Sadie Sink, Finn Wolfhard, and Gaten Matarazzo come together to look back on a decade of ‘Stranger Things,’ the friendships that shaped them, and what it felt like to grow up on set. The longtime costars sit down with Esquire to discuss stepping into the final season, who’s the best at keeping in touch, Gaten’s photographic memory, and Sadie’s calm work style. Watch as they swap stories about guest stars, build a fantasy season with their dream casting, and debate who would play them in thirty years.
Stream 'Stranger Things' season 5 Vol. 1 on Netflix.
Stream Vol. 2 December 25th and The Finale December 31st.
#SadieSink #FinnWolfhard #GatenMatarazzo #StrangerThings #Esquire
Stream 'Stranger Things' season 5 Vol. 1 on Netflix.
Stream Vol. 2 December 25th and The Finale December 31st.
#SadieSink #FinnWolfhard #GatenMatarazzo #StrangerThings #Esquire
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LifestyleTranscript
00:00Dustin, check out this ham radio.
00:02Why was that Gilbert Gottfried?
00:04Yeah, it was.
00:05Dustin!
00:06I've got a new ham radio for you.
00:10Dude, that's good.
00:16This is the fifth and final season of Stranger Things.
00:21How do you think that you guys have changed,
00:25maybe along with your characters,
00:26over the course of this past decade?
00:30I kind of wanted to keep that, but you made me laugh.
00:34I don't know.
00:35Sometimes it's hard to know how you've changed as a kid to now.
00:38I have the same overall vibe.
00:41This is true.
00:42Just older.
00:43No, everyone's the same at the core.
00:45It's just a girl in 10 years.
00:4710 years, yeah.
00:47You know what's weird, though?
00:48I don't know if this is a universal experience,
00:51but something that I notice is that when I think back
00:53on older memories of when we're 13 or 14,
00:57I think of you guys the way you are now.
00:59Like, even like, you have the same lower voice that you have now.
01:02I do, too.
01:03So maybe I just, we don't have a perspective on how we've changed.
01:06Maybe if we saw it, like, when we get to see videos and such,
01:08that's when I notice, and I'm like, ooh.
01:11I feel like you were always sort of like,
01:13like, a little bit like a 50-year-old, like, Broadway,
01:16like, actor in, like, a 12-year-old's body.
01:19Like a real prick.
01:19No, no, not a prick, but like, just like something that's like,
01:23you're beyond the years of...
01:26If you show me in real time, I'll recognize it, but...
01:29We've all had the vibe of what we turned into.
01:32Totally, totally.
01:33You just refined it a bit.
01:34Yeah, yeah.
01:35And so?
01:37You fine, Vecna?
01:39We end this once and for all.
01:41Together.
01:42Of this group or the larger group that makes up Stranger Things,
01:46who is the best at keeping in touch?
01:49At this table, it's Finny.
01:50Finny, you're very good at keeping in touch, yeah.
01:52I try to, yeah.
01:53You're good at it.
01:54How maybe I look at the whole cast as a whole is that,
01:57you know, if the show is ending, that's like one end.
02:01The routine of going in every year,
02:03seeing the same people over and over again,
02:04like, that is ending.
02:06But our relationships, like, just don't have to.
02:09Right.
02:10And you're kind of trained a little bit
02:13to, like, join a family and then leave
02:15and, like, not really talk to them ever again.
02:17And, like, sometimes that is completely normal and, like...
02:20It's a bummer when that becomes the routine, though,
02:22because sometimes you get so invested and excited about a project
02:24and you actually get close
02:25and then it's, like, only a month
02:27and then you go and do other things.
02:28But that's just a symptom, I feel like,
02:30of what sometimes that is.
02:32Well, because you have to, like, establish chemistry
02:34in such a short period of time,
02:36so you kind of just, like, go all in on friendships.
02:40For, like, new projects, I guess.
02:41But this has been a decade of our lives.
02:44I just feel like if we're already in it...
02:47We might as well stay there.
02:49It's like having, you know, family
02:50or your, like, childhood friends,
02:53like, going back and talking with them.
02:55It's like no one knows what you were like
02:57at that point in your life besides those people.
03:00It's so nice to just know
03:02that you can find that in someone else.
03:04And I don't know about you guys,
03:05but I feel like we all went through periods
03:07where we kind of, like...
