‘Stranger Things' cast gives update on filming Season 5

Hawkins, Indiana is about to be turned Upside Down one final time.

The last season of "Stranger Things" is officially in the works. The Netflix series shared an update on the latest filming status in a video posted to X.

“Take it all in, nerds…we’ve hit the halfway mark of filming the final season and wanted to give you all a look at what we’ve been up to,” the official “Stranger Things” account wrote.

The behind-the-scenes clip teased scenes from the long-awaited final chapter of the popular Netflix series, as well as candid moments with castmates Millie Bobby Brown, Winona Ryder, Finn Wolfhard, Gaten Matarazzo, Sadie Sink, Noah Schnapp, Caleb McLaughlin, Joe Keery, Maya Hawke Charlie Heaton and Jamie Campbell Bower.

“So I started when I was 10. I’m now turning 20 years old,” Brown says, featuring a video of her walking into stage door 11, which is the name of her character on the show.

“It feels very weird,” she adds.

Sink says in a voiceover that they’re “savoring every single moment,” while Schnapp teased that it will be the “best season yet.” McLaughin later adds that “the wait will be worth it.”

“Season Four was big. Season Five definitely feels bigger,” Campbell Bower says.

During the summer of 2023, production halted on the hit sci-fi series due to the writers and SAG-AFTRA strikes. At the time, Matt Duffer and Ross Duffer, the brothers and creative minds behind the sci-fi horror series, addressed the delay in filming on social media.

In January, the official “Stranger Things” social media account shared that filming had restarted, tweeting, “Stranger Things 5 production has officially begun!”

Read on to learn everything we know so far about Season Five of “Stranger Things.”

When does ‘Stranger Things’ Season Five come out

Matt and Ross Duffer announced in February 2022 that “Stranger Things” would end with five seasons.

“Seven years ago, we planned out the complete story arc for ‘Stranger Things.’ At the time, we predicted the story would last four to five seasons. It proved too large to tell in four…” they said in a statement posted on X.

In November 2022, Netflix uploaded a photo of the script for Season Five, Episode One on Instagram, revealing the title to be “Chapter One: The Crawl.”

After production was delayed due to the writers and SAG-AFTRA strikes, Netflix shared the exciting update with fans on X on Jan. 8. The streaming giant tweeted a black-and-white photo that featured all the beloved cast members reunited in one room.

“THIS IS A CODE RED,” the tweet said with two siren emoji. “Stranger Things 5 production has officially begun!”

The official “Stranger Things” X account reacted to the production news in the comments, cheering, “Here we goooooo!!”

On July 16, the show’s social media account shared that they had hit the halfway mark of filming Season Five and said the final season will be “worth the wait.”

Though Netflix has not yet announced a premiere date, fans know they will undoubtedly struggle bidding farewell to characters like Eleven, Mike, Will, Lucas and Max.

What the ‘Stranger Things’ cast have said about the final season

Millie Bobby Brown, who plays Eleven, spoke to Women’s Wear Daily about the end of “Stranger Things.”

“I think I’m ready,” she told the outlet in an interview published on Aug. 14, 2023. “It’s been such a huge factor in part of my life, but it’s like graduating high school, it’s like senior year.”

The 20-year-old actor added, “You’re ready to go and blossom and flourish and you’re grateful for the time you’ve had, but it’s time to create your own message and live your own life.”

Brown, who started filming the series when she was 12, shared a similar comment about moving on when chatting with Seventeen the previous March.

“I’m definitely ready to wrap up,” she said. “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. But I’m very ready to say goodbye to this chapter of my life and open new ones up.”

Brown said she was looking forward to working on other projects, but she was “grateful” for her breakout role.

Gaten Matarazzo, who portrays Dustin, opened up about experiencing a “deep fear” as the “Stranger Things” series finale approaches during an interview on “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon” in March 2023.

Reflecting on the show’s cultural impact, Matarazzo told Jimmy Fallon, “It’s interesting to constantly just be reminded how much people have resonated with it. 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.”

He agreed with Fallon describing saying goodbye as “bittersweet.” But Matarazzo said it will be exciting to learn the characters’ fates.

“But also there’s, like, a deep fear,” he continued. “Not only has it been amazing, but it’s been pretty great job security for a while. Back to freelance.”

Meanwhile, David Harbour, who plays Jim Hopper, echoed Brown’s stance that Season Five is a necessary conclusion.

He revealed during an interview with Discussing Film in February 2023 that he initially never wanted the show to end when it started.

“That’s why I love the show. I think it’s a great show, even if I wasn’t in it. Now we’re almost nine years from filming the first season, and I think it is time for it to end,” Harbour said.

The 48-year-old actor also described the situation as “bittersweet. “You know, there’s a sadness there,” he shared. “But also, we’ve all grown up. It is time for us to leave that nest and try other things and different projects.”

In May 2023, he told Variety he already knows how Hopper’s story will end. “I know what happens and it’s quite moving, and quite beautiful,” he said.

Co-star Finn Wolfhard, who plays Mike, shared a practical view of the situation when he was interviewed by Uproxx in January 2023.

He said he was “not ready” to leave the show behind but said he was curious to know how Mike’s storyline resolves.

“Also, to me, if ‘Stranger Things’ went on any longer than five, I would say it would be ridiculous,” Wolfhard said. “I think the Duffer brothers figured out, I would imagine, a perfect ending in five. We didn’t even know if we’d do two. So we’re happy that people still are around and want to watch it.”

Joe Keery, who stars as Steve Harrington, said last year he thinks “it’s time” for the show to end.

“It won’t be easy for it to end,” he told Women’s Wear Daily in an interview published Aug. 26, 2023. “I mean, I owe my whole career to being on that show and all the opportunities that I had since are because of that show.”

He describes his feelings as “convoluted.”

“There’s a sense of relief, there’s a sense of sadness. I guess my goal is to just really soak it up as much as I can while we’re doing it, and not take any of it for granted because it’s been an amazing ride with such great people,” Keery said.

After, he hopes to be able to “move forward” while holding on to the “joy” that he felt while making it.

“Everything has a beginning and the middle and an end. It’ll be nice to have the end of this too,” he said.

Linda Hamilton opened up about joining the “Stranger Things” Season Five cast during a Feb. 15 interview with Us Weekly, saying she felt like she had “imposter syndrome” on set.

“I’ve watched every season with relish. I just love it,” Hamilton said of being a fan before joining the series for its final season. “So it’s kind of, like, imposter syndrome where I don’t (feel that I) fit in there. That’s a whole world set in the ‘80s.”

She continued, “When you really buy into something, you don’t see yourself in it. So I think in a way, it kind of ruined the show for me.”

Hamilton explained that she never watches a project once she’s involved because it would “completely take me out of the reality of it to see myself in there,” adding that she doesn’t plan to watch Season Five of “Stranger Things.”

This article was originally published on TODAY.com