Gaten Matarazzo Says There’s a “Deep Fear” Over ‘Stranger Things’ Ending

Stranger Things will be ending after a five-season run on Netflix, but star Gaten Matarazzo admits to having a “deep fear” on the series’ looming end.

During an appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon on Monday, Matarazzo reflected on what he felt as he and the cast prepare to film the fifth and final season this year. 

“It’s interesting to constantly just be reminded how much people have resonated with it,” Matarazzo said. “I mean, it’s something that’s so important to all of us and has just been essential to the growth that I’ve had over all of my teenage years into my 20s. It’s the defining aspect of the past 10 years of my life, practically the past decade.”

After Fallon asked whether it felt “bittersweet” to see the series end, Matarazzo agreed. “There’s kind of an excitement there because you always want to wrap it up and you want to see how these characters are going to finally develop one last time, and how they’re going to finish their journeys. But also there’s like a deep fear. Not only has it been amazing, but it’s been pretty great job security for a while. Back to freelance,” he quipped.

As for what he hopes for his character, Dustin, and the story for the show’s last hurrah, the actor said, “I think it’s in the best hands it can be. Matt and Ross [Duffer] know these characters better than I think we might. And it’s really interesting ’cause they trust us all very much to make our own decisions and go about the scenes the way we’ve always instinctually wanted to. I’ve never really given myself an opportunity to think of what they might want to do and now’s the best time to start.”

Matarazzo did, however, say he’d “love to see a good launchpad for growth.” He explained, “I’d love to see these characters thrive and move on from the trauma they’ve endured over the past few years.”

When making the announcement in February 2022, the Duffer brothers shared that they had “planned out the complete story arc for Stranger Things” and “predicted the story would last four to five seasons.”

“It proved too large to tell in four but — as you’ll see for yourselves — we are now hurtling toward our finale,” they wrote in an open letter to fans at the time.

Matarazzo’s comments follow co-stars Millie Bobby Brown and David Harbour, who have both expressed feeling ready for the series to end.

“I’m definitely ready to wrap up,” Brown said in an interview with Seventeen magazine. “I feel like there’s a lot of the story that’s been told now, and we know of it, it’s been in our lives for a very long time.”

Meanwhile, Harbour told Discussing Film that after “almost nine years from filming the first season” he thinks “it is time for it to end.” He continued, “It is time for us to leave that nest and try other things and different projects. And to let the Duffer brothers try different things as well. I mean, those guys are so talented. I want to see what they come up with next. So it is bittersweet, but it’s definitely time.”