During a interview with Jimmy Fallon (Taxi, Jurassic World, Saturday Night Live) on his late night talk show The Tonight Show, child actor Gaten Matarazzo (Prank Encounters, The Angry Birds Movie 2, Les Miserables) addressed his fears to the public about the show that started his career and launched him and his fellow cast members into Hollywood stardom, coming to an end, via the The Hollywood Reporter. After the apocalyptic season four finale of Stranger Things, the show will end after one more season set to release sometime in 2024.
Matarazzo appeared on late night television yesterday night, March 20th, to answer highly long-awaited and anticipated questions. When asked about the Netflix hit that made his success possible, he talks about the show as a child and how he spent a majority of his life in a mythical horror program.
Matarazzo states, “It’s interesting to constantly just be reminded how much people have resonated with it, I mean, it’s something that’s so important to all of us and has just been essential to the growth that I’ve had over all of my teenage years into my 20s. It’s the defining aspect of the past 10 years of my life, practically the past decade.”
When asked about the series ending and what would come next he says, “There’s kind of an excitement there because you always want to wrap it up and you want to see how these characters are going to finally develop one last time, and how they’re going to finish their journeys. But also there’s like a deep fear. Not only has it been amazing, but it’s been pretty great job security for a while. Back to freelance.”
He was also asked about his character Dustin’s story after losing a dear friend, who despite being looked at as a freak, brought Dustin under his wing and later sacrificed himself for a town that thought he was the legitimate spawn of satan. Matarazzo analyzes his character saying, “I think it’s in the best hands it can be.” Matarazzo said via THR.
“Matt and Ross [Duffer] know these characters better than I think we might. And it’s really interesting ’cause they trust us all very much to make our own decisions and go about the scenes the way we’ve always instinctually wanted to. I’ve never really given myself an opportunity to think of what they might want to do and now’s the best time to start.”
Finally, the child actor said he’d “love to see a good launchpad for growth.” continuing with “I’d love to see these characters thrive and move on from the trauma they’ve endured over the past few years.” The first four seasons of Stranger Things are currently available on Netflix with more news of the final fifth season to come.