0:00

Hello, Charlings. It is

0:02

I, Princess Weeks, coming at you

0:04

to say that Tessa and I are taking what

0:06

we think is a well deserved break

0:09

for the next two weeks. We are going to

0:11

rest, recoup, some in

0:13

the dark spirits, really hot

0:15

girl fall things, but do not fret

0:17

We still have some amazing geeky content

0:20

to share. Here's an episode of

0:22

the Geek series unlocked with

0:24

the cast of Stranger Things Your Faves.

0:27

Please enjoy. I know I will and see

0:29

you in two weeks, my darlings.

0:33

Welcome everyone. I'm Felicia Day,

0:35

and this is Stranger Things unlocked, where

0:37

Netflix geek gives you an exclusive look into

0:39

the shows you

0:40

love.

0:48

Today, we're talking season

0:50

four volume two of Stranger Things.

0:53

an epic battle of eleven versus

0:55

one. Yeah, it's a lot of numbers, but I have a master

0:57

grief. So I'm here to help you make sense

0:59

today. In today's adventure, we find out

1:01

what's next in season five and beyond

1:04

from the Doctor Brothers.

1:04

I hope this isn't spoiling too much. We were

1:07

totally geeky out.

1:07

We cover our heroes who ventured

1:10

back into the upside job. Yeah.

1:12

Not everyone makes out alive. I just hope that she's

1:14

able to do anything. No. No.

1:16

No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No her

1:19

papa, Matthew Modi.

1:20

Don't talk about Harper in front of me.

1:22

I don't like it. I know

1:24

you don't. The most metal guitar solo

1:26

ever stream.

1:27

I didn't think I'd ever be able to come fulfill

1:29

this adolescent fantasy of being a

1:31

rock star.

1:31

M executive producer, Sean Levy,

1:33

sits down to talk about bringing season four

1:36

to scream.

1:36

remember reading it going like,

1:38

wait, we got choppers now. Wait,

1:40

eleven sitting down at chopper with mind.

1:43

Sit back, relax, and let us control

1:45

your mind from our studio just like eleven

1:48

herself. Broilers

1:50

ahead.

1:59

What better way to wrap our minds around the twist

2:02

in terms of season four than a chat with our

2:04

guests. The

2:04

masterminds, the Defer Brothers, Matt,

2:07

and Ross. Thank you so much for being here.

2:08

Thanks for having us back.

2:10

So let's get to it. We

2:12

and with L entering Nexa's mind, and it

2:14

looks like one is on the ropes,

2:16

but that is not how things turn out.

2:18

Can you talk a turning that a little bit.

2:20

I

2:21

mean, it was this season,

2:23

we always wanted our Empire Strikes Back

2:25

season we

2:27

tried it a little bit with three, but this is this is

2:29

kinda really doubling down on that idea of, like,

2:31

you know, at least three has

2:34

a sad note. There's sacrifice, but

2:36

they defeated the evil or at least pushed it

2:38

back for a while, whereas this one we wanted them to

2:40

actually lose. Mhmm. And

2:42

so we wanted our characters to experience,

2:44

what that felt like. And

2:46

that was the, you know, that was the big idea

2:49

really coming into four. Right? Yeah. They that

2:51

they were gonna lose, and we're gonna introduce Vigna

2:53

and that they were gonna lose to him -- Mhmm. --

2:55

that would be setting our characters up for what

2:57

is gonna be the ultimate final confrontation.

2:59

Yeah. With Vigna, with the upside

3:01

down, which is gonna be season five.

3:03

So let's start with the origin of the upside

3:05

down. Can you explain a little bit about

3:07

what's going on there?

3:08

we do sort of set up the idea

3:10

first. In episode seven, we talk about

3:12

how it's in the past. Mhmm. And

3:14

it sort sort of frozen in time

3:17

of this time when Will was

3:19

taken. And the questions as

3:21

to why that is is still not we

3:23

haven't answered it yet. It will be

3:25

it will be answered in

3:27

it will be answered in season five.

3:30

But I do think we give some hints

3:32

to what that answer is when we see

3:34

what happens with Henry

3:36

when he's in this when he's in this other

3:38

world and he's seen dimmer organs

3:41

just around and he finds

3:43

the mind flaring this other world. So we're starting

3:45

to hint at what is going

3:48

on here, but there's there's there's

3:50

still answers to come. And I think the

3:52

answers to what the upside down

3:54

actually is -- Mhmm. -- is

3:56

really gonna be the core of

3:58

what season five is in the mysteries

3:59

of season five. Oh, right. And those

4:02

answers are really gonna lead us to

4:04

the conclusion of this story.

4:06

Well, I mean, we have so many

4:08

characters, so many storylines going

4:10

on. How do you choreograph

4:13

all of these things going together? How do you track

4:15

all the characters? because Even the smallest character

4:17

has a character arc, and I'm just I'm

4:20

really fascinated. It's so much. And you keep

4:22

adding characters out of I

4:22

know. I know we need to stop. some

4:25

reason, obviously, we're stopping. We're stopping. We're stopping. We're

4:27

not adding any more characters in season

4:29

five, I promise. No. It just you know, we

4:31

have a we have a great writer's room

4:33

and we just outline, outline,

4:35

outline. I mean, we just we really you

4:37

know, I I'm all about

4:39

planning. We're not free flowing. You

4:41

know, as we write, we really try

4:43

to best as possible. Think about

4:45

all of that ahead of time. So you think about, you

4:47

know, we knew where Max was gonna go.

4:49

We knew where

4:51

Lucas was gonna go. We

4:53

knew what, you know, de facto history

4:55

story line. We knew that very early on. Right? I

4:57

mean, not seeing it doesn't evolve a little bit

4:59

as we go, and we're learning as we go. We

5:01

knew L's trajectory for the

5:03

story. So those are the earliest things that you

5:05

talk about as you're talking about the season.

5:07

And then just try to make sure that

5:09

you're tracking it. And then this season,

5:11

we also had the benefit of there

5:13

was a shutdown due to the

5:16

the pandemic, COVID, and,

5:18

you know, we were down for about six

5:20

months. Mhmm. So for the first time ever, we

5:22

were able to actually complete all

5:24

the scripts. before shooting started and

5:26

then relook at

5:28

them as a whole and then

5:31

fix any issues, any

5:34

and make sure the characters were tracking

5:36

from episode to episode. If there was

5:38

a if there was a character arc that was

5:40

feeling a little bit light or incomplete, we

5:42

were able to go in and plug in

5:45

those holes. And that was something that we just

5:47

simply never have the time normally.

5:49

Normally, what happens is we write about

5:51

four scripts, three

5:52

to four scripts, and then

5:54

we start shooting. Mhmm. And then we're kind of writing

5:56

as we're going and there's a little bit though

5:59

there's there's a plan,

5:59

sometimes

6:00

things slip through the cracks. So this seasonally

6:02

had the luxury of a lot

6:04

of extra time. So anyway, that's one of the

6:06

benefits of four. It will never happen again.

6:09

Hopefully, I hope it hopefully, it never

6:11

happens again in terms of us having that amount of

6:13

time. But It

6:15

it it was nice that we were

6:17

able to -- Yeah. -- give every character

6:19

their due in this season.

6:20

That kind of detail, the little grace notes everyone

6:23

has it feels a complete, you

6:25

know. A binge feels like one,

6:27

although it's the longest

6:28

binge in history. Yeah. No. Maybe they

6:30

were little things. Like, I mean, even even a little,

6:32

like, these, you know, what we

6:34

call a plant payoff or whatever, like, in terms

6:36

of, say, you know, we get to the finale.

6:38

And we didn't have the idea

6:40

early on that Eddie was gonna be you know,

6:42

playing Metallica on the roof of his trailers. So

6:44

that was an idea that came really? Right.

