11 Things We Learned From the ‘Stranger Things’ Finale Documentary

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Stranger Things is over—despite what certain unsatisfied fans believe—but Netflix does have one more piece of the puzzle left to share: One Last Adventure: The Making of Stranger Things 5.

The documentary from director Martina Radwan was filmed as the final season was being created, with looks back at earlier seasons to help put its massive scale into context. It puts particular focus on the hundreds of craftspeople who helped bring season five to life—including the artists, designers, and builders who collaborated on the mostly practical sets—but it also digs into the stressful, very fraught writing process that produced episode eight, “The Rightside Up.”

The writers’ room scenes will be of particular interest to anyone who found the finale lacking, though those same viewers may find new things to appreciate about it once they see how much other work went into making the feature-length story come to life.

And if you’re hoping for in-depth time with the actors, One Last Adventure is pretty light on talent interviews (sorry, Winona Ryder fans), though it does do a thorough job capturing the emotions present both at the table reads, where everyone glimpsed the season five story for the first time, and again on the very last day of filming.

Here are 11 things we learned from One Last Adventure, which at just over two hours fits right in with Stranger Things’ fondness for lengthy viewing experiences.

The scale of season five was ridiculously huge

Early in the documentary, an assistant director estimates that “most films are half the size of a single Stranger Things episode” and notes that Stranger Things episodes also come together with far less prep time.

As we see, all the different departments (set decorators, production designers, sculptors, painters, costumers, the hair and make-up team, camera operators, stunt people, the VFX artists… and beyond) had their work cut out for them. One Last Adventure zeroes in on what we’re told is “the biggest and most challenging sequence we’ve ever done”—the battle in the Military Access Control Zone (or MAC-Z) at the end of episode four, “Sorcerer.”

The sequence necessitated Stranger Things’ first-ever backlot set—a recreation of downtown Hawkins surrounding the gate where the military accesses the Upside Down—and six weeks of preparation, including very precise and well-rehearsed stunts and practical effects. We also learn about the creation of the “oner” that takes viewers through the Demogorgon attack without pausing for a breath; rather than one long continuous take, it was actually five shots edited together to give that effect, but it still required careful planning.

Writing the finale was an ordeal

One Last Adventure makes it clear that the Duffers and the rest of the writers’ room really wrestled with “The Rightside Up.” We see them talking over Eleven’s fate—what’s her state of mind? Should they keep her decision ambiguous? Misdirect the audience?—and realize that Eleven has to be gone so the rest of the kids can move on and finally leave childhood behind.

They also debate a point that many fans picked up on: why weren’t there any monsters in the Abyss? (The phrase “Demo-fatigue” does indeed get used.)

Overall, the Duffers admit episode eight found the team in “the most difficult writing circumstances we ever found ourselves in,” with both Netflix and the production teams, who needed to start work behind the scenes, increasingly impatient for updates and progress. “The Rightside Up” was the longest time the Duffers spent with the other writers on any other episode.

And the pressure was enormous. “It’s terrifying because you see these shows that people love and adore, and the ending falters. And they just discard the rest of the show. You can’t leave anything dangling. You have to wrap everything up,” the Duffers explain.

We also learn that they “went into production without having a finished script for the finale. That was scary because we wanted to get it right. It was the most important script of the season.”

It’s very clear the writers are both extremely aware of audience expectations—they weren’t going to kill off a bunch of beloved characters, for instance—but they also knew they had to figure out a way to meet those expectations while also holding back some surprises. It’s a fascinating peek into the process and their awareness of the scrutiny they’d be under, especially now that “The Rightside Up” is out and has proved so controversial among some fans.

Time was a precious resource

As mentioned above, the production teams had a huge undertaking to prepare for season five—a situation made more stressful by the fact that nobody knew exactly what was going to happen in the grand finale while the script was still being written.

One Last Adventure captures the quiet horror of various departments trying to figure out how they’d get everything done in time—we see them literally counting days, doing the math, and looking worried. However, it’s also clearly conveyed that everyone is up to the task, and at one point we’re told the show attracts people who want to work at the very highest level, despite the challenges involved.

