Joe Keery is already having bittersweet feelings toward the “Stranger Things” series finale.
The actor told WWD that while he’s ready for the hit Netflix show to wrap up, it “won’t be easy” to say goodbye to the series as a whole.
“It does feel like it’s time,” he said, adding, “it won’t be easy for it to end. I owe my whole career to being on that show, and all the opportunities that I had since are because of that show, so it’s very convoluted. There’s a sense of relief, there’s a sense of sadness.”
“Stranger Things” premiered in 2016 and is set to wrap up with the fifth and final season. Keery noted that he has had to emotionally prepare to walk away from the show while getting ready to film the final episodes.
“I guess my goal is to just really soak it up as much as I can while we’re doing it and not take any of it for granted because it’s been an amazing ride with such great people,” Keery said. “And then once it’s done, move forward and try to just hold on to the joy that we had when we were making it.”
He concluded, “Everything has a beginning and the middle and an end. It’ll be nice to have the end of this too.”
Keery’s co-star Sadie Sink said earlier this year that the last season will be “emotional” for the cast.
“It’s going to be awful. It’s going to be horrible,” Sink said. “These kids, this entire cast and crew, it’s family. People say that all the time, but I genuinely mean it. And to think that we have to say goodbye to that security and knowing that we’re going to be seeing each other for another season? It’s scary and sad, but I think it’s exciting to kind of move on to the next chapter, I guess.”
Due to the SAG-AFTRA strike, “Stranger Things 5” production has been delayed; yet according to cast member David Harbour, the cast received scripts for the season prior to the ongoing WGA strike. Harbour teased that the series’ conclusion will be “very, very moving.”
“They’re terrific, as per usual,” he said of the slated episodes. “They continue to outdo themselves, these currently on-strike writers called the Duffer Brothers. It’s a hell of an undertaking, too. I mean, the set pieces and the things in the scripts that we saw are bigger than anything we’ve done in the past…I’m excited to wrap it up in a bold, amazing way.”
“10 Cloverfield Lane” and “Prey” filmmaker Dan Trachtenberg is set to direct at least one episode of “Stranger Things” Season 5.