6:46

No. I mean, it wasn't that was one of a writer's

6:48

Curtis throughout that idea because we're trying to

6:50

figure out how they gonna distract the demo

6:52

bats?

6:53

And Curtis goes, well, he's you

6:55

know, what if what if he, you

6:57

know, plays Metallica? what

6:59

if

6:59

he's what if he's doing that,

7:01

you

7:01

know, on the top of his trailer? And then they've

7:03

they've set up all these speakers. We fell in love with

7:05

that idea. We're like, we have to do that. but

7:07

we hadn't really set him up as

7:09

a guitarist, and we we set up that we

7:11

knew that he was into that style of

7:14

music, but we hadn't set him up in that

7:16

way. We were able to then go back because none

7:18

of this had been shot yet

7:19

and layer in the guitar,

7:20

layer in his band. That scene

7:23

with him and Chrissy, which is one of my favorite scenes,

7:25

which humanized him in a real way,

7:27

and humanized christy in a real way,

7:29

was sort of up whatever scene. It was

7:31

just a drug deal exchange

7:33

scene. So that scene we're able to

7:35

layer in, not just the fact that he has

7:37

this band,

7:38

we were able to

7:40

humanize him. So those are the kind of things

7:42

that

7:42

that really got a lot better.

7:43

And what about Max's horrifying

7:47

death? Right. Was there any possibility

7:49

that she was going to die permanently or was it always

7:51

kind of AAAA comma? No.

7:53

That it was discussed.

7:55

It was discussed as a possibility.

7:58

for and for a while that is what was gonna

8:00

happen. And so sort of we we ended

8:02

up in this sort

8:05

of more of a we wanted to end it in a little

8:07

bit more of a question mark at the end of the season

8:09

where it's still really dark and we don't know

8:11

if Max is gonna be okay or or

8:14

Have my boss? Or what's yeah. We don't we

8:16

don't really know. I think and we wanted to

8:18

leave it a little bit

8:19

up in up in the air moving four and then

8:22

the season five. And then we and

8:24

and and I will say the other thing about the coma.

8:26

It's the coma

8:27

that that idea

8:30

that came as we were also

8:32

in this extra half year that we

8:34

had. We went

8:35

and broke season five. So season

8:37

five season five is is is salt.

8:39

And so the fact that she's in a coma, I can't

8:41

really get into into the details, but it

8:43

is important she is. Wow. And that

8:45

is gonna that is gonna have a major

8:47

effect on five. So it's

8:49

not a oh, well,

8:51

you know, a cheat. It's a it's

8:54

incredibly relevant to five.

8:56

Wow.

8:56

What about the mind flayer

8:58

drawing that was Henry? That was another

9:01

Did that come from the details

9:03

or is that always an integral part of the

9:05

arc setting up Henry

9:06

as one? It would Such Yeah. It

9:08

was always something we wanted to make sure to get in

9:11

there was to start to explain how

9:13

all this works with the mind flaring. You know,

9:15

we saw, you know, we

9:17

saw the mind flaring talking through Billy

9:19

in season three, but we never

9:21

really knew until now where that what

9:23

that voice was and where it was coming from. And

9:25

I think when you hear Henry

9:29

speaking say the end of episode seven or what he's

9:31

talking to eleven, we could

9:33

reshape the world,

9:35

remake it however we see

9:37

fit. join

9:40

me. Hopefully, people can see

9:42

how the tone of that voice and the think types

9:44

of things he saying in the language he's using is

9:46

very similar to what we had in

9:48

in season three with Billy. We've

9:50

been building it. We've

9:53

been building it for

9:56

you. And so we really wanted to make

9:58

sure we connected those dots.

10:00

There are still as we've said

10:02

there's still some question marks that we

10:04

haven't where we know the answer, but we just

10:06

haven't filled it in yet because we wanted

10:08

to save some of that. Some of

10:10

those revelations four

10:12

season

10:12

five. Yeah. Like Henry being redeemable.

10:14

Is he really a bad

10:16

seed? Or is there a reduction there? Or

10:18

is that

10:18

boiler. That's the question. I mean, no, that's

10:21

up in the air. I mean, listen, we've talked a lot

10:23

about him. I think we have a pretty

10:25

good pretty good understanding of him us

10:27

and our writers. I mean, we probably

10:30

talked about him more than anybody else.

10:32

We know his whole pre you know, prequel

10:34

story, if you'll call it, like, we know and

10:36

and we're gonna get get into

10:38

that get into that in five. Yep.

10:40

And is there steal any humanity

10:43

left in him? That's a question.

10:44

Speaking of characters who may or

10:46

may not be dead or alive,

10:48

we you love the brutally murder people.

10:50

Maybe not Max, but others. We

10:53

have to talk about Eddie. He's living out

10:55

every metal head's dream. In this

10:57

epic guitar solo, it's

10:59

so wonderful we lost him too

11:01

early. Yeah. Can you talk about that character a little bit? Where

11:03

did you come up with that character? You

11:04

know, really, when we were

11:07

one of the first ideas we all had us

11:09

and our riders when we were breaking this season

11:11

was to we wanted to get into the satanic

11:13

panic stuff. And we've known this for a

11:15

while because at the end of

11:17

end of season three, we talk about it

11:19

briefly in the news report because

11:21

so much bad stuff is going on in

11:23

this town and we know that satanic

11:25

panic was happening around this time.

11:28

So when we were started to talk about

11:30

that in the writer's room that we wanted that to be

11:32

a part of the season because our kids play

11:34

dunches and dragons. And it led us to

11:36

talking about Paradise loss

11:38

in the West Memphis three and Damien

11:40

Echols. And we started to

11:42

think about that of these kids who

11:44

were essentially accused of

11:46

something they didn't do simply because they didn't

11:48

fit in and they were playing

11:50

dunches his dragons, anyone in with a Gothic

11:52

crowd. Any months

11:54

he's a part of that freak devil cold hellfire.

11:56

And there was just a lot of paranoia

11:59

It turned out, of course, to be

12:01

bogus. But people were scared

12:03

back then, that these games

12:05

and whatnot were were turning kids

12:07

bad, and they couldn't they may

12:09

believe was mixing with reality.

12:11

And so we really wanted to play into that.

12:13

And that's really where the

12:15

Eddie character came of what's what if

12:17

we get a Damian Echols type --

12:19

Mhmm. -- into the story? And what if

12:21

he's accused of something that he had

12:23

nothing to do with? And so

12:25

that's really where where

12:28

Eddie the character Eddie came from.

12:30

And then, of course, once we found

12:32

Joe Quinn, he just took

12:34

Eddie to a whole other level. And, you know,

12:36

Matt's talking about the shutdown. And

12:38

that really helped we had worked

12:40

with Joe at that point, and we had seen what

12:42

he do. And so we just went back and

12:44

kept honing Eddie. And I

12:46

think, you know, I think he ended up in a

12:48

really beautiful place. We're we're sad to see

12:50

him. How did you bill

12:50

him like that?

