Endings are tough. Ending hugely popular hit fantasy shows is even tougher.
Stranger Things star Finn Wolfhard says that the team making the Netflix hit’s highly anticipated final season worried that the show could suffer the same fan backlash that greeted HBO’s Game of Thrones.
“I think everyone was pretty worried, honestly,” Wolfhard tells Time magazine in a new feature story about the season (along with a cover image that’s definitely … interesting). “The way that Game of Thrones got torn to shreds in that final season, we’re all walking into this going, ‘We hope to not have that kind of thing happen’ … But then we read the scripts. We knew that it was something special.”
Thrones famously ramped up the cinematic spectacle for its final two seasons and made longer and more expensive episodes — something Stranger Things likewise did for its previous fourth and upcoming fifth-and-final season. Yet fans clearly embraced the super-sized scope when season four premiered three years ago.
“We were nervous about season 4,” co-creator Ross Duffer said, which was one of the most expensive seasons of TV ever made at a reported $30 million per episode. “It was such a relief when it got the viewership it did because you don’t want to scale down for your final season … or an abbreviated final season … these were all possible realities.” The final season has been pegged at a reported $50-60 million per episode.
Co-creator Matt Duffer noted that he’s been surprised that while the team is considering various ways to expand the franchise, Netflix hasn’t exerted more pressure to come up with a direct sequel. “I’m kind of surprised there hasn’t been more pressure [from Netflix],” he said. “They would love us to go in and pitch it, but they haven’t forced us to do it.” While Netflix chief Bela Bajaria added, “When they’re ready, I’m ready.” (It also seems likely that such an idea would be kept under wraps until after the final episode airs to prevent spoilers).
As previously announced, Netflix is doing a unique release strategy for the final season, looking to own the holiday season by dropping four episodes the day before Thanksgiving, three more on Christmas and the movie-length series finale on New Year’s Eve.
