The fifth and final season of Stranger Things aired throughout fall and winter 2025, ultimately wrapping up on New Year's Eve. Overall, the final season was satisfying enough of a conclusion, even if it didn't quite live up to the gargantuan expectations from years of fan anticipation. Netflix continues to grow the Stranger Things Universe, most recently releasing an animated prequel called Tales from '85 in April.
For the final season, many of the cast, who began their journey as child actors, had grown into adults. They grew up alongside their characters, knowing them as well as — if not better — than the creators, the Duffers Brothers, themselves. Naturally, they wanted an input into how the story ended.
Noah Schnapp and Jamie Campbell Bower wanted to explore their characters deeper
Look no further than Noah Schnapp (Will Byers), who grew confident enough to offer storytelling tips for season 5. And he wasn’t the only one.
On Thursday, Noah Schnapp brought up his "unanswered" text messages to 'Stranger Things' creators, Matt and Ross Duffer, while discussing the fifth and final season of the Netflix series during an FYC event at Hollywood Forever Cemetery. pic.twitter.com/ZUoJJATfXD
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“Starting off as a kid, you kind of walk in all nervous and scared and think your opinion is not valued,” he said an FYC event at Hollywood Forever Cemetery (per Deadline). And as you get older, you’re like, ‘No, I’ve been with this character for so many years, and I also have an opinion that matters.’ And I think coming into this [final] season I felt confident in that.”
Schnapp went on to reveal that he actually sent Matt and Ross Duffer a series of texts and video messages, chock full of narrative ideas. “I mean, the Duffers can speak to how many texts I’ve sent them that went unanswered of ideas and pitches for this and that, and videos of, ‘Should it go this way or this way?'” he said. The Duffers responded with a chuckle, but series executive producer and long-time director assured that they'd “read every one” of his messages.
“They didn’t go unanswered, what are you talking about?” Ross added. To that, Schnapp had the ultimate response: “I can pull up the receipts.”
Vecna himself, Jamie Campbell Bower, also had his suggestions unanswered (at least, at the time). “Again, like Noah, [I] sent a load of text messages that didn’t get answered,” he revealed. “But the boys are very sweet because they just let me kind of ramble and then we’d come back to it later.”
All of that said, there's no hard feelings between any of them, with Schnapp saying the duo are "such great listeners [who] value their actors.”
Stranger Things and Tales from '85 are both available to stream on Netflix.
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