12:51

Well, it was the same thing. It was a it

12:54

was the similar feeling -- Mhmm. -- to

12:56

what happened in when we were doing season two,

12:58

which Sean asked and where we he was

13:00

supposed to die halfway through that season, and

13:02

we just kept pushing it because we didn't

13:04

want him to die. Now, this was different because

13:06

we had all the scripts written ahead of time, but it

13:08

was a similar feeling and We fell

13:10

in love with Eddie,

13:12

we fell in love with Joe and what Joe

13:14

was doing. I think everybody in the cast

13:17

fall in love with him. And

13:19

it was baby. You know, it was written. It

13:21

was gonna happen. And we knew

13:23

we knew he had to die, but it was

13:25

just yes. I have

13:27

some The part there's definitely a part of

13:29

me that wishes he still around

13:31

for five. But I guess that's ultimately how you

13:33

wanna feel. You'll oh, I do wanna add, Ross, one

13:35

thing about Eddie. And, you

13:37

know, in terms of the creation of Eddie,

13:39

And some of this had to do with

13:41

our writer, Curtis, again, who

13:43

I think he was not involved in season two

13:45

when we introduced Billy. And I think there

13:47

was this there's this sort of cliche or

13:49

stereotype of metal heads

13:51

as bad

13:52

boys, as bullies, as they're gonna pull a

13:54

knife on you, they're gonna whatever, just as

13:56

dangerous. Mhmm. but there was also what he was

13:58

talking about. He was kind of a metal

13:59

head in, you know, in the eighties since brother

14:02

was all this. And there was

14:05

actually

14:05

that subculture

14:06

kind of intersected

14:09

with this nerd geek

14:11

subculture. They

14:13

liked things such as DND and we thought that

14:15

was really interesting. We're like, Okay. That's a side of

14:17

that character. Of that type

14:19

of person, which is, you know,

14:21

stereotypical metal head.

14:23

Right? play a fan. And that they

14:25

also they love fantasy games. They love

14:27

their nerds at heart. Right? They they

14:29

just don't fit in. And and so we like

14:31

the fact that, okay, you take this character. And

14:33

I love the idea of him running DND

14:37

club, which ultimately become hellfire club.

14:39

Then that led into the Paradise

14:41

loss. Anyway, so we like the idea, and we

14:43

always like to do that. And we did that with Steve,

14:45

obviously, which is you take a character, you

14:47

take a stereotype. It's the John Hughes

14:49

effect. Right? like that we always talk about John

14:51

Hughes, the breakfast club thing

14:53

where -- No. Like, you you

14:55

expect x of a character

14:57

because of the way they look,

14:59

because of what group or click that

15:01

they're in. Mhmm. And then when you get to know them, you

15:03

realize they're not that at all. These

15:06

harantins. is actually good

15:10

dude. And I think that's something we really

15:12

wanna try to do with the show and we kind

15:14

of wanted to do that with the

15:16

metal head we wanted to show. No. They're not

15:18

all this that's not they're

15:20

not they're not billy. A lot of

15:22

them, in fact, are

15:24

And if we're like to sat down and have conversations

15:26

whether it's it's crissy and netting,

15:28

people who never be seen together. It's like there's more

15:30

in common there. then you would Right. No.

15:32

No. So it's not just about the the

15:34

the nerds and the outsiders. It's also we wanted

15:36

to humanize someone like Chrissy who's

15:38

also also gonna be judged

15:40

by someone like Eddie. Yeah. Right? So I

15:42

don't know. We'd like Yes. We'd

15:44

like to It's so many

15:45

stereotypes. It's so refreshing.

15:47

Season four sees its show transition from

15:49

sci fi to horror In fact, you even have

15:51

Freddie Krueger himself, Robert Nolan,

15:53

playing Victor Creel, which looks like the best

15:55

cameo ever.

15:56

Yes. Yeah. He's amazing.

15:58

Were you so excited? Was he your ideal?

15:59

Like, well, he Yeah. I mean, well, he just

16:02

III would have never even thought to ask him.

16:04

I wouldn't have thought he would have done it, and then

16:06

he just sent in a tape. Like,

16:08

suddenly, like, we were we were just looking at actors

16:10

to play Victor Creel.

16:12

And then suddenly, there was a tape of Robert

16:14

England, like, lying in a bathtub.

16:17

like this line. Coring is hard out into

16:19

the scene, saying the lines. I was just like, this

16:21

is incredible. I can't

16:23

believe this is happening. And then, yeah, to

16:25

have him on set. I wore my

16:27

Dream Warrior shirt to set and,

16:29

like, just talk to him a little bit about,

16:31

you know, Freddie Kruger. And he he

16:33

likes talking about you know,

16:36

Freddie in the nightmare series. So that wasn't

16:38

I I didn't feel like I was bothering him. So but

16:40

beyond that, he's just amazing in

16:42

in this show and in that particular

16:44

episode. He's just a great -- He's warmer. --

16:46

and I, honestly, I wish we had thought about it

16:48

before, but we're so lucky

16:50

that he sent it in because the minute he

16:52

did just we were just jumping out. You were geeking out. No. It

16:54

wasn't our idea. It was Robert Tidy. Yeah.

16:56

You know, which is really that's the truth. We

16:58

were totally geeking out. We

17:00

were just so excited.

17:02

The

17:02

deafers will be back a bit later, but

17:04

up next. These hawkins students are

17:06

getting extra credit for participating in

17:08

this interview outside of school. Please welcome back

17:10

to the unlock stage Fin Wolvar,

17:13

a gay mic who finally drops the

17:15

l bomb to l. Gayton

17:17

Madarazo as Dustin always a man

17:19

with a plan. Brea Ferguson as fearless playground

17:22

watch woman, Erica. Sadie

17:24

Inc. who really

17:24

rides that emotional roller coaster

17:26

as Max. And Kayla

17:29

McLaughlin, as Lucas, who braves the

17:31

attic attack. So

17:33

let's start with UCADY. To

17:35

say Max had it rough the season is

17:37

an understatement of the year. Let's

17:40

take a look at what happens to her in the

17:42

finale.

17:42

Oh my god.

17:44

Really?

17:57

Oh my god.

18:04

That's nuts.

18:10

there

18:15

was a lot of carrot racking there. Was that your limbs, what

18:17

was the emphasis? All of the above. All of

18:19

the above.

18:20

Sadie, this is so emotionally and

18:22

physically difficult I could imagine. Can

18:25

you talk about what it was it because you've already gone through the

18:27

ringer and the first part of the second part, you're

18:29

even more run. Yeah.

18:31

The I for the last

18:33

Yeah. Yeah. The

18:36

last episode, especially, were,

18:39

like, kind

18:39

of insane.

18:41

But, yeah, I've never seen that stuff. That's right.

18:43

I haven't even seen that.

18:45

Yeah. No. But I mean, kind of I

18:47

feel like I'm in this position for, like,

18:49

half of season four.

18:51

What were your thoughts

18:52

when you read that scene? I know,

18:54

like, maybe, like, two weeks before I was, like, I'd

18:56

look to make sure, like, okay. Oh, have

18:58

to do this. Like, I think I definitely prepared

19:01

for this because it was a sequence

19:03

that I had to, like, rehearse. Yeah.

19:05

And I had to understand what was going on.

19:07

So I feel like I just don't remember reading it. I don't know

19:09

why, but I remember knowing that I had to do

19:11

it. Mhmm. I prepared for it mentally. It was a long

19:13

day. It was a long week actually. Yeah. because

19:15

they're also, like, ADIC FIGHT HAPPENS

19:17

BEFORE

19:17

YEAH, WHICH IS

19:19

ASINED. THAT TAKEN A WHILE. THAT

19:21

DID. HOW DID YOU FEEL WATCHING IT?

19:23

WAS IT COMPLETELY LIKE YOU SAWED? OR WAS

19:25

IT is surprise to see it when it's finished? Like, what

19:27

is actually happening? You know what

19:29

it is. I think when you're in the moment when

19:31

you okay. You know okay. I have to do this. Right?