03:10I actually just, like, wanted to form friendships
03:13outside of the show.
03:14Like, I was like, well, these are my show friends,
03:16but I have, like, I have my own life, too.
03:18Like, I have my own friends.
03:20And it's not all about the show, you know?
03:22I think the last two seasons, I've realized, like,
03:24oh, these are the people that really, really know me.
03:27Maybe that stems from, like,
03:29having a period of, like, wanting to, like,
03:31be like, but, like, make the decisions on your own
03:34because maybe there was, like, a grudge about being like,
03:35yeah, but, like, we were all, like,
03:37putting a room together.
03:38So, like, I'm going to, like, believe that, like,
03:40I could do it on my own as well,
03:42that I know how to do that.
03:43It's like, play this game together.
03:44Be best friends.
03:45And it's like...
03:46Like, okay.
03:47But I'm like, don't tell me what to do.
03:48Yeah, even though we're...
03:49I'm like, wait, okay.
03:50I actually don't know what it is.
03:51It's good.
03:52We stay true to ourselves.
03:55Stay true to our friends.
03:57Damn it.
03:59What have you noticed in us
04:00as actors and a working relationship?
04:04Oh, no.
04:05Gaten, I can say this.
04:06I remember in season two...
04:09Tough time.
04:09I think it was season two.
04:10Tough time.
04:10Tough time for my brain.
04:12I mean, you were always so, so prepared.
04:15Like, you know exactly what...
04:16And you still are.
04:17Like, you just know exactly what you're doing.
04:19You come in completely off book.
04:21Well, thanks.
04:21It's coffee, by the way.
04:23There would be certain points
04:24where I feel like you would purposely, like,
04:26forget lines or, like...
04:27What?
04:27I feel like you would.
04:29When?
04:29Like, you would know it
04:30and then you'd, like, slip up sometimes.
04:32Why would I do that?
04:32And I was like, he knows it.
04:33Just to feel something.
04:34Just to be like...
04:35Just to fucking feel something
04:37in this life.
04:39I remember you would do it in season two.
04:40Why would I do that?
04:41I think because you were so perfect.
04:44Or, like, bored.
04:46Like, bored.
04:46He was bored.
04:46Bored or, like, you just nailed it.
04:48Like, you knew you were gonna nail it.
04:50And then...
04:51Look, I've seen you nail it.
04:52I've just never seen you fuck up on purpose.
04:54No, it was season two, though.
04:55That reads like something
04:56I would definitely have done.
04:56It was totally season two, Gaten.
04:58Oh, was that just me
05:00being, like, a stinker butt?
05:01But you, like, messed up
05:01and you were like,
05:02ah, sorry.
05:06Ah, I was thinking again, guys.
05:08Let me try that again.
05:08You were, like, 12.
05:10I am so jealous of someone
05:12that could, like, forget a line
05:13just to only be like,
05:14we're on the same page.
05:15No, because I think it was,
05:16like, a big group scene.
05:17And there were some people
05:18that would, like, flub.
05:19And you were, like,
05:20kind of the, like, head of that scene
05:21and had the most lines.
05:22Oh, shit.
05:23And you just would crush it
05:24ever since then.
05:24This is actually very
05:25interesting to think about.
05:26I could just be making shit up.
05:28This is the funniest compliment.
05:28This doesn't sound the same.
05:30It's like the backhanded compliment.
05:32It's not bad.
05:32Not even.
05:34This sounds like something
05:35I may have done.
05:35When people say
05:36that people have, like,
05:38a photographic memory,
05:39Gaten actually does.
05:41He'll, he can,
05:41yes, he does.
05:42We would carpool sometimes
05:44to work.
05:45It was a 40-minute drive.
05:46He'd just go,
05:46all right, so what are we doing today?
05:48I'd be like,
05:48what?
05:49He'd be like,
05:49what's the scene?
05:50What are we doing today?
05:51I'm like,
05:52you have a,
05:53you have, like,
05:53a three-page long monologue.
05:55He's like,
05:55oh, really?
05:56I'm like,
05:57yes.
05:58You have a three-page long monologue.
05:59What are you talking about?
06:00He's like,
06:00oh, okay.
06:01He got there
06:01and he got the sides
06:03for the day,
06:04like, the scene,
06:05and he literally just went,
06:07okay.
