adding in Holly and her crew added an uplifting layer of hope to this planned ending.
“It allows Mike to reflect on his childhood and feel happy that his sister and her friends are going to have a magical experience, or adventures like they had — hopefully not as traumatic,” Matt said. “But as Dustin said, there was so much good amongst so much bad. It changed them in so many meaningful ways.”
Nell Fisher, who played Holly, confirmed that this was the only ending the cast had shot. “It’s perfect. I’ve been asked if I filmed an alternate ending, because sometimes series do that in case it gets spoiled. But there couldn’t be one,” Fisher told The Hollywood Reporter. “This is the only way the series could have ended.”
