The world is only days away from Stranger Things 5 premiering on Netflix, and with it being the final season, the biggest fear for fans is that one of their favorite characters might die. Creators of the show, Ross and Matt Duffer, did little to put those fears to rest in a newly published interview.
“The goal was always to scale up each series with the age of the characters and our audience,” Ross told The Times on Thursday, November 20, “but then we keep getting new audiences. Hopefully, parents don’t get too mad at us.”
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Matt chimed in and said, “I would say season five is not as violent as season four, but it has the most violent death of any season.”
Each season has ramped up the scares, so much so that Ross even admitted that one particularly gory scene in season 3 got cut by Netflix.
“We try to restrain ourselves,” Ross said. “There was one shot in season three that we did have to cut. It was when Bruce [an obnoxious local journalist played by Jake Busey] was melting. His nose melts into his face and Netflix said, ‘Absolutely not!’”
Charley Gallay/Getty Images for Netflix
However, the Duffers have always wanted to maintain one goal: a heartfelt narrative style.
“Back when we came up with the idea, the antihero was very popular,” Matt explained, seemingly implying characters like Tony Soprano and Walter White. “Everything was cynical and that made us miss this type of story. The intention was to return to that earnest [Steven] Spielberg storytelling that had a sense of optimism no matter how scary things got.”
He continued, “And I think maybe that’s one reason it resonated beyond the nostalgia. It was not supposed to be a giant homage to the 1980s.”
Matt also added that he and Ross wanted to be sure to give closure to each character’s story.
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“Every character’s ending needed to feel right,” he explained. “That was more important than providing the fans with the ending they’re hoping for. But as much as possible I don’t even look online. I’m not actually even sure what people want to happen.”
Thankfully, they don’t have much longer to wait to see how everything wraps up. Stranger Things Season 5 Volume I premieres on Netflix on November 26, 2025, at 8 p.m. EST.
