‘Stranger Things’ creators say show’s child stars didn’t get ‘ruined’ by success because of their friendships

By Dan Heching, CNN

(CNN) — As the final chapter of “Stranger Things” approaches, series creators Matt and Ross Duffer are looking back.

The Netflix juggernaut premiered back in July of 2016, and at Variety’s Entertainment & Tech Summit in Los Angeles on Thursday, the pair was asked for their thoughts on the fact that the child actors with whom they began this journey are now all adults, some with children themselves.

“It’s wild. It’s a reminder of how long this has been and how lucky we are. Because we’re really– it’s a family who’ve sort of gone through all this together,” Matt Duffer said, joking that he was pleased that none of the young stars were “ruined by this experience.”

“So that was a relief,” he added, drawing laughs.

“I think it always comes down to the parents,” Ross Duffer said. “They had good families, and supportive parents (who) kept them grounded.”

He also thinks there was strength in numbers.

“I think it also kept them grounded that it wasn’t just one of them,” he said. “There’s a whole group of them, and they stayed friends and they stayed connected when seasons ended.”

During “challenging” moments, he said, “they were not going through any of it alone.”

“Stranger Things” follows a group of kids who come to discover a dark alternate mirror dimension beneath their town called the Upside Down, and a mysterious little girl named Eleven (Millie Bobbie Brown) somehow connected to it. Along with Brown, core cast members of the show include Noah Schnapp, Caleb McLaughlin, Gaten Matarazzo and Finn Wolfhard, along with the slightly older Joe Keery, Natalia Dyer and Charlie Heaton.

When the show started, the youngest cast member, Schnapp, was 11.

“Stranger Things” castmate Winona Ryder, herself a figure who grew up in the industry, spoke earlier this week about watching her young costars come into their own.

“I got to watch these kids grow up, which was the biggest gift this show has given me,” said Winona Ryder, who plays the mother of central character Will Byers in the series, in a new featurette.

Over its decorated tenure, “Stranger Things” – which packs major retro vibes honoring 1980s film staples from “Stand By Me” to “Ghostbusters” – has won 12 Primetime Emmys.

The most recent fourth season of the show premiered in 2022, and introduced viewers to perhaps the most terrifying character from the Upside Down, Vecna (Jamie Campbell Bower).

The fifth season will see the ragtag group of characters faceoff against Vecna one final time. The season will be broken up into three sections, premiering around three big holidays this year: Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s Eve.

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