Stranger Things stars bid farewell to collection in emotional tributes: ‘Nowhere near ready to leave you guys’
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Stranger Things stars Millie Bobby Brown, Noah Schnapp and Finn Wolfhard are mourning the end of the show, each sharing heartfelt tributes to the cast and crew.
Filming for the fifth and final season of the hit Netflix show wrapped on Friday (December 20). The last season is scheduled to premiere sometime in 2025.
“Isn’t graduation supposed to bring relief, like you’re glad to leave behind the teachers and classmates? Not me,” Brown, 20, said tearfully in a video shared on Instagram. “I am nowhere near ready to leave you guys. I love each and every one of you and I’ll forever carry the memories and bonds we’ve created together as a family.”
Alongside the clip, Brown — who stars as psychic Eleven — included various on-set photos from across the years. “With love, el,” she captioned the post.
Twenty-year-old Noah Schnapp — who plays timid Will Byers — made a separate farewell post on Instagram, writing: “Two days ago, I wrapped my final scene as Will Byers, and I’m feeling very emotional. As I close this chapter of my life, I can’t help but be forever grateful for the incredible people that I’ve met and valuable life/career lessons I learned through this decade journey.”
Going on to call Stranger Things “a lifelong dream,” he thanked creators Matt and Ross Duffer for “taking a chance on me when I was just a 10-year-old kid and entrusting me with something so important to you both.”
Schnapp also included throwback and behind-the-scenes images of himself and his co-stars.
Meanwhile, Finn Wolfhard, 21, who portrays Eleven’s friend-turned-lover Mike Wheeler, said that he was “still in shock” that they had wrapped on season five.
“We shot it for a year and I’ll miss all of my friends and our characters terribly,” he said in an Instagram post. “When I think of the show, I picture this first photo. A bunch of goofy young people making something they think is cool but really have no clue what’s to come. I feel like we’re still those people and I’m lucky to still stand beside them today. I hope you’ll love this season as much as I do. See you all next year.”
Since 2016, the three young stars, alongside Gaten Matarazzo, 22, and Caleb McLaughlin, 23, have led the Netflix series as a group of friends caught up in investigating the supernatural mysteries plaguing their Indiana hometown.
It was confirmed after the fourth season in 2022 that the final season would feature a one-year time jump in order to keep up with how quickly the show’s stars are out-aging the characters they play.
Season five will welcome the return of the entire cast, including Winona Ryder as Joyce Byers, David Harbour as Jim Hopper, Sadie Sink as Max Mayfield, Natalia Dyer as Nancy Wheeler, Charlie Heaton as Jonathan Byers, Maya Hawke as Robin Buckley, Priah Ferguson as Erica Sinclair and Jamie Campbell Bower as Vecna.
