After working on Stranger Things for 10 years, Finn Wolfhard says goodbye to the show that made him a star overnight.
The Netflix sci-fi series premiered in July 2016 and became an immediate fan favorite. Wolfhard won fans over with his portrayal of Mike Wheeler, a sassy younger brother and loyal best friend, along with sometimes being a little intense playing Dungeons & Dragons. We'll see Mike Wheeler's ending as season 5 premieres sometime in 2025.
In an exclusive interview with People Magazine, Finn Wolfhard said he was "satisfied, but also very confused and sad, but also very happy" by his character's ending. He didn't say anything else about season 5 besides his bittersweet emotions about handling the series' end. We're still impatiently waiting for a premiere date. We're four months into 2025 and only know that season 5 is in post-production with a late 2025 release.
In February, Collider revealed that the Duffer Brothers attended a SDAC TV fest panel discussing the season 5 post-production process. "We're focused on visual effects sequences right now. We started back in January, so it's going well. We're actually ahead of schedule which is rare for us, so that's great."
Fans have watched Wolfhard grow up and refine his craft. With every season, the show gets better and better, which is why the goodbye felt like a lot. Most of the cast has been together since filming began 10 years ago and they were together on the last day of filming: "The cast all stayed for the last day, we were all there together. It was really great to be around each other."
Stranger Things stars Finn Wolfhard (Mike Wheeler), Millie Bobby Brown (Eleven), Noah Schnapp (Will Byers), Caleb McLaughlin (Lucas Sinclair), Gaten Matarazzo (Dustin Henderson), and Sadie Sink (Max Mayfield) are the younger cast members. The series also stars Joe Keery (Steve Harrington), Maya Hawke (Robin Buckley), Natalia Dyer (Nancy Wheeler), and Charlie Heaton (Jonathan Byers) in the teen to young adult roles. The adults in the series are Jamie Campbell Bower (Vecna), Brett Gelman (Murray Bauman), David Harbour (Jim Hopper), and Winona Ryder (Joyce Byers). As far as we know, all stars are returning for season 5, with Sadie Sink's Max's condition unknown.
The Stranger Things 4 finale ripped fans to shreds as Max was left brain-dead, Vecna was weak but not dead, Hawkins was in trouble, and Eddie sacrificed himself for everyone. Netflix's boss, Ted Sarandos, told Variety in March that season 5 ends on an "incredible note" but will also bring tears to fans' eyes as they watch the final season unfold.
I assume that season 5 as a whole is an emotional rollercoaster as it comes to a close. Although we haven't experienced that ride, the actors have. Finn Wolfhard said that the series' ending "didn't really start to go into focus until the next day," describing the experience as an "emotional hangover."
His words about the series ending and filming the last season speak volumes about how close the cast has been for a decade. Those off-screen relationships come through on screen. He adds that the show "ended really well, and I just have such positive things to say about everyone." So, I expect to see strong relationships on-screen again as we say the dreaded goodbye.