19:33

But then when you see, like, David, the Gayen

19:36

and Horace was in

19:38

the mainland. And in

19:40

Las Vegas, you're not there

19:42

and you're stop. And you're not there when they're filming, but when you see

19:44

it all put in one, it gives

19:46

me chills. It was crazy. It was actually

19:48

crazy to see because when you're, like, standing there, like,

19:50

that scene when you just

19:52

see my face. I was, like, the last shot. I was just,

19:54

like, he told me to scream and, like, say,

19:56

no. He

19:58

was, like, I'm like, oh

20:00

my god. My throat. And then when you see it all

20:02

come together, it's like, oh, it was worth it. It was like,

20:04

wow. That's why we're doing this.

20:07

Yeah. Sadie, what do you hope for Max in

20:09

the next season? Because we It's

20:12

a lot. It's it ends a lot. What do

20:14

you hope? Do you just hope for a

20:16

vacation? I made it heady. Well, I just hope that

20:18

she's able to do

20:19

anything. Okay.

20:21

Yeah. I have no I

20:23

have no clue. Like, what

20:25

is going on

20:26

just with her. Yeah. We don't even know you have

20:29

that. Do you have eyeballs? Then we do we do? I

20:31

don't know. Yeah. What's going on

20:33

there? Yeah. But I don't know.

20:35

Hopefully, she's, you know, out of

20:37

the hospital. Yeah. Out of the

20:39

full body counts. That would be

20:41

great. Finn, what were your

20:43

thoughts when you saw that clip? Oh,

20:45

I

20:45

totally got, like yeah. It's like Kiosa. I

20:47

totally got chills. That shot of

20:49

Jo Quinn, like, dying is,

20:52

like, so sad. That's, like, the

20:54

saddest thing. Well, also that, like,

20:56

going off of Caleb's thing, like, is it true?

20:58

Like, because we shoot for

21:00

so many months and it's, like, such a

21:02

long process. Like, they're sometimes

21:04

can be seen, so we're like, yeah, you don't know how it's

21:06

gonna pan out. You really don't understand it in

21:08

the moment. You're just like, what? Why do I

21:11

do? You're just like or just like, what am I doing right now? Like, you know,

21:13

you just have, like, questions sometimes. And

21:15

then, yeah, once you see it, it's like, oh, that was so

21:17

worth it. If you shoot a show for that

21:19

long and you're like, in the I

21:21

what's gonna happen and then it comes out and it's

21:23

good. It's it's like you

21:25

don't remember any feeling

21:27

of like you just I don't know.

21:29

It becomes a different it sounds that in between

21:31

before you see it and after you've done it. It's

21:33

just, like, hope it's good. I hope it's

21:35

good. Yeah. Totally.

21:36

Getting what did you think when you read or

21:39

saw Max's death? And

21:41

then resurrection, what were your thoughts on

21:43

that plot point? Oh, it is very dramatic.

21:46

Hella

21:46

confused. initially. Yeah. For

21:48

real. Seriously. I mean, I was like, they're not

21:51

killing you

21:51

off. I was like, that's

21:54

dumb. And because

21:56

I I would assume that, like, like, you know, like,

21:58

before you show us people we're gonna

21:59

They already before, like, they sent out

22:02

the ninth episode. And then,

22:04

like, are a great city. It's look like you die.

22:06

Okay.

22:06

Does it come back?

22:08

I'm like, alright.

22:09

And you were very relieved. Right?

22:12

Yeah. That's right.

22:15

Prayant, what did you think about that

22:17

plot

22:17

twist in a way? I

22:19

was definitely confused. I got

22:22

chills even, like, watching it. I was,

22:24

like, like, wow. Like, you

22:26

know, this is really happening. Yeah.

22:28

I don't know. I'm, like, still mind blowing

22:30

from watching it because filming it and shooting

22:32

it is so different. Like, when you're at

22:35

when you're shooting it, you can't really

22:37

you get what they're trying to do, but you don't

22:40

really have the the visual

22:42

effects and you can't really see it.

22:44

Yeah. So just watching it

22:46

is kinda like, wow. like, in watching it. Like,

22:48

these guys say watching it all come to

22:50

life. It's it's crazy. Yeah. It's kinda like

22:51

a magic trick or something. Yeah.

22:53

Exactly. Look over there, it's it's a

22:55

monster. They're like, Yeah. I

22:57

know how we're like, oh, that

22:59

was right. And then

23:01

and then they've added it, and

23:02

it's like all we're all we're all we all forget

23:04

we're even in it. We're like, it's ridiculous. I

23:07

become, like, fan a fan boy every time a show

23:09

comes out, I text her. I love your work.

23:11

I love boy and

23:13

I love you. I

23:15

wouldn't be your friend, you know, fan

23:17

account. My heart game. My heart

23:19

game, my heart game, you

23:21

know, has a little smiles.

23:23

That's not it's creating the intensity on

23:25

set. Yeah. It's like wait. When you see it,

23:27

it's like, oh, of course, why wouldn't you be scared?

23:29

But like on set, you have,

23:31

like, everyone, like, doing their thing, just chilling, like,

23:33

looking at their phone or my wife texting me, I'd

23:35

be home at this time. Like and then you're

23:37

like, oh, I have to act, like, MAX

23:40

is dying. It's like, you're sorry,

23:42

your wife's accident. No. No. No. No.

23:44

No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No.

23:46

No. No. That's but

23:49

that's the reveal. It's like he lives away. That's how

23:51

we find out here. Right here. You

23:53

heard it here. They

23:54

say Densus makes the heart grow founder, and

23:56

that feels particularly true for Mike

23:58

and l who sometimes aren't even

24:00

in the same dimension. But the relationship was

24:02

certainly put as a test this season. Let's take

24:04

a look. Oh,

24:06

right

24:16

here. And

24:19

I

24:20

love you. Do

24:25

you hear me? I'm

24:28

sorry I don't say anymore.

24:29

It's not because I'm scared of you.

24:33

I'm not. I've never felt that way.

24:35

Never. I love

24:37

you on your good days. I

24:39

love you on your bad days. I love you with

24:41

your powers. I love you without your

24:43

powers. I love you and bring

24:45

exactly who you are. You're my

24:48

super hero. And I

24:52

can't

24:52

lose you. Okay?

24:55

Do you hear me? I can't lose you.

24:57

You can do anything.

24:59

You can fly. You can move mountains.

25:01

I believe that. I believe you.

25:03

Right now, you just left

25:05

a fight. Okay? Hell,

25:10

do you hear me? Do you

25:12

need to play? Oh,

25:16

chills. Such an amazing Oh, they

25:18

didn't

25:18

warn you. That's really nice.

25:22

Yeah. Whatever. That was

25:24

nice. That was like this. It's so

25:26

good, but thank you. Yeah. You should be

25:27

really I mean, it's it's ruining.

25:30

Yeah.

25:30

It's very it's almost like no

25:32

lucky. In in the best What do

25:35

you want? What do you want?

25:37

What do you want? What did it

25:38

feel like to film the scene after all these years

25:40

of a relationship with L?

25:42

It was

25:43

great. It was like yeah.

25:46

I

25:46

don't know. I think that was like the

25:48

scene where, like, the duffers kind of like

25:50

were telling

25:52

me kind of even near the beginning

25:54

that they were like writing a big monologue for

25:56

me for the end, And I think

25:58

they were really excited about, like, the

26:00

just the idea of me having, like,

26:02

a and, like, professing my love

26:05

finally, kind of to eleven.

26:07

And, yeah, that was, like, we

26:08

didn't do that a lot. Like, we did it in a

26:10

few takes and, like, I was,

26:12

like, super scared about it. So I, like, ran it

26:14

in my head over and over again and I was, like,

26:16

I wanted to be like as off

26:19

book as I could. So yeah, it

26:21

was great.

