Charlie Heaton, the actor who played Jonathan Byers in Stranger Things, has opened up about the divisive Season 5 and how the final season provided closure to his character. The final season of the Netflix series saw Jonathan join the battle against Vecna, but Will’s big brother also had a moment of absolute honesty alongside his romantic partner Nancy. As they were on the verge of dying, they opened up to each other and realized they were not meant to be a couple anymore. It was a heartfelt sequence that provided closure for Jonathan, and an ending that the actor characterizes as “real” and a “really well-written scene.”
Heaton recently talked to People Magazine, and addressed the Nancy-Jonathan scene that became one of the most emotional (and another of the most divisive) moments in the final episodes of the show:
“They’ve been through so much together. And when you’re playing them, you care about them, and you want them to have that ending, in some way.
“But [the ending] felt real, and I think that felt more important than them being together… It was just a really well-written scene, and for it to feel so honest was like, okay, that kind of touches a different place.”
About shooting the final season, Heaton was very emotional, saying, “It’ll forever live in my memory. And that last day on set, the things we were shooting, it was just real honesty. It was just like, I love the people I’m working with, and I’m sad to say goodbye to you. It was a really special experience.”
‘Stranger Things’ Has Come To an End… Sort Of
Stranger Things Season 5 wrapped on December 31, with the eighth chapter titled “The Rightside Up” delivering the conclusion to the journey of the Hawkins gang against the villain known as Vecna. Millions are feeling the void left by the nostalgia-based phenomenon, and the most loyal fans are refusing to let it go. An internet phenomenon known as “Conformity Gate” has taken the world by storm, and some are confident that Netflix is yet to release a secret final episode that has been kept under wraps for some reason. Heaton recently responded to the theory that there’s one more episode left, calling it “kind of insane.”
“I’m not on social media, but my friend just told me about this. It’s kind of insane.”
These are all theories, of course, as nothing has been announced. The next official chapter in the Stranger Things franchise is the behind-the-scenes documentary dropping on Netflix on January 12. One Last Adventure: The Making of Stranger Things 5 will provide fans with an inside look at how the show’s final season was made. An animated spin-off, titled Stranger Things: Tales From ’85, is set to premiere on Netflix sometime during 2026, and it will follow the original characters in animated form in a storyline that takes place between Seasons 2 and 3.
It is looking likely that Stranger Things will also get a live action spin-off sometime in the near future. While the Duffers have ended their long relationship with Netflix, and are set to start making movies with Paramount, they are still involved with everything related to the series. The popularity of the show has proven to be quite exponential in the last couple of years, and Netflix will surely capitalize on one of the most popular series in recent history.