Original subtitles

We find Henry and Holly at the table in the house.

You still thinking about your parents?

Yeah.

We also discover that Henry's been watching Holly for some time,

and he's chosen her.

I thought blackberries might cheer you up.

And I really had to think long and hard as to, "Why Holly?"

And I think that Holly, for Henry, is probably the hardest to break.

She's the smartest.

She would see through the lie before anyone else.

And if he can break her,

then the others just fall into line really easily for him.

The only comfort they have is knowing that you are here, safe.

With me.

Safe from the monsters.

Holly has been speaking to

what seems to be an imaginary friend.

She calls him Mr. Whatsit,

based on a character in the book A Wrinkle in Time.

Mr. Whatsit strikes her as a little odd and a little off,

but she's kind of more blindsided by Henry

being this marvelous savior figure

For Henry, the world is a really dangerous place.

This is a world that hasn't been kind to him.

This is a world that hasn't been nice,

and I found it really interesting

that he could build any world he wants to in his mind.

He chooses a childhood memory.

He chooses the place where he grew up.

He's created the perfect world for himself within that.

-I love it. -Yay.

Me too.

This is Mr. Whatsit, right here.

The inspiration for this was a mix of Dr. Brenner and Mr. Rogers.

So Brenner was in brown, warm, tonal suits early on,

when he was training all of his numbers,

and number One was around him the most.

So I would think that, even subliminally,

Henry would reach towards something

like a friendly, warm brown color.

-It's great. -M'kay.

And then the Mr. Rogers of it is this pop of red

because Mr. Rogers would put on those bright red sweaters.

I feel ready.

And significantly terrifying enough.

How did you know?

A hunch.

And cut!

The first thing I complimented the Duffer brothers on

when I met them was the heart.

There's a lot of loyalty in this group, you know?

They will sacrifice for one another.

It's this family that has formed,

and it's a very potent examination of that.

And the heart is never missing from the show.

This is Frank, the GOAT.

Oh please, the old goat.

The billboard fight at the wall

with Hopper and Akers and his men

was one of the more challenging scenes.

Just the sheer kind of logistics of shooting in that environment,

outside at night…

in the Upside Down, with explosions,

…two, one, go!

With stunts, with gunfire…

Explosion!

That was wild, just being in that location.

It's just an ambiance around there that really gave it

a certain heightened quality to it.

And then, you know, it's fun working with Millie,

and it's fun, you know, shooting guns and running around.

It's just a very physical scene.

I need to know about that fleshy wall.

Don't know a damn thing about it. I'm just a grunt.

The interrogation scene has a special place in my heart.

That was my audition scene,

and my mom read opposite me as Hopper.

So when I booked the role, I could call my mom and say,

"Mom, we booked Stranger Things."

So, I knew I wanted to deliver on the promise of my audition.

What the hell is she doing?

I don't really know how it works,

but I know it's not a good idea to have her

rooting around there for too long.

I wanted to get that testosterone thing

happening between these guys.

They're both alpha dogs.

One's now taken prisoner,

and the other one wants to get information out of 'em.

Let's turn the heat up on that pot of spicy stuff.

It have something to do with the wall?

I don't know!

Just get her out of my head! Get her out of my head!

It was a little bit of, you know, defining exposition worked in

with the gnashing of teeth and the butting of heads.

It's one of my favorite scenes, I think, I've ever directed.

Loved it. Check it!

Working with Frank Darabont was a blast.

That guy's a genius. He's a total pro.

I was just blown away by his attention to detail

and his love of the show

and his love of my character specifically.

There were times when my wife has turned to me and said,

"Hopper's kind of your spirit animal, isn't he?"

He's a simple man.

Sometimes the solution is "mow those Russians down."

I'd kill a thousand guys like you to protect the one person that I love!

I just love that character so much. And I love…

I cannot imagine another actor playing it.

-The same thing. -Same thing. Okay.

-Same thing. Exactly. -Okay, cool.

I love Frank. He brings actually a very similar

aspect to what the Duffer brothers bring.

Just like a sense of mystery,

and kind of bringing it to life in the moment.

I love just letting us kind of find it on screen.

And cut!

-Cutting. -Good?

This is Derek.

And this is the rest of the Turnbow family.

Mike started sort of as the Dungeon Master

and someone that is kind of always planning for disaster,

and planning to protect his friends.

And as the seasons have gone on,

Mike has sort of deviated from that part.

Now I think, because it's the final season,

he's gone more back into season 1 mode,

where he is much more comfortable, I think, with himself,

and much more comfortable with creating plans.

We're gonna need to recruit someone the family trusts,

someone that can gain access to the house.

Listen, I know you probably hate me right now,

but I thought you might want your favorite pie.

The hunt for Holly begins.

Our team kind of turns into a Mission: Impossible team.

They have to infiltrate the Turnbow residence,

and they have to try and save Derek Turnbow

from being kidnapped by a Demogorgon.

Fatty McFatfat.

Derek, remember what we talked about…

Derek is an outcast.

He has no friends. He takes it out on others.

Blast off!

-Derek, stop! No! Go away! -Hold on tight!

Derek started as kind of just a generic bully character,

but we met an actor, Jake,

who we felt was very charming and hilarious to us,

that we started to gradually increase the size of his role

throughout the season.

Holy shit, Dad's wasted again.

Derek, please!

We had eaten dinner, and now we were onto pie.

Erica Sinclair had come over, and she was in a feud with my sister,

but "made up with her" with a pie that was drugged.

Oh my God.

That whole sequence was just written for Priah.

We knew she was gonna kill it, and she did.

Erica, call 911!

Erica!

Erica is very upset at Tina,

so she does it to help save Hawkins.

But she also, I think, she kind of wants to do it a little bit.

Erica, I told you to call 911!

And I told you to eat your damn pie.

You see a dark side of Erica. It's kind of like,

"Okay, girl, I didn't know you had all that in you, but okay."

We love setting traps for monsters.

Obviously, we've done it over the course of various seasons,

including, of course, with Jonathan and Nancy in season 1.

So we wanted to do one last big set-the-trap,

just a classic Stranger Things episode.

It's really remarkable to me

how brave all of the characters have become.

And so it's really everybody putting their big superhero pants on

and going out and fulfilling their destiny.

The Demogorgon appears in Derek's room,

and he thinks he's got Derek cornered.

But really, when he approaches Derek's bed,

pulls up the covers to find out that it's just a dummy.

Catch this!

We built this trap in the living room floor.

There's a hole. Put a rug over it.

We lure the Demogorgon to the trap.

But I'm the decoy because I'm the fastest one.

And action!

Shotgun!

They hit me with a flare that lights me up on fire.

So the Demogorgon's sitting here in a pile of barbed wire…

Finally, the Demogorgon's like, "Forget this. I've had enough."

And he just hightails it out of there, basically.

He knows when he's met his match.

That was a really fun thing to shoot. All the intensity…

And, you know, working with the props.

You feel pretty cool in those kind of scenes.

Holly is in the Creel house

when she gets this note in the mailbox.

And she finds a map as well, and she follows the map into the X.

The first thing that really made the hairs on my neck stand up

was the reveal in episode 3.

Here is this character who we all love.

And at the end of season 4, we weren't sure if she'd make it.

When I read that, it felt like,

"Okay, this show is kicking into another gear."

It feels a lot different than the last seasons.

Yeah, it's a whole new ball game, for sure.

Hi.