Major spoilers ahead for “Stranger Things” season five.
Hellfire lives! That is, if Dustin Henderson — and the actor who brought him to life, Gaten Matarazzo — has anything to say about it.
Dustin gets his mostly-happy ending in the series finale of “Stranger Things,” which premiered on Netflix and in select theaters on New Year’s Eve, reportedly generating over $25 million at the box office.
After saving the world with his friends and destroying the Upside Down — and, apparently, Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown) along with it — the curly-haired wunderkind is crowned valedictorian of Hawkins High. Onstage at graduation, Dustin pays tribute to his fallen idol, Hellfire Club leader Eddie Munson, by flipping off his principal and urging his classmates to reject conformity.
“Screw everyone and everything trying to hold you back and tear us apart,” he shouts gleefully, “because this, this is our year!”
Courtesy of Netflix
For Matarazzo, that speech rings especially true. The actor, now 23, delivered one of the defining performances of the hit show’s fifth and final season, earning praise for being an emotional powerhouse whose scenes often remind viewers of the sci-fi series’ more grounded, human stakes. (The heart-wrenching season-five scene in which Dustin sobs in the arms of Steve Harrington (Joe Keery), begging his best friend to stay alive, will go down as a series highlight.)
As one chapter closes, another one will surely open for Matarazzo, who, despite admitting to me that he would play Dustin for the rest of his life if he could, conceded that it’s time to say goodbye to Hawkins for good.
Business Insider caught up with Matarazzo to discuss his reaction to reading the “Stranger Things” finale, crying through filming scenes with his friends, and what’s next for him.
On Eleven’s sacrifice and ‘sobbing like a child’ filming the party’s final scene
Courtesy of Netflix
Take me back to your first read-through of the finale script. What was the plot point that shocked you the most?
It’s harder to say what shocked me then. It shocks me how well, I believe, the ambiguity of Eleven’s outcome sits. I was so curious as to how that was going to translate, and I was curious as to whether people were going to be frustrated by that. And after seeing it, they kind of handled that as perfectly as I could have imagined them doing so. It just bounced off the page really, really well. So that was really good to see.
It’s so hard when you’re reading it on paper, because you never know what something is actually going to end up looking like. Like, a giant-ass monster comes to life, and I’m like, “Oh, that’s going to be cool, I think.” And thankfully it is, which is great.
I was kind of taken aback by how much I was like, “Of course it ends like this. This is exactly how it needs to happen.”
As you mentioned, the show makes it pretty clear that Eleven’s death scene is up for interpretation. I’m curious about your take on her fate, as a fan and a viewer.
I don’t know. I feel like I don’t want to say, just because I really would love for that to be… I don’t know if people hearing what the cast has to think is going to influence their decision, and I don’t really want to influence that at all. I’d rather them fully just feel the way that they feel about it. And I’d rather just contribute to that privately rather than give my take.
The scene where all of Eleven’s friends are discussing Mike’s theory — how did that land for you onscreen, compared to when you read the script?
I think it’s exactly what it needs to be. It’s weirdly meta, and I love it. I love how self-referential it really feels. I love how much it almost feels like just us, as people, saying goodbye to this show and saying goodbye to the people who have invested their time and energy into watching it.
It feels like the first time that people can see us for being Finn [Wolfhard], Caleb [McLaughlin], Noah [Schnapp], Sadie [Sink], and I, and not just as our characters. I feel like it’s the first time they saw us all in that room, weirdly, as us.
Correct me if I’m wrong, but that was the last scene you all filmed together, right?
Yeah, that was the last one.
So you feel like your personal feelings about the show ending bled into those performances?
Of course. I mean, it was our last day. I remember they did some wide shots, the whole scene of the campaign leading into it, before it got really emotional. And then they did the first bit of coverage on that last bit of the scene, and they started with Sadie’s coverage, and for some reason, I just couldn’t handle it. I wasn’t even on camera.
I just started blubbering. And the thing is that it was loud. She was in the middle of her scene, and I was trying to say the lines that I had, and I sounded like I was choking on a biscuit, and it was so obnoxious. I felt terrible.
The scene ends, and she just laughs at me. It was a very fun memory with her, but I felt terrible. I felt like I ruined her coverage. And I think it is the shot that they use. She has a chuckle. It very well could have been her just laughing at me, sobbing like a child.
And then for some reason I was spent, and I couldn’t cry anymore. I got that out, and then it was time for my coverage, and I’m like, “Well, I’m dry.” I had nothing. I had nothing in the tank. So I had to start from scratch.
On the Duffers’ meta easter egg in Dustin’s speech and the funniest part of filming that Mind Flayer scene
Axelle/Bauer-Griffin/FilmMagic
Switching gears to one of your big moments, the valedictorian speech. What was your reaction to that when you read it for the first time?
It was fun. The first line was, “I just wanted a normal childhood.” For some reason, Matt [Duffer], Ross [Duffer], me, all the kids just started… Yeah, we couldn’t even get through that little section without it becoming overtly emotional.
That’s such an interesting thing for Matt and Ross to wiggle in there, because they were so good about making it as normal of a situation as it could be. They were so good about making it such a warm, inviting, professional, fun place for a kid to grow up in. And yet, I still think that they had anxiety about the idea. They had a fear that maybe they took some of the normal childhood away, but they really didn’t. I want that to be very clear, that they were major contributors to maintaining that childhood.
I think them putting that in there was their way of kind of acknowledging that. And I thought that that was very touching and very beautiful, and I hope they know that they have nothing to worry about in that department.
Courtesy of Netflix
Were you surprised that you were meant to deliver one of the show’s final defining monologues?