06:08It's not.
06:09It is.
06:10It is that easy.
06:11Literally by looking at something.
06:12But it's short-term.
06:13It's the thing that, like,
06:14I weirdly,
06:15I do that.
06:16That's what matters.
06:16And then do it.
06:17And then the minute,
06:18like, we go to lunch,
06:19it's gone.
06:20I don't want this to be
06:21one of those things
06:22where we're like,
06:22it's like a compliment battle,
06:24but I do,
06:25I do think
06:26that you are
06:27truly one of the smartest people
06:29that I know.
06:29And that goes into acting.
06:31I do think that you're,
06:32you're naturally
06:33gifted when it comes to that.
06:35That's very nice of you.
06:36Thank you very much.
06:37I, for one,
06:39am someone that
06:39cannot look at a,
06:41a monologue
06:43and immediately have it.
06:44When you approach it,
06:45though,
06:45you approach it
06:46with more care
06:47than I do then.
06:48You actively,
06:48I've watched you do it
06:50because before a scene
06:51that's quite long for you,
06:53like the whole day prior,
06:54I see you working on it.
06:55And you approached
06:56every individual
06:57little piece that you had
06:59with not just being like,
07:01oh, I got to make sure
07:01I say this right.
07:02You ensured
07:03that there was,
07:04like, I don't want to sound
07:05like a douchey actor
07:06in a conversation about it,
07:07but like,
07:07But here it is.
07:08But here it is, guys.
07:10You always ensured
07:11that it wasn't just
07:13Finn learning lines.
07:14You understood
07:14that it was Mike
07:16achieving his goals.
07:17And that was really admirable.
07:19And sometimes I would
07:19catch myself being like,
07:20oh shit,
07:21I'm saying these things
07:22pretty quickly.
07:22And I'm like,
07:23I have no idea
07:23why the fuck I'm even here.
07:25And Sadie also,
07:25I feel like you've always
07:26had the same way
07:28of working
07:29for ever since we started.
07:31To an intimidating degree.
07:33I don't know if you're,
07:33like, freaking out internally.
07:35You never seem like you are.
07:36And it's great.
07:37It's insane to me.
07:38Are you ever worried
07:39when you're acting?
07:41Oh, yes.
07:42You never?
07:43Yes.
07:43You don't have a tell.
07:44Really?
07:45You always just have
07:46your shits in there.
07:46You have a crazy poker face.
07:47It's crazy.
07:48I feel like I've told you this,
07:48but every time I'm just like,
07:49what am I doing?
07:50I don't know.
07:51I don't know what I'm doing.
07:52How do I get,
07:52why are they trusting me?
07:54That's fun, though.
07:55It is,
07:55it's fun, yeah.
07:57Yeah, it just depends
07:58on the scene, I guess.
07:59But it's nice to know
08:00you can't call my bluff.
08:03Especially when 4 came around
08:04and they were like,
08:05they gave you like this book
08:06and be like,
08:06you want to do the hardest
08:07shit possible every day?
08:08Here you go.
08:09And you never seemed
08:11even jarred in the slightest.
08:17Watch out!
08:20All of like the guest stars
08:22were all very warm.
08:25Yeah.
08:25Just psyched to be there.
08:27Sean Astin.
08:28Sean was the absolute best.
08:30He's such a sweetheart.
08:31The greatest.
08:32Also Linda too.
08:33Linda Hamilton.
08:34Linda Hamilton is like
08:35the coolest.
08:36Like so cool.
08:38Honestly,
08:38she's a little intimidating.
08:40But only because...
08:41At first, but then you talk to her
08:41and then it's like, wow.
08:42Only just because you're like,
08:43for the first day of meeting her,
08:46you're like,
08:46oh my God,
08:46that's Sarah Connor.
08:47That's literally Sarah Connor
08:48and I'm talking to Sarah Connor.
08:49And then she's like,
08:50literally the nicest person ever.
08:52Yeah, really warm.
08:53Like so warm.
08:54Has like the best stories ever.
08:57I mean,
08:57this might be tooting the horn
08:59a little bit,
09:00but it seemed like
09:00they were also genuinely
09:01just excited to be there.
09:02Yeah.
09:03As we were.
09:04A lot of them were fans.
09:04Just because they were excited
09:05about the show.
