Stranger Things 5: Creators reveal who they almost killed off

The Independent

As Stranger Things returns for its fifth and final season, we break down everything you need to know ahead of the hugely anticipated finale.We talk to the Duffer Brothers about the pressure of ending a global phenomenon, their much-debated reluctance to kill off major characters, and what surprises fans can expect in season five.Jamie Campbell Bower also joins us to discuss how he crafted the now-iconic villain Vecna, and what he hopes the show’s legacy will be for years to come.

Transcript

00:00I do send voice notes to my friends and they can voice up those.

00:02What, are they like, please don't do this, I'm going to have a nightmare.

00:04Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

00:06Who's going to die? Who's going to get killed off?

00:07And you as writers, you can wield the axe at any time,

00:10and you kind of have it with the main cast.

00:11People have a bloodlust, which they seem to have.

00:14Your personal most surprising moments of the season.

00:17Can I have a word from each of you to sum that up?

00:19Oh, man.

00:21The...

00:24This is Streamline, your weekly guide to what's actually worth watching

00:28across film, TV, and everything in between.

00:31I'm Jacob Stowe, the chief film and TV correspondent,

00:34and I'm filling in for Eliza this week,

00:35who I believe might be trapped in The Upside Down.

00:38Now, let's talk Stranger Things and the end of an era.

00:43Almost.

00:44We have a plan. It's a bit insane.

00:47Yeah, what could go wrong?

00:49No idea, but I think we should find out.

00:51Volume one is out now, volume two drops on Christmas Day,

00:54and the final ever episode airs on New Year's Eve.

00:57This might be the most drawn-out finale in TV history.

01:01But it does give you the perfect excuse to dip out of Christmas dinner

01:05just after the pigs in blanket,

01:07and before your uncle summons the spirit of Nigel Farage.

01:10For those of you who are playing catch-up,

01:11Stranger Things follows a group of young friends

01:13who band together to defeat supernatural forces

01:16in the small town of Hawkins, Indiana.

01:19In the final season, the group tried to hunt down and kill Vecna,

01:22the entity behind all the terrifying and deadly chaos unleashed upon Hawkins.

01:27Everyone in?

01:30I want to see Vecna's heart on a platter.

01:34A lot's happened to the cast since the season four finale dropped three years ago.

01:38Joseph Quinn and Sadie Sink joined the MCU,

01:41Millie Bobby Brown became a mum,

01:43and David Harbour, well, I don't think anyone needs reminding of what happened there.

01:47You have a lot of nerve showing up here.

01:50What?

01:50The season four finale clocked in at a humble two hours and 20 minutes,

01:54so here's a very brief recap of everything you need to remember.

01:58Vecna tries to open a massive rift between Hawkins and the Upside Down by killing Max.

02:03Eleven revives her, but the damage is done.

02:06The portal tears open, Hawkins is a war zone,

02:09Max is in a coma, and Vecna is nowhere to be seen.

02:12Now, while I couldn't find Vecna,

02:14I did track down Jamie Campbell-Boer to ask him how he brought the villain to life.

02:18And before you ask...

02:19No, I'm not going to do it in Vecna's voice.

02:21No!

02:21I had to ask, I had to ask.

02:24One day I'm going to see you in a pub and I'm going to be like,

02:26say something in Vecna's voice.

02:29I do send voice notes to my friends in Vecna's voice sometimes.

02:31What are they like?

02:32Please don't do this, I'm going to have a nightmare.

02:34Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

02:35You've probably spoken about the voice a lot, but I am fascinated to know your technique.

02:41That is your voice?

02:42It is.

02:43Yeah.

02:43Wow.

02:44So what techniques do you have to kind of draw that voice from within?

02:46Just listen to a lot of Tom Waits.

02:51That beggars the conversation, Tom Waits conversation,

02:53which we don't have time for.

02:54We don't have time for that either.

02:55I spent a long time crafting it and it started with this thing of like,

03:02we hear this deep booming voice come out of the darkness and that's a really good starting point.

03:07And then I was trying things on for size.

03:09And again, I came back to Doug Bradley as Pinhead.

03:12The box, you opened it, we came.

03:17And it really was that grounding moment because I think Pinhead's such a beautiful character with

03:21regards to everything that he does is done with purpose.

03:24He's not one of those villains that's like running around chasing people.

03:28He's very considered, very precise.

03:30And the way Doug used his voice for that particular film or those particular first three movies is so

03:35beautiful.

03:36But I'm a singer too.

03:37So a lot of it was the idea of just relaxing, being able to be relaxed, opening up the larynx,

03:42using the diaphragm to make sure that it wasn't too forced.

03:46Because obviously when you force everything, your vocal cords close up and you get stressed out.

03:50Whereas when you're more relaxed, it's down here and open.

03:53I saw a means to realize my potential.

03:58There's a reason you hide from them.

04:02Stranger Things is Netflix's biggest cultural phenomenon.

04:05Not bad for a show that was actually rejected ten times before it got picked up.

