Step back into the Upside Down for Stranger Things Season Five! As a series that debuted ten years ago, it has reached massive levels of popularity, and has earned many accolades for its impressive storytelling: fifty-seven Emmy nominations and twelve wins, four Golden Globe Awards, and four Grammy Awards.
This constant success led to the fifth and final season’s budget skyrocketing as a result, with the season having between $400-$480 million dollars total in their production budget.
Behind –and under– the scenes of this nostalgic fantasy thriller, there’s much more than meets the eye.
For instance, the sets were made with the intention of quickly switching from rightside up to upside down.
This effect wasn’t easy, however, since it required a total of fifty-two miles of painted black pool noodles with wires threaded through them made to look like vines.
The whole season took about a year to film, the crew shot six-hundred and fifty hours of footage.
Each of the eight episodes, about an hour each in length, will have their debuts spaced out, with the first four episodes being released on November 26, three more on the way for Christmas, and the final episode on New Year’s Eve.
The final episode will be two hours long, and is expected to do well enough that it will have a limited theatrical release in over 350 theaters in Canada and the U.S.
It is not only the sets that have been changed for the new season, since with the new season come new cast members including Nell Fisher (Holly Wheeler), and Jake Connelly (‘Delightful’ Derek Turnbow).
The returning teen cast is Millie Bobby Brown (Eleven), Noah Schnapp (Will Byers), Finn Wolfhard (Mike Wheeler), Gaten Matarazzo (Dustin Henderson) and Calb McLaughlin (Lucas Sinclair), getting the fans hooked before the show even starts.
“I’m excited to see all the characters come back,” junior Isabella Arias said. “I love Mike. He is always been there for Will even though they had that argument a few seasons back.”
One returning cast member has sparked controversy in the hearts of fans. David Harbour, who plays the gruff father figure “Hopper” to protagonist Eleven, is going through a messy separation from singer Lily Allen in real life that has completely shifted the public’s opinion of him.
“That changes my view a little bit about Hopper,” junior Hailey Wensauer said. “He’s nothing like that as his character, but the actor?”
With the show coming to a close, it’s clear that the finale to this hit series will be huge.
English teacher Kristin Lyons, fondly reminisced on her memories with the series.
“What I’ve enjoyed most of the series is watching these children grow up from the beginning of the first season to this last season,” Lyons said.
Though many students have grown up with the Hawkins Crew, watching the series come to a close will be bittersweet, but satisfactory none the less.