Stranger Things Star Reveals How Final Episode Has Already Broken Its Young Cast

The cast and crew of Stranger Things are nearing the completion of principal photography on the fifth and final season of the beloved Netflix series, and star David Harbour has revealed that the emotion is already getting to the young cast. The actor also teased that fans can expect a “very beautiful” and emotional last episode. Harbour has portrayed Jim Hopper throughout the entirety of the series, and though he was separated from most of the cast in Season 4 thanks to being trapped in a Russian prison, he’ll reunite with everyone in Season 5 when it debuts next year.

Sitting down for an interview with ComicBook.com, Harbor spoke about what it’s been like to reassemble with the kids from Hawkins, Indiana for the final season of Stranger Things. He called the whole thing a “wild experience” for everyone, seeing how they were so young when filming started, and now they’re all grown up.

“Getting back to the OG crew of this final season has been wild in a way because we have come so far and it is not the show that we started in Season 1. I think that’s a wild experience for all of us. I mean, those kids were 11 years old when we started, 12 years old. Now they’re 20 and they’re shaving and they aren’t kids anymore. Finn (Wolfhard) just directed a movie.”

He’d elaborate further, revealing that everyone recently gathered for the final table read of the last episode of Stranger Things, which he calls “very beautiful.” It was an emotional moment that saw a lot of tears, which was to be expected given the fact that the cast have been through so much together over the course of the series.

“We just did a read through of the last episode and the amount of crying… like the episode is very beautiful. But there’s also a deeper level of that, this was actually their childhood. They were 11 years old and grew up and fought this monster. And I’ve never seen so much heavy, heavy weeping from teenagers or young adults in my life.”

David Harbor Hopes We Never Get to See That Table Read

With a series like Stranger Things that’s become such a part of pop culture, fans have always clamored for more behind-the-scenes footage showing how the sausage is made. From its elaborate VFX to blooper reels, nothing has been off limits. That being said, if Harbour gets his way, we won’t be seeing much of that final table read, which he admits was filmed, but says he hopes remains an intimate moment between the cast and crew.

“There was some cameras there, but we didn’t do it for the publicists or the Instagram people. There was something intimate about the way they structured it that I’m hoping that you don’t see very much of that, because there was something profound in the sense that we are a family. There is the deeper level, it is about us as individuals who’ve worked together for nine years since they were kids, and that really came through. There was a real deep kind of honesty and heartbreak and bittersweet quality to all of it.”

In a way, we kind of agree with him. Stranger Things has taken up so much of everyone’s lives, and the cast have been in the spotlight so much, that for them to have a special moment like that together just feels right. Cathartic, almost. In a world where everything seems to eventually make its way onto social media, this is one behind-the-scenes shoot that we’re in no hurry to see.