The fifth and final season of Stranger Things is set to hit the 2025 TV schedule later this year after production wrapped in December 2024. After ten years on and off the set, it’s no surprise that the cast and crew were very emotional about ending such a momentous journey. Millie Bobby Brown, Sadie Sink, and Finn Wolfhard all opened up about what filming those final days was like, and now Joe Keery is sharing more thoughts on what it meant to him.
Keery is best known for playing fan-favorite Steve Harrington, who fans hope will make it out of the final season alive after a popular theory has many believing otherwise. The Fargo actor sat down with CBS Mornings recently, where he was asked what it was like letting go of Stranger Things and the character that truly launched his incredible career. He responded:
When I got my last schedule, I remember being like, 'OK and 'end work.'' And I was like, 'Oh, that's, OK, wow. You're right, this is really going to end.' It was really OK until kind of like my last day of work. But it was cathartic, it was really it was great.
The sentiment of not believing it's truly over until the last day of filming is one that seems to be shared by the large ensemble cast as a whole. Brown shared similar thoughts in her goodbye post to the show, and back in March 2024, she even noted that she was trying not to think about what that last day would be like when they were in the early days of filming.
I’m just a fan of the show, and I’m already emotional thinking about what it’s going to be like watching the final season. It’s not the same at all, but I definitely sympathize with the younger cast members who have literally grown up on the show.
Even Keery, who started the show in his twenties, holds special memories about what it was like being on set every day. He's even already looking back on the experience with a sense of wonder, saying:
I definitely already am nostalgic for it.
Ten years is a long time to devote to one project, so I think it’s totally understandable that the cast would have strong emotions about leaving a set that has become a second home to them. After all, they’ve endured a lot while filming Stranger Things, not just in the emotional and frightening story being told but also in the lengthy production delays production due to the COVID-19 pandemic and later the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes.
Still, that didn’t stop CBS Morning host Anthony Mason from questioning how Keery could already be nostalgic for something that happened recently. The Marmalade actor held firm, explaining:
Yeah, definitely, it takes over your whole life. So, I got some great memories with all the people down there, and we'll miss that.
Stranger Things wasn’t just another project to Keery and the rest of the cast. Still, there’s a big difference between getting to see your fellow costars regularly during production for the better part of a decade and suddenly only catching them in passing.
Thankfully, the Stranger Things chapter isn’t fully over for Keery and the rest of the cast, as they’ll still have to promote the final season, which hopefully is going to get a release date from Netflix soon.
In the meantime, you can stream the first four seasons of Stranger Things with an active Netflix subscription. I know I’ve already started my rewatch to get reacquainted with all the horrors Vecna has inflicted on Hawkins so I'm all caught up by the time the final season drops.
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