26:21

I remember that like

26:23

I

26:23

did it a few times and, like, we do it. Like, the

26:26

duffers, like, they're like, do this one more

26:28

emotional or,

26:29

you know, do it more confident. we just

26:31

kind of did it a few different times and, like, I

26:34

remember they were, like, add

26:36

add whatever you want. There was, like, the

26:38

last take and they're, like, add whatever you

26:40

want. And so that, like, superhero line. I just, like,

26:43

added. Like,

26:43

prob or

26:44

whatever. Has it been probed? It

26:47

was a

26:47

little genius coming out. It's a

26:49

genius line. I don't know. It's like

26:51

ad lived or whatever. That whole thing is ad

26:53

lived. I make it It's a Susan's ad

26:55

lived, by the way. It was just so funny

26:57

because, like, across from me is Charlie and and

26:59

Eduardo and, like, they're

27:01

just watching it. I

27:04

I would say that and then I'd look and I'd

27:06

finish my model and I'd look up and then water would be

27:09

like, like, looking right at me and Charles,

27:11

they're like, they were cut and I'd

27:13

be like, Cool. And

27:14

they were like, and Trollope,

27:15

that's really good man. And then they were like,

27:17

they were like, what? Like, so Like, he'll

27:19

be boys face that. It was so funny because there

27:21

was such a long one take thing.

27:24

so good. Oh, yeah. It was yeah. It was fun. It

27:26

was really fun to do. It has such impact. It

27:28

really it it really pays off so many things in the

27:30

tax fund. Heading into the final

27:32

season, what's one thing you still have

27:34

questions about that you hope get resolved by the

27:36

end of series? Let's start with

27:38

dele. I feel like season four, we got a decent

27:40

amount of questions answered just in

27:42

terms of, like, what is

27:43

the upside down? How did it come about? Who

27:45

is one? Who is Beckna?

27:48

But for

27:48

the end of season four, I don't

27:51

know.

27:51

You're in a much darker place. Like, there's

27:53

no, like, light at the end of the tunnel. Like, it's

27:55

all, like, they lost essentially. so

27:58

I guess just

27:59

how will

28:00

Hawkins

28:02

respond -- Yeah. -- to the, you know, like,

28:04

the tragedy and the ruin

28:06

and the apocalypse. Yes. Exactly. Free.

28:08

What do you hope for Erica Nextiva? Yeah.

28:11

I definitely agree. It was

28:13

such, like, an

28:15

emotional season towards the

28:17

end, and I definitely wanna know,

28:20

like, how not even

28:22

Erica, but how Hawkins will kinda

28:24

recover. And the cast as

28:26

well. Kaiden, how are you gonna adjust

28:28

to any being gone? Yeah. I

28:29

don't know. I think,

28:31

like, throughout most of the most

28:33

of the show. all the show

28:36

that I think

28:36

a defense mechanism for a

28:39

lot of people. I think many people in the show, but

28:41

especially Dustin, is to try to

28:43

find something tangible something

28:45

funny, something light, something

28:47

enjoyable in all of this in the

28:49

weirdest, darkest, twisted way. But now that it was

28:51

kinda right in front of him, in a

28:53

weird way. It's like nothing hasn't

28:55

experienced it before, but it has something like that

28:57

happen. Not just, like,

28:59

to him, but there in front

29:00

of him. I think it's gonna be rough for him to

29:03

try to find a a light at the end of

29:05

the tunnel or try to find

29:07

something right

29:07

there. So I I think I

29:10

just wanna see a fight

29:12

to preserve something that was there

29:14

that will always be lost now because

29:17

of what

29:17

he's seen. Yeah. Ben, where

29:19

do you think L and you are going

29:21

to go?

29:22

Oh, I don't know. I

29:25

don't know. I'm really interested. Like, I don't know. I'm I'm

29:27

interested, like, for kind of

29:29

the end of

29:29

the show kind of in general

29:31

because, like, it's kinda

29:34

like

29:34

the Harry Potter effect where it's, like, you

29:36

can't you have to leave Hogwarts You

29:38

know, some people have to leave Hawkins. Who's gonna stay

29:41

in Hawkins? Who's gonna leave? Who's

29:43

gonna try to find a

29:45

life outside? Yeah. Is

29:47

there gonna be a is there even gonna be

29:49

a Hawkins? I don't know.

29:52

But, yeah, I'd be interested to see, like,

29:54

if Mike I mean, We

29:56

entered to see if Mike stays in Hawkins or

29:58

tries to find a life outside of his

30:00

town. And also, you know,

30:02

it's

30:02

hard to tell. Like, obviously,

30:04

with eleven in

30:04

his relationship. Mhmm. But I

30:07

hope they they

30:09

find,

30:09

you know, happiness. I don't know. Canada,

30:11

what is Lucas' happy ending? Where do you see

30:14

yourself? Okay.

30:14

Lucas' happy ending. I

30:17

feel like Lucas'

30:19

happy ending is that if none

30:21

of this happened, Right? No.

30:24

So it's kind of

30:26

what could he deal with or what it's

30:28

kind of like he has to adjust to whatever

30:31

happens, honestly. I feel like, of course, like

30:33

Max being well and

30:35

coming up out of, you know, wherever

30:37

she's in. Do

30:37

you think Lucas is gonna stay on the basketball team?

30:39

No. Now, I wouldn't

30:42

even want to listen to him about. His whole basketball

30:44

team is dead. Oh my

30:47

god. Oh,

30:47

boy. And on my hustle lifting now

30:49

it's about time I let you go fight some more

30:51

demo jobs and whatever. Thank

30:53

you so much for being here. Thank you.

30:56

Thank you. Thank you. Bye. Next

30:58

up, Millie Bobby Brown and her papa,

31:00

Matthew Modine. You're

31:03

sick. You're sick, but I'm going to make you

31:05

better. I'm going to

31:06

take you back home. where

31:08

I can make you well again,

31:09

but we can make all of this

31:11

better. So no one else gets

31:14

hurt. Hi

31:15

Felicia. It's Millie

31:18

Ann Modine here. Thanks for

31:20

having me back on stranger things.

31:22

I'm looked.

31:22

We're looking forward to talking to you about

31:25

Ellen doctor Brenner's complicated

31:27

relationship this season.

31:30

daughter.

31:33

I I

31:35

certainly didn't imagine

31:39

doctor Brenner resorting

31:41

to the kind of behavior,

31:43

I don't wanna say cruelty, but

31:45

there's no better word to sort

31:48

of describe his behavior

31:50

than cruelty toward the the young

31:53

adults in his laboratory. That

31:55

was a surprise for

31:57

me. didn't know that he was that

31:59

cruel. Did you?

32:02

No. I

32:04

didn't really see it as

32:05

cruel though. I think it's

32:07

just like you

32:09

say, we we were in such

32:11

a complicated situation and in a way you're protecting

32:13

them -- Mhmm. -- showing them a capable of.

32:15

and how to control it. I

32:17

guess I was talking specifically

32:19

about -- Man yet. -- well, pride in

32:21

that young boy with the Oh,

32:22

yeah. Well, he deserved it.

32:56

By

33:01

papa.

33:15

Don't cry.

33:19

Don't cry. And

33:22

I'm

33:22

gonna have to sit down and talk about it. Okay?

33:24

Put yourself

33:25

together. Thanks. How

33:27

would you be able to watch that? I'm

33:29

gonna take this month because he's gonna

33:32

need a few minutes. My revelation would

33:34

probably been kind

33:37

of not forgiving papa.

33:39

It was kind of like, whoa. Like,

33:41

this is what we're

33:44

resulting in this is the conclusion of

33:46

that relationship and she's

33:48

not forgiving him. it

33:50

was a big revelation of of

33:53

of who eleven is. And

33:55

where does she go from there with

33:57

that kind of coldness.

34:02

Yeah. You know? It it's kind of

34:04

very much a doctor Brown a move

34:06

that

34:06

she pulled. She did. Yes.

