According to The Hollywood Reporter, Stranger Things series protagonist Finn Wolfhard (Stranger Things, It) has made statement regarding the upcoming final season of the show. Showing fear to the similar backlash received for the final season of Game of Thrones, saying: “The way that Game of Thrones got torn to shreds in that final season, we’re all walking into this going, ‘We hope to not have that kind of thing happen’ … But then we read the scripts. We knew that it was something special.”
For those who don’t know, the Game of Thrones finale famously suffered greatly from angry fan backlash, criticizing the ending, character development, and the changes done to fit the show into a set of eight episodes, instead of the traditional ten. Fans accused writers of rushing the story, and that the writers were out of ideas and just wanted to wrap it up, all of which hit further kindling with the knowledge that the source for new material coming from the A Song Of Ice And Fire books, had dried up because the Winds Of Winter, and A Dream Of Spring have yet to be written. This ultimately culminated into what many have considered the worst series finale in TV history.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, the fear stemmed from the unknown perception that season four would obtain.Many members of the show’s cast and crew feared decline in interest and viewership for the new season, which could have resulted in a reduced budget—especially since season four’s episodes reportedly averaged $30 million each. However, their concerns seem to have been alleviated, as The Hollywood Reporter states that the final season’s episodes now carry an average budget of $50–60 million each according to The Hollywood Reporter.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Co creator Matt Duffer (Stranger Things, Hidden) also stated that he was surprised that the company does not seem to be interested in other projects with the franchise, or spinoffs, but rather keeping their hand close to their chest with the property, especially with what appears to be their strategy to dominate the holiday season, with releases of episodes to align with Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s Eve. They may want to avoid spoilers or ruining the anticipation for the end.
Regardless of what the creators, executives, actors, or crew may think of the final season, and the finale itself, the final perspective and ultimate decider of whether the finale will go down in history as a success or failure is up to the viewers, meaning that the destiny of the series is yet to be set in stone.