Stranger Things is over (regardless of online conspiracy theories, it is over), but a new documentary should ease some separation anxiety from our collective split with Eleven, Mike, Will, Dustin, Lucas, Nancy, Jonathan, Steve, Robin and Max. We’ll always be friends.
One Last Adventure: The Making of Stranger Things 5, directed by Martina Radwan, is available to stream on Netflix. Radwan truly had an all-access pass to the final season of Matt and Ross Duffer’s masterpiece. The documentary film is worth a watch, but if you simply cannot dedicate two more hours to one final Stranger Things adventure, well, 1) understandable, and 2) The Hollywood Reporter‘s got you covered.
Below are five things we learned from the The Making of Stranger Things 5.
1. That Oner Was Actually a Fiver
The first batch of season five episodes ended with the incredible revelation that Will Byers (Noah Schnapp) indeed has powers. Or he could channel Vecna’s power within a certain radius. Or something like that — I’m still a little confused about the logistics. But it was a kick-ass long one-shot scene. Except it wasn’t a oner.
The big battle at the MAC-Z (Military Access Control Zone) backlot was actually five shots stitched together as one, Schnapp says in the doc. It took six weeks just for the stunt coordinators and team to prepare for the practical aspects of the vital reveal a decade in the making. Compare that with the scene’s half-dozen Demogorgons, who didn’t show up until postproduction. Lazy.
2. Like Mike, Finn Wolfhard Really Wanted a Gun
When it came time for a final fight with Vecna, before they knew the Mind Flayer would emerge as a gigantic spider, Mike (Finn Wolfhard) pressed his big sister for a gun. He ended up with flares. Funny, yes, but also a vital piece to any roadside assistance kit.
It was art imitating life, as the Duffers revealed before they wrote the scene that Wolfhard really wanted his character to have a firearm.
The Mind Flayer’s size created both practical problems and a computer-generated one. The practical set of the monster’s rib cage took 16 weeks to build and measured 130′ x 80′ — it was so huge that a number of previous sets were destroyed for the sake of space. The exterior of the big bad was, of course, CGI. Making a three-story tall Abyss Octopus was just about the only thing not within Netflix’s budget. The Mind Flayer was so enormous and its legs so long that the Duffers struggled with how to write a chase scene that didn’t end one giant step later.
3. Shoot First, Write Later
Stranger Things 5 was famously years in the making, but that doesn’t mean the Duffers were on schedule.
The final season began filming without a finished finale script, the guys reveal in the doc. As a matter of fact, the script for “Chapter Eight: The Rightside Up” still wasn’t locked when some of its own planned scenes were shot. Even Netflix got a little impatient with the situation, pressuring the Duffers to finish the thing already. Maybe don’t write a two-hour-plus TV episode next time?
4. The Goo Was F**ked
OK, so first off, we get an explanation about the light-gray goo that nearly consumed Jonathan (Charlie Heaton) and Nancy (Natalia Dyer). We knew the Upside Down was melting, but the actual … stuff … was building residue, evidently. Maybe you knew that, but I didn’t.
The Stranger Things set designers crew spent months testing for color and viscosity. They got the first part right (I guess it sorta looked like melted concrete?) but the thickness ended up, well, water-thin. Producer-director Shawn Levy was not happy. Fortunately, Heaton and Dyer played it sludge-ier, Levy shot around it, and VFX took care of the rest.
5. Inside the Finale Script Read
If you care enough to be reading this, you’re probably already aware of how much crying took place when Stranger Things wrapped. There are plenty coming-of-age TV series, but few shows (and zero films this side of Boyhood) really raise their cast through every step of adolescence — and beyond.
The cast cold-read the finale together, and Radwan’s cameras had all access. She was technically closer to the action than Vecna himself, Jamie Campbell Bower, as he joined via video call.
There were lots of tears, some laughs and plenty of surprises. David Harbour was blown away when he got to the spot where Hopper proposes to Joyce (Winona Ryder). Hellboy said to hell with it, and got right down on one knee. If you’re gonna do it, do it right.
Honorable Mention: Thank Goodness They Shot on Digital
Stranger Things 5 had 237 days of filming and 6,725 setups. The main unit alone captured 630 hours of footage occupying a petabyte (1,000 terabytes) of data. Imagine storing that in 1987.
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