The Duffers realized early on they’d have to share directing duties

Though they grew up wanting to be directors—One Last Adventure gives us a glimpse at their first attempts, circa the fourth grade—Matt and Ross Duffer (it’s hard to tell them apart, and their voices are identical, but Matt’s the one with the longer hair and enviable retro t-shirt collection) realized writing was their way into Hollywood. Then, when Stranger Things started happening, they realized they couldn’t write and direct; it was simply too much to take on.

We hear from Shawn Levy (a producer who also directed 10 episodes across the series, including entries in season one and season five) and get a look at Frank Darabont—someone the Duffers admired and caught his interest by simply emailing him—at work during season five, including how he mapped out that Citizen Kane visual reference during Holly and Max’s journey through Vecna’s mindscape.

But there’s also some shine on the Duffers’ own directorial work; Noah Schnapp, who played Will Byers, praises how much trust they put in the cast to help make choices. To that end, we get to see Schnapp coaching the young actor who portrayed Will in the flashback that opens season five’s first episode.

The Duffers’ real-life favorite teacher played Holly’s teacher

Hope Hynes Love, the Duffers’ high-school drama teacher, played Holly’s concerned teacher in season five. “She was a big, big inspiration for us and it was really exciting to put her in the show,” the Duffers explain.

In turn, she recalls their fearlessness as teenagers, remembering even back then “they were never afraid of failing, so they took big swings.”

The Wheeler house attack was a long-awaited sequence

“The Vanishing of Holly Wheeler” sees Karen Wheeler and her younger daughter confronted by a supernatural horror in one of the show’s most comforting settings: the Wheeler house. Instead of made-up monsters in the basement, though, Dungeons & Dragons comes to life when a Demogoron bursts in.

Stranger Things “wanted to have an attack in the Wheeler house for seven years.” We get a look at how the scene came together—lots of gory make-up for Cara Buono, who is genuiney delighted by Karen’s evolution into action hero—and also the intent for it to help viewers understand where Nancy Wheeler gets her warrior spirit.

Mike wanting a gun in the Abyss was inspired by Finn Wolfhard’s own request

In the writers’ room during the finale discussion, Matt Duffer says that the kids all want to take part in the big, climactic fight against the Mind Flayer. And they wanted to be active participants, one player in particular. “Finn [Wolfhard]’s like, ’Don’t give me a candlestick, please.’ Which is fair. He really wants a gun, and I’m just like ‘I don’t think so.'”

Later, during the finale table read, we hear Finn Wolfhard going through the scene where his character, Mike, begs Nancy to share her firepower. The cast cackles at the reveal that Nancy hands over… a flare gun, and it’s fun for the audience to see how that moment was taken from a real-life request that was gently denied.

100 different looks were considered to get Vecna’s makeup right

Though actor Jamie Campbell Bower—whose calm, friendly energy is the opposite of Vecna’s, so props to his acting skills—wore a bodysuit that was later enhanced with VFX to make all those curling vines and tendrils, his facial prosthetics were malleable and allowed for a great range of expression.

Even with all that preparation and talent, things didn’t always go as planned

The near-death scene involving Nancy, Jonathan, and a melting building in “Escape From Camazotz” caused a lot of problems—because the goo being pumped into the set didn’t look sludgy enough. Shawn Levy, the episode’s director, realizes in the moment that it doesn’t look right, and there are hushed discussions of how VFX is going to have to be used to pick up the slack.

There’s also an amusing evaluation of just how much melty crud should be caked on the characters, so as not to distract from Nancy and Jonathan’s emotional heart-to-heart amid all the oozing chaos.

The emotional heft was real

The table reads and the footage of cast members’ last scenes are as tear-jerking as you’d imagine. Even if you hated “The Rightside Up,” you will be reduced to a blubbering mess as everyone says goodbye. Have tissues handy, is all we’re saying.

The Duffers’ secret weapon is… their parents

Duffer Brothers’ parents—who planted the seed for all of this when they gave their nine-year-old sons a Hi8 camera for Christmas—watched all the dailies… and gave feedback, too. Unfortunately, they don’t appear in the documentary, but we’d love to have heard their notes.

One Last Adventure: The Making of Stranger Things Season 5 is now streaming on Netflix, along with Stranger Things seasons 1-5.

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