Gaten Matarazzo, who plays fan-favorite Dustin Henderson, said he was «taken aback» by how much he realized the «Stranger Things» finale made sense.
Major spoilers ahead for «Stranger Things» season five.
Hellfire lives! That is, if Dustin Henderson — and the actor who brought him to life, Gaten Matarazzo — has anything to say about it.
Dustin gets his mostly-happy ending in the series finale of «Stranger Things», which premiered on Netflix and in select theaters on New Year’s Eve, reportedly generating over $25 million at the box office.
After saving the world with his friends and destroying the Upside Down — and, apparently, Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown) along with it — the curly-haired wunderkind is crowned valedictorian of Hawkins High. Onstage at graduation, Dustin pays tribute to his fallen idol, Hellfire Club leader Eddie Munson, by flipping off his principal and urging his classmates to reject conformity.
«Screw everyone and everything trying to hold you back and tear us apart», he shouts gleefully, «because this, this is our year!»
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For Matarazzo, that speech rings especially true. The actor, now 23, delivered one of the defining performances of the hit show’s fifth and final season, earning praise for being an emotional powerhouse whose scenes often remind viewers of the sci-fi series’ more grounded, human stakes. (The heart-wrenching season-five scene in which Dustin sobs in the arms of Steve Harrington (Joe Keery), begging his best friend to stay alive, will go down as a series highlight.)
As one chapter closes, another one will surely open for Matarazzo, who, despite admitting to me that he would play Dustin for the rest of his life if he could, conceded that it’s time to say goodbye to Hawkins for good.
Business Insider caught up with Matarazzo to discuss his reaction to reading the «Stranger Things» finale, crying through filming scenes with his friends, and what’s next for him.On Eleven’s sacrifice and ‘sobbing like a child’ filming the party’s final scene
Take me back to your first read-through of the finale script. What was the plot point that shocked you the most?
It’s harder to say what shocked me then. It shocks me how well, I believe, the ambiguity of Eleven’s outcome sits. I was so curious as to how that was going to translate, and I was curious as to whether people were going to be frustrated by that. And after seeing it, they kind of handled that as perfectly as I could have imagined them doing so. It just bounced off the page really, really well. So that was really good to see.
It’s so hard when you’re reading it on paper, because you never know what something is actually going to end up looking like. Like, a giant-ass monster comes to life, and I’m like, «Oh, that’s going to be cool, I think.» And thankfully it is, which is great.
I was kind of taken aback by how much I was like, «Of course it ends like this. This is exactly how it needs to happen.»
As you mentioned, the show makes it pretty clear that Eleven’s death scene is up for interpretation. I’m curious about your take on her fate, as a fan and a viewer.
I don’t know. I feel like I don’t want to say, just because I really would love for that to be… I don’t know if people hearing what the cast has to think is going to influence their decision, and I don’t really want to influence that at all. I’d rather them fully just feel the way that they feel about it. And I’d rather just contribute to that privately rather than give my take.
The scene where all of Eleven’s friends are discussing Mike’s theory — how did that land for you onscreen, compared to when you read the script?
I think it’s exactly what it needs to be. It’s weirdly meta, and I love it. I love how self-referential it really feels. I love how much it almost feels like just us, as people, saying goodbye to this show and saying goodbye to the people who have invested their time and energy into watching it.
It feels like the first time that people can see us for being Finn [Wolfhard], Caleb [McLaughlin], Noah [Schnapp], Sadie [Sink], and I, and not just as our characters. I feel like it’s the first time they saw us all in that room, weirdly, as us.
Correct me if I’m wrong, but that was the last scene you all filmed together, right?
Yeah, that was the last one.