04:09Fast forward nine years and it spawned a global fan base.

04:12It's own stage play, comic book franchise and of course, there's a spin-off in the works.

04:17Season four smashed a record for most views of an English language series in just one week.

04:23With a total of 7.2 billion minutes watched.

04:26That's 13,000 years of tweens fighting interdimensional goo.

04:30Pretty wild.

04:31And season five shows no signs of slowing down.

04:34Each episode costs reportedly between 50 to 60 million dollars and is between 90 to 120 minutes long.

04:41With huge success comes ridiculous pressure.

04:44I spoke to creators the Duffer Brothers about the stresses of bringing one of the biggest

04:48and most beloved shows of our time to an end and the legacy they hope it will leave behind.

04:53The pressure of ending a show that's as big as Stranger Things, I can't even imagine.

04:57What needs to happen for you guys to be satisfied with the legacy of Stranger Things?

05:01Oh my god. Well, I mean, something like that you don't know.

05:04I mean, we're really happy with how it ends.

05:06I mean, it all kind of comes down in so many ways to the last, you know, 10 minutes of the show.

05:11So we're really proud of that, but we were always aware of the fact that, you know,

05:16if you don't get that, you know, last 10 minutes or last half hour right, it doesn't matter how good the rest of it is.

05:23That's where we started. And when we were working on the season, we started there.

05:28We spent weeks on that, making sure we were happy with that and our writers were happy with it.

05:33And then we started from the beginning and outwards.

05:35I hope the fans are happy and satisfied with the ending.

05:40That's sort of, that's really the goal more than anything.

05:44I hope that it's one of those shows that people can look back on in years to come and remember exactly

05:49where they were when they first saw it and keep coming back to it.

05:53I have shows like that from my childhood, things like Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

05:57When I see them on planes, I'm like, oh my God, nostalgia, bring me back.

06:01But I think also one of the great things about it from people that I've met and from experiences

06:05that I've had and some of which have been highly emotional experiences is it's been that show

06:12that has like brought people together and either friends or family and loved ones.

06:17And that's a really beautiful thing.

06:20I hope that that memory is pervasive for people for a very long time.

06:25One small criticism the show has faced, sometimes gently, sometimes with intense rage

06:31burning through the pages of Reddit, is its reluctance to kill off its main characters.

06:35It's rare for a drama of this scale to have all the main lot make it through to the end.

06:39I mean, more of them should be dead by now.

06:42I'm just saying.

06:42But for the Duffers, this show was never about the dramatic death.

06:46We don't want to just be killing people for shock value.

06:49Of course, it's easy.

06:49We could kill anyone off at any point very easily.

06:51It's not difficult.

06:53It's more about the repercussions that that would have for all of our other characters.

06:59And at its heart, this show is a coming of age story, but it's also an adventure story.

07:03And so this isn't Game of Thrones.

07:05It's a very different type of story than we're telling.

07:08So we just need to make sure if and when we do it, it doesn't alter the tone of the show

07:13in a way that we don't want.

07:15We're just always trying to think ahead and not just doing it to shock people.

07:20Or because people have a bloodlust, which they seem to have.

07:23I mean, in terms of who came the closest, probably Hopper came the closest at the end of 3.

07:28And I think it was just hard for us to let go of that character.

07:33And obviously, you know, we talked about Max.

07:35But Max, you know, it's just kind of like that's a good example, Max, in terms of it sort of

07:41would defeat the purpose of her growth that entire year.

07:46It's like she goes through all of that just to die.

07:50It just feels mean.

07:51And it feels like it goes against what you've been trying to say.

07:56Stranger Things isn't just ending a story.

07:58It's closing a chapter of modern pop culture,

08:01especially because we watched the cast grow up in real time.

08:04No, it was your first kiss. Is that right?

08:06Yep.

08:07It was what?

08:08It reshaped how genre television works, revived 80s nostalgia,

08:12launched half a dozen acting careers and made Kate Bush a global chart-topper again.

08:17And since there are only 35 hours of Stranger Things,

08:21if you cancel all your plans and start right now, you'll be all caught up by Christmas.

08:25While Jamie and the Duffers were under strict instruction by Netflix

08:28to give nothing away about the final season.

08:30Oh, man.

08:32They did promise surprises ahead.

08:34There was an experience that we had that's later on in the show,

08:41where I can't wait to talk more about it.

08:46But it was a, uh, uh, uh, yes.

08:51That's all I can give you.

08:52Can you say a word?

08:52Just watching me.

08:53Can I say a word?

08:54Um, uh, ah, is the word.

08:56Ah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

08:58Well, look, thank you for, you, you successfully got through this without giving anything away.

09:02Yes.

09:02Relax now.

09:03This has been Streamline.

09:05Let us know in the comments section what you're hoping or dreading about the final season.

09:09Who do you think is actually making it out of Hawkins Alive?

09:11Don't forget to like and subscribe.

09:13And we'll be back next week with more recommendations just for you.

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