Original subtitles

This Episode 7 is traditional

in the sense that we have all our characters reuniting,

sharing information, and developing a plan,

but it's a little less action- and plot-heavy,

and more emotional, I think, than most of our episodes.

It is this pivot point towards the end game.

And… now!

Stay with me. All the way, Max.

Finally, after having been in this coma/trance

all season long,

Max awakens.

I can't feel… much.

Do you feel this? Do you feel my hand?

Right before this scene, I remember Shawn calling, "Action,"

and then the energy switched, and changed,

-and then I looked into Sadie's eyes. -…eyes to Sadie, and…

Action.

Yeah, that's it!

-Stay with me, Max. -Yes.

When we finished the scene, everyone was quiet.

The crew was quiet.

Then, like, Maya and Amy started crying,

then Sadie started crying,

then I started crying.

-And, cut! -Tail sticks.

Everyone felt the presence of,

I guess, what we brought to the table.

The whole time…

I just needed you.

Just you.

With something like that, when a scene is so beautifully written

and the moment is just as touching as that is,

then it kind of makes my job easier

to, like, really connect with Max,

and when Caleb is giving such an incredible performance, as well,

I just felt very lucky to be in that room.

-Every now and then as an actor… -Action!

…a spell is cast in the room.

And that day,

the spell was cast,

and I

went home feeling so inspired.

And cut.

Very good.

Holly has escaped Camazotz.

So she wakes up in something that we call the Pain Tree,

and it's where Vecna, or Henry,

is keeping all of his kidnapped children.

As far as the Pain Tree goes,

we wanted to design something that had these really

sort of arachnid characteristics

and then also something that looked like Vecna.

You know, it's, like, an extension of him.

The sculptural base of it all is a foam,

and then that's when our scenic department comes in,

and just experimented endlessly with all these different materials,

layering them, and then, like, stretching them and pulling them.

There's so many different layers that went into that.

The level of detail and the talent that goes into all of it

is just mind-boggling.

Any set that's, like, that big, you want to be able to walk onto it,

and feel like you own the space.

It was nice to just feel, "Okay, this is my home."

"This is where I'm residing."

We've always assumed the Upside Down

is another dimension opened by Brenner,

but it turns out it's actually

a bridge.

That's like classic Dustin.

So that was like when that felt really fun to jump into,

and Dustin's had a few of those, like,

expository science-y monologues over the course of the show.

And so it felt like home getting to do stuff like that.

This wormhole connects Hawkins to here,

another world that I've coined "The Abyss."

I remember, it was part of the way through season one that Netflix

asked us for, like, a mythology document,

and we explained exactly what the Upside Down was,

and why it was frozen in time and all this,

and we wanted to keep the mystery,

but this being our final season, we said we should just

have our characters figure out exactly what this place is.

Okay, this flashlight is the Squawk radio tower, and this Slinky…

is the Bridge.

When you have a friend as smart as Dustin Henderson

you're always kind of a little behind the ball

so you're always playing catch-up.

Wham. Voilà. You've got a beanstalk.

Usually, I'm sorta trying to figure out the plan

that's being delivered to me,

rather than, you know, delivering the plan.

-I like it. -It's not totally insane.

That's a very important moment,

because I think Steve never really believes he's very smart.

And I don't think that's true.

And to be able to have a big moment of strength there,

where it's kind just like, "Holy shit, he did it,"

is really needed and earned on his part, and

I think it's a good moment for Joe. He is so talented.

I think he had fun doing it, and I loved watching him do it.

The Abyss, the Demos, the Mind Flayer, all of it, gone.

Game, set, match.

Great. And just a slight push-in, please, because why not?

In my face.

Okay, and split the difference on this one, please.

I remember having a blast that day.

It felt light-hearted. It felt fun, 'cause it was

energetic, and the flow was really great.

That was a really fun scene to shoot, just working with everybody.

Honestly, the vibe was a really fun set.

Seeing it all meld together and watching these personalities

and suddenly really realizing what a good job

Matt and Ross did with the casting of all those individuals,

that was the funnest day I think I may ever have had on a set.

