At Lucca Comics & Games 2025, the creators of Stranger Things and several cast members took the stage for a Q&A in the historic Teatro del Giglio ahead of the season 5 Netflix release. This isn’t the first time we have seen Stranger Things at Lucca, but it is the first time we have had any of the cast live in attendance, and the walled-in city was packed just to get a glimpse of the team.
Translated for the Italian audience, festival director Emanuele Vietina moderated the panel, a major Stranger Things fan himself, so it seems. The panel consisted of Stranger Things creators, Matt and Ross Duffer, as well as the core four boys, Gaten Matarazzo, who plays Dustin, Finn Wolfhard, who plays Mike, Caleb McLaughlin, who plays Lucas, and Noah Schnapp, who plays Will. Though I think attendees were hoping to get some juicy insight into the final season of Stranger Things, the panel felt more like a group of people who have worked together for years, looking back fondly with a touch of sadness.
These boys have truly grown up on the set of Stranger Things over the last decade, being only young teens and now, into their 20s. Many of the stories they shared centred on how the show impacted them as they grew up. Noah Schnapp started with, “I think everything had an impact on me in a different way,” and went on to tell a really beautiful story about co-star, and former child actor, Winona Ryder, and how she eased him into his Stranger Things role when he struggled crying on set:
“The first time I did it, I remember being so nervous, and there’s so much pressure on getting tears and making it perfect. And I remember texting Winona being like, ‘Hi, I know you were a child actor, and if you could help me kind of figure this out, I don’t mean to bother you.’ And I was scrolling up in our text the other day, and she was so nice and giving.
“The scene that matters the most, weirdly, is the first thing that we ever shot, which is the boys playing Dungeons & Dragons in the basement…”
And she sent a whole paragraph, ‘Don’t worry, sweetie, we’ll take you out of school, or we’ll just sit down for 15 minutes. Come into my trailer, we’ll make it comfortable.’ She was always giving and making sure that we, as kids, were comfortable. All of us, not just me.
And I just remember that scene for the first time. She gave me advice. She told me what she does with her hands, where she was open and vulnerable, and she listens to music. I just, I did it with her, and I felt so comfortable, and it was so easy to just feel with her. Since then, she’s been just such a joy to work with and has been such a role model, like a second mother to me.”
Caleb McLaughlin also shared moments of vulnerability on the stage, discussing how he grew up with his Stranger Things character, Lucas, and how their lives intertwined, in a way, allowing him to bring something special to his life and his role. “I think in season four, Lucas’s storyline paralleled to my life, in a way. I think watching the seasons, I’m like, ‘Were Matt and Ross in my bedroom?’ I felt like they were watching my life in a way where I was in this time in my life where I was trying to find myself.
He continued talking about how his role helped him develop outside of Stranger Things as well, “I was like, ‘Maybe I need to do something different and try something new.’ And I feel like a lot of people could relate to that. And for me as an actor, that season for me kind of helped me stretch as a person and as a performer. It just helped me in my decision-making.”
Even the Duffer Brothers got in on the heart of it all, discussing how creating the show was really putting a lot of themselves on the page. Ross Duffer explained, “When we came up with the idea for the show, a lot of it was us…But really, for us, it was more about trying to capture that feeling that we had when we were kids and part of that, part of our childhood, a lot of it was friendships and the trials of coming of age.”
Ross went on to talk about how it’s more than just them as children that inspired Stranger Things, but also the things that helped shape them, “Then, part of it was the stories that we grew up on. We wanted, as we were sort of telling the story of our childhood, also we had to include the stories and the types of stories that inspired us growing up and made us do what we want to.”
“That’s where we began, because we knew nothing that came before that would matter if we screwed up those last 40 minutes.”
Vietina got the cast and creators to talk about the most influential scenes while shooting the last five seasons of Stranger Things, and not surprisingly, most of them had the same answer; though the sentiments were the same, it was great to hear each one talk about it from their own perspective. Ross Duffer answered first, and his thoughts were carried across the stage.
“The scene that matters the most, weirdly, is the first thing that we ever shot, which is the boys playing Dungeons & Dragons in the basement… Somehow, when we put these four amazing actors—they were so tiny back then—But when they were in the costume and we had the lines and we just started playing the scene, it just came to life. And it’ll always stick with me because it’s just realizing that ‘Hey, maybe this is going to work.’ And I was just so it felt so authentic and real, and it reminded me of my childhood. And so, to me, that’s always going to probably be the most important thing that we’ve ever done.”
Finn Wolfhard agreed with Ross and added some moments as well, “That’s the most special thing that’s ever happened in my life, probably, so that was amazing. And, yeah, I have a lot of great memories of even season three, when we took over that mall and in between the escalators, there was a natural slide that we just, in between tapes, would run up and slide down it.”
Gaten Matarazzo also agreed but gave us some insight on how filming the scene went, “I think a lot of us agreed that that first scene in the basement is probably the most influential in probably all of our careers up to this point, and I just remember it being such a blast. I am glad that you guys remember it kindly, because there was, I distinctly remember us never being able to really keep it together and focused.”
Matt Duffer interjected with “There were focus issues for sure,” while laughing. Matarazzo went on, “It turned out really well, though, and I think that just carried the momentum for the rest of the season. I think starting with that—I think that was first day production—I think that that was super essential…we had something really special. So, I would be lying if I said anything else. And I apologize for not sounding too original.”
Matt Duffer, though sharing the same idea, finally gave us a little peek inside Stranger Things Season 5 with his series highlight, “To me, it was definitely the yeah that day. Shooting that scene with the boys in the basement, and I cannot say anything about it, but the last day of shooting the show. Those are the two days that I will probably carry with me for the rest of my life.”
That isn’t all they had to say about Stranger Things Season 5, though. Matt Duffer revealed a bit about the planning for the Stranger Things finale, “I don’t know, it’s been about six or seven years ago that we knew at least what the final scene is. We always knew what the last ten minutes were going to be. And as soon as we started working on season five, we’ve never done this before, but with our writers, we started working on the last 30 or 40 minutes of the show.
That’s where we began, because we knew nothing that came before that would matter if we screwed up those last 40 minutes. Then we went backwards and started to break the rest of the season, and made sure we could get those characters in an organic way to where we wanted them to end up.”
Gatan Matarazzo recalled where their characters left off, before stopping himself from giving too much away, “They’ve all been through a lot. They’re all dealing with grief and loss and dealing with coming to terms with the fact that at the end of the season, it’s the first time that they’ve pretty clearly lost and been trying to pick up the pieces and start from scratch, which is a really scary place to find them. And…I don’t know. I can’t say too much.”
With Stranger Things Season 5 releasing soon, the cast, crew and creators will be saying their goodbyes after this final press tour. Ross Duffer summed up some of their feelings about the end of Stranger Things, “The final season, particularly that last episode, really mirrors our journey, and I think our actors’ journey and everyone who was involved in making the show and that you’re having to let go in a way and say goodbye.”
He went on to explain it wasn’t a conscious choice either, “We weren’t thinking about it too much when we were writing that final episode, but once we read it through it, then we realized how much it had reflected our own experiences. Hopefully, that emotion that we felt writing it and our actors felt performing it comes through, and the audience feels it too, because they also have been on a long journey.”
Close out the journey when Stranger Things Season 5 releases on Netflix on November 6th, 2025.