34:08

It did. It's hard. It's

34:10

really

34:11

hard. We actually went on a

34:13

forty five minute walk that day.

34:15

Do you remember? Yeah.

34:17

yeah took us really

34:18

long. We've walked to set from base camp

34:20

-- Yes. -- forty five minutes in

34:22

the middle of the desert.

34:24

Yeah. we walked because

34:26

we were really sad that day. It was a very sad

34:28

day for us

34:29

both. You know, III

34:32

honestly love Millie Bobby

34:34

Brown. I I feel paternal

34:36

toward her and and and

34:42

You know,

34:42

I know that what I

34:44

said

34:45

in the same Matthew Modine

34:47

is the same thing as the

34:49

doctor Brenner said that everything

34:51

that I've done with Millie

34:54

was the the best I could for

34:56

her for her good for your for

34:58

your life. Mhmm. And and so

35:00

that's truthful. you

35:01

know, it's a truthful emotion and I

35:03

think the duffer brothers

35:04

know that

35:04

and knew that. And if

35:07

so those were the the

35:09

words chosen. Yeah. That, like,

35:11

we, you know, we talk about father and

35:13

daughter and finding her autonomy, and

35:16

I obviously

35:18

didn't wanna necessarily leave

35:18

papa and you don't ever really wanna leave

35:21

your dad, but you have to

35:23

to find that autonomy within

35:26

your life. and not listen to men and and really strive to

35:28

be a woman finally.

35:30

For a father. Father than we've

35:32

ever

35:32

gone before.

35:34

She's thinking about her childhood and everything. She was

35:36

raised by him, you know, everything

35:38

that she knew was Yes.

35:42

Papa, he taught her

35:44

everything in order how to, you know, channel

35:46

her emotions, channel her anger,

35:48

channel her

35:50

powers, how to control them, how to provoke them,

35:52

how to, you know, to keep them

35:55

suppressed, everything that that

35:58

she knows is from

36:00

him.

36:02

I think

36:02

that when you say

36:03

goodbye to that huge

36:06

majority of your

36:08

life because a new

36:10

one has to start. it's a

36:12

huge transition. I think it's it's I think

36:15

she was just kind of thinking about

36:17

her childhood and what a

36:19

thirty second scene. and how does

36:21

she walk away from this feeling empowered? Well, I I've

36:24

I've said from the

36:25

beginning when we began working on

36:27

the show that that you

36:30

know, you

36:31

don't believe that you're doing something

36:33

that's evil. You're doing something

36:35

that you think is

36:38

going to be beneficial. And what he's he'd found

36:41

with the character eleven was

36:43

somebody who had

36:46

incredible gifts and and

36:48

love. I often thought about the

36:50

experiment with the cat, you know, when he

36:53

when she crushes the coke cat, that in

36:55

some weird

36:55

way in Brenner's

36:58

imagination that by putting the cat in the

37:00

room, we a kind of

37:02

test that would she

37:04

crush the cat? Was she

37:06

capable of that? And she wasn't. And

37:09

so for me, I always

37:11

felt that she passed the test, you know, that

37:13

that she had compassion, that she

37:15

had loved. And so when she escaped

37:17

from the laboratory, what

37:20

my concern and my fear was,

37:22

what I know how powerful she

37:24

is, what happens if she gets in

37:26

the hands of someone that's truly evil.

37:29

that will take her and exploit

37:31

her to do things that

37:33

are bad. So that that

37:35

was my motivation as

37:38

an actor to find her to try to make sure that

37:40

she wouldn't do

37:42

harm, you know,

37:42

even though I knew that in

37:45

her heart that she she had

37:47

passed the test, she didn't crush

37:49

the cat. Don't talk about Hotpepper

37:51

in

37:51

front of me. I don't like

37:54

it. I know you die. I

37:55

know you die. I'll make a I'll make a Hey.

37:57

Go. No. No.

37:57

No. No. No. No. No.

38:00

No. I think there are very

38:02

two deaths

38:02

for relationships.

38:04

Very

38:05

to

38:06

masculine energies

38:09

that in

38:10

eleven's life, including Mike. They're very influential in

38:13

her life. One of

38:15

them taught

38:17

her being someone

38:19

who took care of her, protected

38:21

her, and they had they have, you know,

38:23

a friendship, a

38:26

friendship that's that they've that they've

38:28

created while eleven's been out of the

38:30

asylum

38:30

and and kind of needed

38:32

protection and needed

38:34

that love and support and he gave that to her. But

38:37

on the other hand,

38:38

you have papa and eleven who

38:40

he knew have from baby you

38:43

took her out of, you

38:45

know, my mother's arms. Yeah.

38:47

So I I delivered that child.

38:49

Yeah.

38:49

So it's kind

38:52

of like there's no bond like that. There's no connection

38:54

that she could yarn for more than

38:56

the one that she has with papa

38:58

because that's the most

39:00

authentic. He knew her her purest

39:02

form. Mhmm. I don't

39:04

i don't know know. Yeah.

39:06

The other

39:07

guy drinks too much coffee and eats too much doughnuts. He's probably got a

39:09

drinking problem and smoking, you know. That,

39:12

you know, then there's Gotcha.

39:16

Yeah. She could never forget the

39:18

smell of my aftershave -- No. -- or the

39:20

way that I tie it or not on my

39:22

tie. Right. But these were

39:24

indelible experience. No.

39:26

I know. sensory experience. And her mom I loved

39:28

the traumas

39:28

of, you know, crushing cats and things. The

39:31

cleanliness

39:31

of the hospital. Oh, I loved it. Yeah. I

39:33

mean, it was smart, like,

39:34

bleach. Yeah. His cabin

39:36

probably smelled like dead go

39:38

first. Yes. It did. Yeah. All

39:42

this. Hey,

39:44

Felicia. I just want to say thank you from the bottom of

39:46

my heart. This has been a great

39:50

enjoyable experience. Lots

39:51

of love. By

39:53

Felicia. While

39:56

L

39:56

is fighting vecna psychically, our next

39:58

guests are actually breaking

39:59

into upside down to face him

40:02

head on. Say hello to our Hawkins

40:04

heroes. Joe Quinn joining the cast

40:06

this year as Eddie Munson. My hero,

40:08

who's Robin, might be more nervous around her crush fifties and around

40:10

vecna. And Joe Carey, aka Steve

40:12

Harrington, with the great hair. Thank you all

40:14

for being here.

40:16

Thank you. So you three decide to go back into the upside

40:18

down. Alright. With Nancy to face this

40:20

new monster head on, why

40:22

are those always your

40:24

character's first reaction to just plunge into

40:26

danger.

40:26

You gotta bring it up

40:29

with the duffers. I'm constantly like, why

40:31

have these people not left. What is the

40:33

deal? We can give you idiots.

40:35

Yeah. Leave. You

40:40

know, we're the Scooby Doo gang. And we gotta we gotta solve

40:42

the mystery. Yep. What

40:44

do you think motivates

40:45

your character?

40:48

I mean, obviously, you're not just blindly going into danger. Nobody

40:50

does that. What do you think is the basing

40:52

that your character's overcoming when you go into

40:54

this situation? the

40:56

actors are always talking about so,

40:58

like, we're, like, really scared. I mean, like, something horrible

41:00

has just happened. Right? So, like, we should

41:02

be upset and they're, like, like like,

41:05

you're pretty confident. Like, I mean, I think, you know, I mean, you're scared, but, like,

41:07

really go for it. You know? And so I don't

41:09

I think it's actually

41:12

a stylist part of

41:14

the show. I think that there's not there's

41:16

a and it's why I think the show

41:18

is so fun to watch even though so many bad

41:20

things happen, is

41:20

there's a a leveity and a

41:22

bouncing to these characters. Mhmm. Where they kind

41:25

of even after every hard thing that

41:26

happens, they their

41:29

their courage reinvigorates itself. And they find humor,

41:31

and

41:31

they they fill back up with energy.