Have you thought about it, what it all means?

I'm really trying to convince her that this is more important

than her friends, than Mike,

than the life that she has.

Because if she doesn't do it, they will all die.

So we kill her.

She replaced Papa. Another will replace her.

This situation just keeps getting reinvented, you know?

If it's not Papa, it's Kay.

There's always going to be somebody chasing,

trying to use them for their own nefarious reasons.

Don't you see, Jane? It's a cycle.

These babies are deadlier than they look.

You sure?

My character's struggle for the season

is feeling like his friend is kind of closed off, and shut off,

and maybe acting rashly out of, like, an emotionally insecure place.

You know, him giving me the Eddie spear and shield

is kind of like calling a truce and waving the white flag

and gives my character a moment of pause,

which kind of brings upon an apology

for maybe how things sort of have been dealt with.

I miss my best friend.

Yeah, I miss my best friend too.

And action!

Ready!

And…

God, I hope BTS is somewhere…

Ready! And action!

Action, Noah.

Earlier today, when…

Noah has gotten older in this season,

and to see him grow as an actor has been really great.

And so I had him try on a few things, and we knew we wanted the collar

to feel like the collar from the first season,

when we meet him in his little, like, tan and orange vest.

We just felt like the color tones all worked together,

and Noah felt really happy.

And that's ultimately what I want the actors to feel.

You know, to feel like their character,

to feel comfortable, to feel ready to, like, take on the world.

Wait.

I think you need to hear this too.

Everyone does.

Will and his coming-out scene

was something that we've been building to

for a very long time.

I am. I am different.

It's important that he comes to terms with this,

and once he's able to do that,

he's heading into this final battle

with a confidence and maturity that he hasn't had before.

I… I don't like girls.

From Season 1, if you look in the lookbook,

it says like, he, you know, felt different, and is "queer," and…

It's always been there.

But the Duffers really took their time with that storyline and that arc,

and didn't rush it, and didn't push it in your face.

And that's what makes it so real, because it's like…

That's not his whole story.

There's the struggles of his dad who left the home,

and the mom who's a drunk,

and the traumas of being stuck in the Upside Down,

and his friends who are growing up faster than he is.

And there's so many layers.

It makes it so real and authentic,

and I just… I love it so much,

because they wrote such a great, beautiful character.

I read it every morning, every night, for the month leading up to it,

and then that allowed me, on the day,

to just… to completely forget about the script,

completely forget about remembering my lines,

and that just kind of poured out of me, and what I could focus on

is just tapping into that feeling and that emotion,

and the words will spill out on top of that feeling.

It just felt so real.

It felt so real.

Will…

Noah blew me away, you know, this season.

He had a lot to do, and it was beautiful work.

it was incredible to witness.

And it was done. And everyone was clapping,

which I've never experienced before on the set.

Like, the whole cast got up and clapped for me,

and I felt pretty good about myself.

And it was a really special moment that I'll never forget.

And I'm so glad that I had the whole cast there to watch me

and support me, and experience it with me.

Most of them found out about me personally in, like, news headlines,

and I always felt like I missed out on that chance

to really, like, sit them down and tell them.

And now… It did really help me,

like, I do feel a lot more comfortable in that part of me with them,

because of that scene, so…

Showtime, Snookums!

Mellon.

Murray has, like, a lot of incredible action moments

in this season.

Let's see how you like this!

I hope it's an appetizer for a massive action-hero career to come

where I keep surprising everybody.

Now comes the fun part!

-Still shooting. -Ah, stop that!

This is Matt.

The stakes feel pretty high.

We're, like, in action mode.

The question was always, "How're they going to end this?"

I never speculated, even in my own brain,

because the Duffers always surprise us

no matter what you think it's gonna be.

At the end of the episode there's a sense of dread,

or uncertainty, that pervades specifically related to Eleven.

There's a look and a moment between her and Kali

where it seems as though Eleven has agreed to Kali's plan,

to stay in the Upside Down when it explodes,

so even if they are to succeed, there's a big question mark there

in terms of what's going to happen to Eleven.