09:06Like I know Sean
09:07like sending the tape
09:08just because he loved the show.
09:09After he sent the tape,
09:11Matt and Ross were like
09:11so embarrassed
09:12that he had been put on tape.
09:13Yeah, yeah, yeah.
09:14They were like,
09:15why did we do this to him?
09:16You should have just come right in.
09:18If there is a season six,
09:19a strange thing.
09:20Season six sounds crazy.
09:21Like you saying that,
09:22I was like,
09:23season six.
09:23No.
09:24Who do you want?
09:25Who's your fantasy lineup
09:26of guest characters?
09:28Who is it?
09:29Just throw in the weirdest
09:29wild card you've ever.
09:30All right, ready?
09:30I'll start.
09:31All right.
09:32Nathan Lane.
09:33Oh, dude.
09:35Oh my gosh.
09:35That'd be fantastic.
09:37Nathan Lane's a good pick.
09:38Nathan Lane would be,
09:39who would he play?
09:40Who would he play?
09:41I want to say he's like
09:43a relative of Dustin
09:44or something.
09:44Yes.
09:45His uncle?
09:46Yeah.
09:47Oh my God.
09:48Yeah.
09:48Or Dustin's uncle?
09:49I know.
09:49Not his dad.
09:50Not the dad.
09:50I don't know it.
09:51Well, actually.
09:52I'd rather Dustin's dad
09:53just be a never ending question.
09:56A question without answers.
09:58Right.
09:58How did that come to be?
09:59He's not even mentioned.
10:00No, single mom realness.
10:02Immaculate conception.
10:03Immaculate conception.
10:06She doesn't even know.
10:07The middochlorians made him.
10:09Like his mom's twin brother.
10:11Yes.
10:11That's it.
10:12And he's the person
10:12that got into technology.
10:14Easy.
10:15He comes in and he's like,
10:16this is such a good idea.
10:17Dustin, check out this ham radio.
10:19Why was that Gilbert Gottfried?
10:21Yeah, it was.
10:22Dustin.
10:23I've got a new ham radio for you.
10:27Dude, that's good.
10:28Nathan Lane is such a good pull there.
10:31This is a really, really good question, though.
10:33Annette Banning.
10:34Oh.
10:35That's a cool.
10:36That's cool.
10:37That is cool.
10:38Jodie Foster.
10:39Oh, wow.
10:39Very good.
10:40That actually would be awesome.
10:41Because that's kind of like
10:42a of the time icon.
10:43Totally.
10:43Like jumping on in.
10:44That's really cool.
10:46Totally.
10:46I'm trying to think of like
10:47a really crazy one.
10:48Boy George.
10:49It's like us at the D&D table
10:58and I'm like,
10:58okay, guys,
10:59we're going to have to
10:59break into the gate here.
11:00And he's like,
11:01yeah,
11:01we're going to have to do that.
11:0430 years from the end
11:06of season five of Stranger Things
11:07say it's being made now.
11:09Who's playing us?
11:11Something that's making me laugh
11:12so hard is just
11:13is the visual of Julianne Moore
11:15on a skateboard.
11:17It's the funniest visual
11:18of all time.
11:19She drops in on a bowl.
11:23Reveal.
11:23Julianne Moore.
11:24That's awesome.
11:25A.K.A. Max.
11:26We're still dressed like Julianne.
11:26She's older now,
11:27but basically the same vibe.
11:30You know who I would really like
11:31if he wasn't in the show already?
11:33Would be Sean Asterson.
11:35Yeah.
11:36Julianne Moore and Nathan Lane.
11:37That's a really good one.
11:37That's hilarious.
11:38No, who do you think
11:39for you, Finn?
11:40I don't know.
11:42Adam Scott.
11:43He's too young.
11:44I don't know.
11:45That might work out.
11:45Adam Scott is actually
11:47pretty interesting.
11:48Yeah.
11:48That could work.
11:49He's got that kind of earnestness
11:51about him.
11:51Yeah, totally.
11:52That's a great pick.
11:53That's a good pick.
11:53Yeah.
11:54Fan casting.
12:02I was just thinking
12:03about the last table read
12:05and what a special day
12:07that really was.
12:07Wasn't it your birthday
12:09that day too?
12:10It was my birthday
12:10that day too.
12:11Basically,
12:12we had done
12:12the table read.