41:34

And, you know, I mean, there's there's I

41:36

remember there's all these

41:38

moments where you get

41:40

horribly horribly injured all the time. And you're

41:42

just sort of like, near it. Like, it hurts for a

41:44

minute, and then you're, like,

41:45

ready to go. do stuff. Yeah. I

41:47

know what you're saying, like, the tone of show really is

41:50

that levity, the bounciness

41:52

that you're talking about and the fact that

41:55

it's like this kind of

41:58

we all have a chip on her shoulder. It's like

41:59

this this this

42:01

terrible circumstance. These terrible things

42:03

are happening. We're all kinda handle it with

42:05

a smile and a laugh sorta. Yeah. And I think

42:08

it's a quite difficult line to

42:10

trade from a direct

42:12

from a directing perspective, not that I I know, but to kind

42:14

of maintain this kind of

42:16

charm through horrific circumstances

42:20

is quite good.

42:22

Yeah. I'll show

42:23

that everybody is on the same page. It really is

42:25

kinda I I guess I hadn't thought about

42:27

it that way, but it's I

42:29

I think we all

42:30

get it. Yeah. I would imagine that

42:31

it gets a little fatiguing. You're always

42:33

scared. Like, you always having a scene

42:35

where you're scared and you're just going to that same

42:37

emotional well and having that

42:39

levity not only deepens the character's relationships, but really

42:42

makes you get through those moments and

42:44

not feel like it's the

42:46

same tone every episode. Right? I also think they just really love

42:48

each other. In whatever, like,

42:50

it's not a word that, like, they use a

42:52

lot, but I think there are these moments where

42:54

one person

42:56

makes a decision to put themselves in danger for the sake of the rest of the group.

42:58

And I mean, that happens all over the

43:00

show. And everyone is pretty committed to

43:03

this idea that's like, if you go

43:05

down, I'll go down. kinda like

43:07

I'd rather go out fighting. And I think loyalty

43:09

like that really helps with

43:12

bravery and helps

43:14

people feel strong

43:16

and emboldened to to to take on

43:18

monsters. Yeah.

43:19

It's really beautiful. Joe, can we

43:21

talk

43:21

about the

43:24

season's most

43:24

kick ass that back there,

43:27

the guitar. Yeah. Pretty cool.

43:29

Right?

43:29

Yes. It's

43:32

it's that's not the original. That's in the stomach of a demo bat.

43:34

But did you know that they're gonna make a replica

43:36

of that and sell it? I didn't know

43:39

that.

43:40

Are you prepared to sign? What are you gonna I wanted it. What

43:42

At the end, I kind of

43:43

asked if I could have it, and

43:46

they, yeah, ignored me.

43:47

Well, I will

43:48

wouldn't notice if you walked off was

43:50

it right

43:50

now. No. I'm just kidding. Hopefully, they

43:52

can arrange to get you at least one of the

43:54

replica's because it really is a kick ass Can

43:56

you talk about

43:57

that scene? Yeah. I remember reading it

43:59

and

43:59

thinking, well, I was it was kinda

44:02

confusing

44:02

because I was

44:04

gutted that I was not gonna be able

44:06

to come back and work with these people again because

44:08

we had such a great time

44:11

But if

44:11

if there's a way to go out, it's a

44:14

pretty good one. Well, let's take a

44:15

look at your concert and then

44:17

I'll sit

44:17

down. Joey. Wow.

44:53

This is So

45:04

it didn't feel

45:07

that epic when

45:10

you

45:11

were filming it. It

45:12

kind of that way, it was great kind of being on top of the

45:15

the thing with Gaiden and kind of

45:17

getting into me. It was

45:19

great fun. Wow. I

45:29

didn't

45:29

think I'd ever be able to kind of fulfill this kind

45:31

of quite adolescent fantasy

45:33

of being a rock star or

45:35

be or be for, like, maybe, just

45:37

an afternoon, but it was great

45:39

fun. remember just finding it so

45:42

fun.

45:42

It's able to as a concept, like, to come for

45:44

them to come up with that is kind

45:46

of I guess that's what we were kind

45:48

of talking about earlier. It's kind of the stakes are so high and you feel

45:50

them as an audience member, but to

45:52

have that kind of absurdity

45:55

and that levity in it, kind of really It's just it

45:57

makes for great viewing. Are you

45:59

ready for the

46:00

most metal concert

46:02

in the history of the world. Do you actually

46:04

play guitar? Did you have to study? Or how

46:07

did

46:07

you prepare for just the

46:09

sheer mechanics of

46:10

it. Well, I did play, yeah, as a

46:12

kid. So I kind of had a foundation there.

46:15

So, like, most most of it's

46:17

me. we had this very, very talented

46:20

guitarist called Aidan, I believe his name was to come in

46:22

to do the solo. But

46:24

other other than that, It was

46:26

yeah. I

46:26

had AII had a bash at

46:28

it. It

46:29

was amazing. It's truly you get chills, and

46:31

it makes me like metal, which not my

46:33

favorite. Right. Eddie

46:35

goes from hiding most of the

46:36

series to suddenly doing this amazing heroic

46:39

act, not only here, but later,

46:41

what do you think changed in him over the season to get him to the point where

46:43

he was able to step up

46:46

like that?

46:47

Well,

46:48

that's a really good question. I don't know. I think it's probably he's probably

46:50

inspired by by the other people's bravery. There's

46:52

a scene kind of we ever seen

46:54

together where I kind of talk

46:57

Eddie talks about being scared to come

46:59

into the upside down, and the only reason he wants

47:01

to go in there is because everyone else did. So I

47:03

think kind of he's emboldened by kind of

47:05

these acts of heroism that he

47:07

keeps seeing. But ultimately,

47:10

he does yeah. He kind of

47:12

pays the ultimate price, I guess, you

47:14

could say. because that's

47:16

what I don't know. He

47:18

just he's a

47:19

brave boy. Thank you so

47:21

much for being here. I really appreciate

47:23

you sitting down

47:23

with me. Thank you. Thanks

47:25

so much. Thank

47:26

you. Oh, he's

47:28

taking it.

47:28

What what's he doing? Yeah.

47:30

took it.

47:35

the curtain Security?

47:37

Next,

47:37

executive producer, Sean Levy, sits

47:39

down to talk about bringing season four to screen. Hey

47:41

there, Felicia.

47:42

Sean Levy here. I am thrilled to

47:44

be back with you on unlocked.

47:46

I hope everyone's official really

47:49

recovered from that epic finale to Stranger Things four and

47:51

excited to unpack all of it with

47:53

you. The first thing that I think

47:55

people don't realize is it

47:57

wasn't even supposed be called the

47:59

upside

47:59

down. It was always from the duffer's earliest ideas,

48:02

this kind of corrupted

48:04

version of reality. In

48:06

season one, And

48:08

definitely in the outlines of season one, it was called the Nether.

48:11

The Nether was

48:13

this other dimension. that kind of

48:16

existed alongside our own and it looked

48:18

like our own world, but it

48:20

was really messed up.

48:22

A character refers to it as

48:24

the upside out and that name's stuck. And so now here we are years

48:26

later, I don't know if there's anyone on

48:28

planet Earth who hasn't heard of the

48:32

upside down, but it was never supposed to be called that.

48:34

I don't think I ever

48:36

had a sense that the

48:38

show would go so beyond Hawkins.

