The beloved Netflix series Stranger Things is coming to an end with its fifth and final season. While fans are excited for the new episodes and sad that the series is wrapping up, actor Joe Keery (Fargo, Spree) shares the same bittersweet attitude towards the grand finale.
Keery plays one of the most beloved characters in the series, Steve Harrington. A popular jock turned babysitter, Steve has taken a long journey in character development alongside the audience. This journey not only carried the character along for the ride but the actors as well.
“It does feel like it’s time,” said Keery. “It won’t be easy for it to end. I owe my whole career to being on that show, and all the opportunities that I had since are because of that show, so it’s very convoluted. There’s a sense of relief, there’s a sense of sadness,” Keery told WWD. He then went on to talk about how he is going to emotionally prepare for the project to be over.
“I guess my goal is to just really soak it up as much as I can while we’re doing it and not take any of it for granted because it’s been an amazing ride with such great people,” Keery said. “And then once it’s done, move forward and try to just hold on to the joy that we had when we were making it.”
Stranger Things is one of Netflix’s most successful and popular TV shows. Originally premiered in 2016, the 80s sci-fi series has been running for four, fast-paced and highly acclaimed seasons. It is also a high-stakes show, created by writers who are not afraid to kill off any of the fan-favorite characters. When the possibility of Steve being killed off was prominent towards the end of the fourth season, Netflix went ahead and posted on their own billboard saying “PROTECT STEVE” after fans begged the writers to not kill him off. Along with this, during a WGA strike picket line, a Stranger Things writer shared to Twitter “Pay us or Steve Harrington is toast.” Keery’s character is a clear fan favorite, and everyone wants this character to remain safe and sound all the way up to the finale.
As the WGA/SAG-AFTRA strike continues, production on Stranger Things 5 has been delayed. But actor David Harbour (Black Widow), who played Jim Hopper in the series, wants fans to know that it is worth the wait. When asked about the final episode, Harbour told IndieWire “I know what it is. I know where we net out and it’s very, very moving. That is the term I will use.” He then concluded, “I’m excited to really swing with this character because you know they’re going to pay off these OG characters: Eleven, Hopper, Joyce, Will, Mike. They’re going to pay them off in big ways because they’ve lived with you for the past eight years.”
The release date of Stranger Things 5 is still unknown, but the creators assure that the finale will not be the end of the tales from the Upside Down.