Back in July, the folks behind Stranger Things announced that they were halfway done with filming the show's fifth and final season, which is due out on Netflix sometime next year. Now it's November, and while filming continues, we're reaching the point where the cast and crew are starting to bid goodbye forever to some of the iconic sets from the series, including Castle Byers, the makeshift fort where young Will Byers (Noah Schnapp) spent time hanging out as a kid before getting snatched away to the horrific Upside Down dimension.
Apparently the Upside Down version of Castle Byers will show up in season 5, because there's a video of Schnapp telling fans that they just finished the last-ever scene set there, saying goodbye and reminiscing about when he filmed on this set when he was only 10 or 11 years old. He's 20 now. Watch below:
saying goodbye to a piece of Stranger Things history this ST day 🏰 passing the phone to the one and only Noah for a proper send-off #StrangerThings5 pic.twitter.com/FfQpMmRYea
— Ross Duffer (@rossduffer_) November 6, 2024
Stranger Things started airing in 2016, when many of the main cast members were just entering their teens or were even younger. Fans have gotten to watch them grow up onscreen. For as emotional as it might be to see the end of Will Byers' story whenever the final season comes out, it must be doubly so for Schnapp, who is turning the page on a formative chapter of his life.
We can probably expect more of this kind of thing as filming barrels towards a conclusion. Actors like Millie Bobby Brown and Finn Wolfhard, stars whom Stranger Things introduced to the world, will have their final days on set, not to mention seasons pros like Winona Ryder and David Harbour. Stranger Things is the rare show that has built up a unique world and a fanbase despite being a completely original idea. It's become a media titan before our eyes, and saying goodbye will be a big deal.
When we last saw our cast of characters, they watched as the Upside Down dimension leaked into the sleepy town of Hawkins, Indiana, setting up a final confrontation with the malevolent Vecna. New episodes will start airing on Netflix in 2025. Fans will have been waiting around three years by the time they drop. For the characters, it'll be more like one year, if we're reading the latest teases correctly.
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