48:41

And that's really been the challenge of season four, but I think

48:43

one of the unique aspects of

48:46

season four is the

48:47

way that we've kind of

48:50

trifurcated the narrative that we have our

48:52

Hawkins storyline. We have the Russia

48:54

storyline. We have the

48:56

California storyline. And that is really what gave season for

48:58

this unique scope and

49:00

wingspan. Right? Obviously, I

49:02

like the big moments the

49:05

final battles in episode

49:08

eight. My God. The

49:10

ending of episode eight, I

49:12

love the scale and spectacle that we were able to

49:14

bring to life. but I also love

49:16

the moments between Max

49:19

and Lucas, between

49:22

Eddie and Duston.

49:24

These tiny intimate

49:26

character moments between Steve and Robin.

49:28

These moments that are surprising, that

49:32

are quiet, and they're just emotional. They're just human. And again, it

49:34

goes back to what I think is is the key to

49:36

stranger things, which is, yeah,

49:38

we go huge,

49:40

but it's always rooted in character and rooted in

49:42

heart. And some of my favorite moments are

49:44

the ones that commit to that.

49:46

Another favorite

49:48

moment End of episode eight. Eleven

49:50

taking down

49:51

that chopper. Eleven

49:53

taking down that chopper. I

49:55

remember reading it and going like, wait. We got choppers

49:58

now. Wait. Eleven sitting down at

49:59

chopper with her mind. And I

50:02

remember the outline. And

50:04

when I first watch the

50:06

first edit from the duffers. That

50:08

sequence in the desert where

50:10

eleven

50:12

has that reclamation moment. That returned to

50:14

greatness. I felt it in

50:16

my soul. That's one of my favorite

50:18

stranger things of all

50:20

time.

50:22

The truth

50:29

is that I am way less of

50:31

a horror genre nerd than the

50:33

Defer Brothers. So it was

50:35

up to me, I shot some of the earliest

50:38

sequence at the Creel house. And

50:40

I was kind of going off

50:42

of, like, haunted mansion, like, the

50:45

ride at Disneyland because I haven't watched that much horror. I

50:47

don't enjoy it. I find it a little

50:50

scary. But the truth is that

50:52

the duffers they

50:54

gave me, like, the required viewing

50:56

list in addition to a music

50:58

playlist. So I just before shooting

51:00

the Creel House, I did

51:01

have my Disney ride, you know,

51:03

memories, but I also had

51:06

the kind of mandatory must

51:08

watch list and must listen list

51:10

from Matt and Ross. and that gave me

51:12

kind of a good crash course

51:14

in horror haunted house

51:16

fluency. What I love about stranger things

51:19

and our audiences that we've grown together.

51:21

Our actors have grown up, the scale

51:23

of

51:23

our show, and the

51:26

abilities we have

51:28

as storytellers. have grown every year.

51:30

And yet, we're always true to that core DNA,

51:32

which is these characters that you root for,

51:35

and these relationships that

51:37

we champion on screen. And

51:40

so if we can stick to landing, if we

51:42

can do season five and

51:44

tell this

51:46

huge story that remains ahead, but do it in a way that's

51:48

honest to the heart and the

51:50

characters, then we've really

51:52

pulled something off. So stay

51:55

tuned for what sad. We're closing out

51:58

our

51:58

show with another visit from the Dufers to

51:59

talk all things season

52:02

five. You

52:02

know, what's interesting about season five

52:05

as we move into season five is, it's gonna be

52:07

unlike any other season. In terms

52:09

of, typically, the

52:11

tension has been resolved at the

52:13

end of a season. Everything has to you you get to

52:14

experience our our characters in their everyday

52:17

life. And then, you know, and

52:19

then to get pulled back as evil

52:22

returns. In this case, that's not what's

52:24

happening. I mean, we're starting season

52:26

five and

52:28

things are already very small. It's going. Yeah. So it's it

52:30

four and five are gonna, like, sit

52:33

sit together really well. I

52:35

I hope. You know what I mean? It's it's I mean, there's gonna be a

52:37

time pass of jobs in music. You're gonna have to

52:39

be. Yeah. But not much. But, yeah,

52:41

like Matt said, I mean, and again, we've done a lot of

52:43

work on five and we know where it begins and you just start basically with

52:46

the sprint, which is just so

52:48

different than anything we've done before. Is

52:50

there anything

52:51

else that you to set up

52:53

four season five without spoiling everything. Without spoiling

52:54

five? Yeah. No. I think I

52:56

think you're gonna see what IIIII

53:00

know in

53:00

the way that Max was impacted by three, and that impacted

53:03

her narrative. And in in

53:05

four, Dustin's been hero. impacted

53:08

a lot by the death of Eddie. Mhmm. And that's

53:10

gonna really affect his his

53:12

storyline. And five, and I think we're to see a side of

53:14

Dustin we haven't seen before. That's for

53:16

sure.

53:17

Well, like all good things, stranger things must also

53:19

come to an end. As you've always planned -- Yeah.

53:21

-- you had planned season five to be the last.

53:23

I'm just hoping I

53:25

don't know. Is it gonna be double the length of

53:27

season four? I

53:28

don't know. Like, what's going

53:30

on? I don't know if it'll I'm

53:33

not sure it'll be as long

53:35

as for because like Matt saying that

53:37

the big difference is that we're

53:39

not -- we're just starting with the

53:41

spread. And so I

53:44

think naturally the season will be shorter because there's the ramp

53:46

up to our characters

53:48

taking action. Mhmm. They're going

53:50

after vecna from

53:52

minute one. And so I think that is gonna inevitably

53:54

make it not not this long, but

53:56

we do have a lot to do both

53:59

in terms of a few more revelations that need to happen.

54:01

And then also, we need to make sure that

54:04

we give our characters that

54:06

hopefully people have grown to

54:08

care about time to sort

54:10

of make these final, you know, final arcs.

54:11

Whether it is Joyce and Hopper, whether

54:13

it's Jonathan Nancy,

54:16

which is very un not resolved. Yeah. We're that trying.

54:18

Well, a lot of it though we want I

54:20

hope this isn't spoiling too much. Okay. If it is, then

54:22

you cut it out. But, like, the

54:26

idea kind of going back to season one, I wanna see the the original

54:28

groups back together. So I I,

54:30

you know, I wanna see the boys plus eleven.

54:33

I wanna see you

54:36

know, in a joint joint venture. I wanna

54:38

see Jonathan and Nancy. So there's a

54:40

lot. That's to me. It's something that we

54:42

wanna do. So it's gonna be feel very different. It's

54:44

gonna feel very big. They'll be, like,

54:46

season one, you know, on steroids or something.

54:48

Yeah.

54:48

Well, I I just wanna request that Max

54:50

gets a

54:51

spa day. Yeah. She deserved. They

54:53

all deserve they all deserve a little break, but unfortunately, yeah, that

54:55

this is gonna take a second. It's gonna take a second.

54:57

Yeah. Well, thank you

54:58

so much for sitting down with me. You

55:01

too have created iconic show that's gonna be watched for

55:03

generations. And I'm sure that's a a little

55:05

bit weird to feel because you're just

55:07

working. Right. Yeah. It's a

55:09

wonderful much to everything and just is a gift

55:11

to nerds everywhere. So thank you very much. Thank you

55:13

so much.

55:14

This is so fun. Thanks. Well,

55:16

this has

55:16

been so much fun getting to hang with

55:18

a cast in a crew of stranger things. Thank

55:20

you so much for joining us. We cannot wait

55:22

to see what's in store for season five. But

55:25

to

55:25

tide you over, there's

55:27

more

55:27

unlocked on the way. Yeah. We'll

55:29

see you in August where we catch up with the

55:31

cast of the sandman. Yes.

55:34

Until then, bye bye book chak

55:39

chos.