Yeah, I was. I was very nervous about it, because as I’m reading through it, I’m like, oh, great. He’s just talking about the theme of the show — changing for the better through trauma with your friends. It fully is just what the speech is about, and all of us feel very similarly to the way that Dustin feels, as people being a part of it. So there was some pressure there.
But I got to be there with my friends, and I got to look at my friends throughout that whole scene. I found it just cathartic and stunning, and I was very, very honored and privileged to be given the responsibility of delivering that.
Beyond the obvious tribute to Eddie, what does the T-shirt slogan “Hellfire Lives!” mean for Dustin’s legacy, and for you personally?
I think it’s a really cool way to acknowledge that Dustin has learned to deal with his grief healthily, and that’s such a valuable lesson that he, I know, will take with him throughout his adulthood, and he’ll be able to help other people through that.
I think people who deal with grief at a young age develop — despite how scary that can be as a situation for somebody so young — it equips them with the tools to be able to help so many people go through it themselves. I think he develops into one of those people, and that’s really special and something I wish I had as a teenager.
Of course, it’s not just losing Eddie that affects Dustin throughout the season, but the fear of losing more of his friends.
There’s even a sense of guilt that I think Dustin felt initially after he lost a friend, where there was almost a bit of relief that it wasn’t Steve. I’m sure he feels a lot of shame in that.
Another key friendship moment in the finale is when Lucas saves Dustin from the Mind Flayer. What did that mean to you and Caleb to have that scene together?
Oh, it’s lovely. It’s so fun doing it, too, because I love seeing Caleb do stunts. He’s tremendously good at them.
My favorite part about it is — I’m sure there are videos of it — when we had to set up for that shot, it was like we had to wrap around each other and do the tuck and roll. But while we’re setting up, he’s just on top of me, and we’re wrapped around each other very intimately.
It’s a very funny picture that we heavily laughed at, doing a bit about us being wrapped in each other’s arms — fully smut-novel-at-an-airport-style wrapped in each other’s arms on the cover of a book. It’s hilarious.
On what happened to Dustin’s girlfriend Suzie, Will’s surprising fate, and a world without the Upside Down
Courtesy of Netflix
Did you ever have a conversation with the Duffers about what happened between Dustin and Suzie?
I didn’t have a conversation with them about it. I think, unfortunately, what can be assumed is that in Dustin’s yearlong unhealthy grieving process — I mean, if he’s cutting out the friends that are day-to-day spending time with him, you can imagine he probably cut out a long-distance relationship. I would like to think he did so nicely. I don’t think he did so nicely, because he wasn’t very nice at that point in his life.
Or maybe she was sick of his shit. Maybe she was just like, “I’m not dealing with this.” And that would be very tremendously fair of her. So I can imagine she was like, “I don’t have time for any of this.” So I like to think she probably broke up with him.
Hopefully he gets more dating opportunities in college.
You know, he’ll be fine. He’s a confident guy.
You seem pretty tapped into the “Stranger Things” lore, so I’d love to get your take on Will’s fate. I was convinced that, being connected to the Hive Mind, he was going to die with Vecna.
Yeah, right.
What’s your reaction to that?
I think it’s great. I’m also curious to see if the kiddos will inevitably end up having a similar connection to the Mind Flayer, specifically, and to the Hive Mind, because they were under that trance, and they were tubed up with Hive Mind guts being pumped through their systems throughout the show. And even though you see the Mind Flayer leave their bodies, it did the same to Will, but Will kind of had that innate connection.
I guess the thing that you hope for is that because the Upside Down is gone, there is no physical connection between the Mind Flayer’s dimension, the abyss, and our world anymore.
So I’m sure that if the Hive Mind were to come into contact with any of them again, they would be able to tap into it. But because it’s kind of in deep space somewhere, there really isn’t any way for it to come back — which is, I think, a relief.
Courtesy of Netflix
Would you be interested in appearing in a “Stranger Things” spinoff or sequel series?
Oh, man. We just wrapped it up!
It’s a deep breath. I love the show so much, and I would play Dustin for the rest of my life if I could. I don’t know if the show would be serviced by us doing that, at least not for a very, very long time. So I will say, not yet. Who knows what 20 years from now looks like? Who knows if they’ll have other opportunities?
And they also have their own spinoff in the works as well. [The Duffers are] already working on expanding this lore and exploring new parts of the world. I believe I’m allowed to confirm that this gang and this crew is not a part of that, which I think is necessary, but I would love to be this part again someday.
But I really do think that entertaining that conversation takes away from understanding that this really is the end of their story.
Not many actors get to revisit the same character for 10 years. How has playing Dustin informed the kinds of roles you hope to take going forward?
It’s unreal. Momentum and consistency is so hard to come by. When you work in film, you have 20 pages of script to go and deliver what the backstory of somebody looks like before getting into the crux of the movie that you’re in.
We had a decade to explore, and find new context, and unfold, and unpack, and show everybody who this person was front to back. And there isn’t an opportunity to do that really ever in this job. So that’s always been one of my greatest joys, being able to fully unpack him.
What are you working on that you’re most excited about?
I have a movie coming out in the spring that I’m stoked for people to see, a comedy that I worked on with Nick Kocher and Brian McElhaney, who are the BriTANicK comedic duo, and it’s their first feature, so that’s going to be a lot of fun. That’s due at SXSW, which is going to be a blast. And there’s talks, there’s very early development things in the theater that are unconfirmed and just maybes at the moment, but I would love to get back on stage very soon.
This interview has been condensed and edited for length and clarity.
“Stranger Things” is streaming now on Netflix.