Netflix revealed the first look at the emotional Stranger Things finale table read in the behind-the-scenes documentary, One Last Adventure: The Making of Stranger Things 5. During those emotional moments, fans realized that there was one major star who missed out on sharing the major moment with the rest of the cast, the Duffer brothers, and creative team.
Jamie Campbell Bower, who starred in the last two seasons of Stranger Things as Henry Creel, Vecna, and Mr. Whatsit, was not with the rest of the cast, and there was a very good reason for his absence.
Jamie Campbell Bower missed the Stranger Things finale table read after testing positive for COVID-19
Bower revealed to Variety in an oral history of the last days of filming Stranger Things that he was sick with COVID-19 for the final table read, which took place on Sept. 8, 2024.
"I’ve discussed Henry and Vecna, and this idea of isolation and loneliness. There are lots of coincidences — well, seeming coincidences — that happen in life in general, and one of those for me was upon being asked to come in to read the final episode of Stranger Things, I decided to get COVID. So my read through for that final episode was done on Zoom in isolation whilst everybody else was in the room. I thought it quite a fitting end."
One Last Adventure's third act begins with the finale table read with all the cast who has lines during the finale, including Millie Bobby Brown, Finn Wolfhard, Noah Schnapp, David Harbour, Joe Keery, Gaten Matarazzo, Sadie Sink, Caleb McLaughlin, and more.
Around the 1-hour-25-minute mark of the documentary, the cast gathers round for the final table read of "Chapter Eight: The Rightside Up," Bower is the only actor missing. We see him on a big screen for a blind-and-you'll-miss-it moment,
For those who don't know, the table read is when the cast and creative teams gather to read an episode together for the first time before they film the episode. With this being the series finale, this is the final time the whole cast would be together to read the episode together.
It's so interesting, and perhaps a little poetic, that Bower would not be present for the event. Instead, as he mentioned, he was isolated from the rest of the group, much like he was for most of production. There are very few scenes with Vecna and the rest of the other characters. Obviously, Schnapp, Brown, and Sink, and maybe Nell Fisher, had the most time with Vecna on-screen in Stranger Things. Other than that big action sequences in the finales of season 4 and season 5, Vecna is largely separate from the rest of the cast.
Just because he was separate from the group didn't mean that Bower didn't take a second to take in the moment he was just a part of, even if it was over Zoom. Here's what he told Variety that he remembered about what happened when the cast was done reading the emotional episode and ending:
"We finished doing the read through, and then Matt and Ross came up [to my Zoom screen], and they were almost like, 'Oh my gosh, you’re still here. Hi!' Just because I’ve been watching these people go through this emotional experience and thinking about how much this show has been there for people, I started to cry. All I could say to Matt and Ross was, 'Thank you. Thank you for making this such a huge part of so many people’s lives.'"
If you haven't had a chance to watch the documentary, I highly recommend it! One Last Adventure such an awesome look at how hard these talented people work to bring this series to life. And, I'm not just talking about the cast and creative team. It's dozens and dozens of devoted crew members that do their part to make this great show. It's proof that it truly takes so much teamwork to make it all come together.
One Last Adventure is also really emotional starting with that last table read. Then, you get to see the series wrap announcements for all the big stars, and that's really emotional, too.
You can watch all five seasons of Stranger Things and the One Last Adventure documentary on Netflix right now.