Duffer Brothers Describe Writing the Stranger Things Season 5 Finale as Their Toughest Challenge Yet Due to Intense Pressure from Netflix

The Duffer Brothers have shared that crafting the finale for Stranger Things season 5 was “the most difficult writing circumstance” they’ve ever faced.

In the new documentary One Last Adventure: The Making of Stranger Things, they explained, “We were getting hammered constantly by production and by Netflix for episode 8. It was the most difficult writing circumstance we’ve ever found ourselves in, not just because of the pressure to ensure the script was solid, but because there was so much noise happening at once.”

Matt Duffer also confessed, “We went into production without having a finished script for the finale. That was scary because we wanted to get it right. It was the most important script of the season.”

The finale has sparked mixed reactions among fans, with some even speculating that it might be a fake-out, hoping for a secret additional episode to deliver a “real” conclusion to the series (dubbed Conformity Gate).

One Last Adventure: The Making of Stranger Things premiered on Netflix on January 12, offering a behind-the-scenes look at the final season and revealing that the show’s ending was altered to leave Eleven’s fate more ambiguous.

All episodes of Stranger Things are currently available for streaming on Netflix.