spoiler alert: the following text contains spoilers for the 8th episode of the 5th season of “Stranger Things”
Those who have already watched just over two hours that bring the end of “Stranger Things” have come across a very emotional last scene full of references to the beginning: a game of Dungeons & Dragons between Mike (Finn Wolfhard), Dustin (Gaten Matarazzo), Lucas (Caleb McLaughlin), and Max (Sadie Sink). “It had been planned for a long time. That basement, specifically the game, represents their childhood and that’s how we, as an audience, got to know them. To say goodbye, you have to play one last game“, explains Ross Duffer, one of the project’s creators in an interview with Netflix. “That was the first scene we shot, and it seemed appropriate that it would be the last. We even tried to reproduce with the camera what we did in Season 1, so many years ago.”
At the end of the game, the characters discuss the “cliché happy ending” that Mike gives to his characters, until the teenager makes an analogy between the game and their lives, and it is at this moment that he reveals his theory that Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown), the Magician, had survived the events and was on a journey alone around the world. After many tears, we see each character leaving through the basement door. “They are leaving childhood behind“, reveals Matt Duffer, also creator of the series.
As they leave, a new group of kids enter the basement and venture out to start playing Dungeons & Dragons, Derek (Jane Connelly) and his classmates. “It’s time for them to leave everything behind and pass the baton to the next group of children.”
The series ends with a very symbolic moment: after Mike observes the new group of RPG players with a tone of nostalgia, he leaves and closes the basement door, which Ross evaluates as the representation that the new generation is about to have their “own childhood”, and which also symbolizes the end of our story. “I think Finn gave a really beautiful performance there, because you see him go through genuine sadness and grief at leaving everything behind“, concludes Matt.