12:14Yes.
12:14Which was very emotional
12:16and like
12:17all of us cried.
12:19And then,
12:19you know,
12:20it was Gaten's birthday
12:21and we surprised
12:22Gaten with his sister
12:23and his mom
12:24who came into town.
12:26And then on top of that,
12:27we were like planning
12:28to this trip
12:29to Medieval Times.
12:30Which I didn't know about.
12:31And that was actually
12:32a really great day.
12:33Great day.
12:33Like an amazing day.
12:34Truth be told,
12:35I really didn't want to go.
12:37Really did not want to.
12:37To the table read?
12:38To Medieval Times.
12:40That's fair.
12:40Really did.
12:41Like I was
12:42kind of drained
12:43from the morning
12:44just because it was
12:44really emotional
12:45like the table read.
12:46And then I got
12:47back to my house
12:48and I was just like
12:49lying on my bed
12:49and I was like,
12:50I can't do it.
12:51I don't know if I can do it.
12:53And I was like,
12:53nope, it's Gaten's birthday.
12:54You were crowned
12:54the princess.
12:55Yeah, and I was rewarded.
12:57This is a very nice day.
12:59But I loved it.
13:00I remember when
13:01the van pulled up.
13:02The surprise little van
13:03and I saw you and Maya
13:05like trailing on foot
13:06behind me.
13:06Should we explain the van?
13:07Like crouched
13:07as if I wouldn't see you.
13:09Yeah.
13:09So everyone got together
13:10but then we realized
13:11like, okay,
13:11like how are we
13:12going to get there?
13:12Like this was like
13:13right after the table
13:14where Charlie Heaton
13:15was like,
13:15who lived around
13:16the corner from us.
13:17Charlie was like,
13:17do we have a car
13:18to get there?
13:19I have no idea
13:20what to do.
13:21Charlie like went online
13:22and tried to find like
13:23like van rental hire
13:26and we got this insane
13:28like old
13:29It was like a party thing.
13:31It was a party bus
13:32that showed up
13:33and it was just like,
13:34yeah, reeked of weed.
13:35Past things that happened
13:37in that van.
13:37We played like
13:38medieval times music.
13:39Yes, of course.
13:40Like the Skyrim soundtrack
13:41and a little Lord of the Rings.
13:43And you had costumes
13:44and you had ears.
13:45Costumes, a little ear.
13:46There was a fish
13:46pullover mask head
13:48that was a...
13:49And you had a turkey leg,
13:50didn't you?
13:50I certainly did
13:51have a turkey leg.
13:53This isn't like
13:55one of your campaigns.
13:58You don't get to
13:59write the ending.
14:01Not this time.
14:03What would it take
14:05for you guys
14:05to revisit your characters
14:07in 10 years
14:08if we were to do
14:09some kind of reunion special?
14:12Matt and Ross to beg.
14:13Yeah.
14:13It wouldn't just on there.
14:14Just...
14:15Please.
14:1660 year old men.
14:18Please come back.
14:19I guess 50.
14:1950 year old men.
14:20Not much.
14:21Not much,
14:23but also...
14:23But 10 years feels
14:24like too soon.
14:25I feel like we should
14:26wait.
14:2620 years.
14:28I would feel nervous
14:29just because...
14:2915 to 20.
14:30Like, I feel so good
14:32leaving Max
14:33at like this age.
14:35This chapter of my life.
14:36I don't know
14:37if she like
14:37needs life outside of it.
14:39It would have to be earned
14:40and it would have to
14:41take a very long time.
14:42And I think that
14:43jumping back into somebody
14:4510 years later
14:45is more of like a
14:46still at a
14:47what have you been up to stage
14:48and not like
14:49oh my god
14:49what does your life look like?
14:51Yeah.
14:51I feel like 20 years
14:52is the like
14:53the time where I would be like
14:54oh okay maybe.
14:56Maybe.
14:57We did the show for so long
14:58and then we did the last season
14:59and all of us were like
15:00you know
15:00it's gonna be great to move on.
15:02Like it's gonna be great
15:03to have the next chapter
15:04and then like
15:04in the last three months
15:05everyone I feel like
15:06unanimously was like
15:07we could do one more.
15:08Totally.
15:08We could do one more.
15:10I think I got another one in me.
15:11Yeah.
15:12We could do one more.
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