Everything We Learned on Our Visit to the Stranger Things Season 5 Set

The town of Jackson, Georgia previously served as the setting for Hawkins, Indiana in the show *Stranger Things*, specifically its charming Main Street. However, after the villain Vecna caused massive destruction in the fourth season, the show needed a completely ruined Hawkins for the final season. Because this devastation needs to last throughout all eight episodes, the production team decided to rebuild the street on a soundstage in Atlanta.

When I visited the set of Stranger Things for a TIME cover story about its final season—a season rumored to have cost nearly $500 million—the street looked like a disaster zone. The show’s creators, Matt and Ross Duffer, were filming a large battle sequence. The town of Hawkins was depicted as being under military quarantine, with extras in army uniforms gathered around the library, which had been transformed into a gateway to the Upside Down—a massive, multi-story red hole. Actors wearing gray suits and orange headgear stood in for the Demogorgons, which would later be added using computer-generated imagery, as they prepared to battle the soldiers and destroy the town.

Because the characters travel between the normal world and the eerie ‘Upside Down,’ the show’s set designers had to build two versions of every location in Hawkins – every street, house, and store. These locations had to quickly switch between normal and their dark, decayed counterparts. They achieved this by adding creepy, tentacle-like vines made from painted pool noodles with wire inside to each set. According to production designer Chris Trujillo, if all those vines were laid end to end, they’d stretch an incredible 52 miles!

I got to wander around a bunch of the sets today, and it was incredible! I saw the new radio station – it’s going to be the gang’s headquarters this season – and this really creepy cave where Holly Wheeler has a frightening scene. I even glimpsed a lab *inside* the Upside Down! It was a bit unsettling to see, but so cool. While I was there, security spotted three drones flying around, and it’s pretty clear someone was trying to sneak peeks and find out what happens in the final season. It’s a shame people try to spoil things, but it just shows how much excitement there is for it!

I’m watching several scenes being filmed, but I don’t really know what’s going on. During a break, Finn Wolfhard walked over to the directors’ monitors. They were showing unfinished images of Demogorgons attacking soldiers, giving everyone an idea of how the scene would look with special effects added. Wolfhard noticed my confused expression and started laughing. “You’re probably wondering what’s going on, aren’t you?” he said with a smile.

I’ll tell you what I experienced and what I could make of it. We’ll find out the full story when the first episodes become available on Netflix on November 26th.

A mysterious scene involving Holly Wheeler

A strange scene takes place among orange rocks covered in graffiti. It seems to be a dream or vision featuring Holly Wheeler, Nancy and Mike’s little sister. She’s now played by Nell Fisher, and was just a baby in the first season. In this scene, she’s wandering through the rocks wearing a blue dress from the 1950s, a red bandana, and pigtails, with blood on her forehead – a look that reminds you of *Alice in Wonderland*. Interestingly, she’s also wearing a colorful friendship bracelet, the kind kids made at summer camp in the 80s.

Holly rounds a corner and stops dead in her tracks, startled by what she sees. The Duffer brothers zoom in on her face with a dramatic close-up, reminiscent of classic horror films. “Go! Go! Go!” Matt shouts, urging her to turn and run.

As soon as the directors yelled “Cut!”, Fisher playfully showed her dad her hands, which were covered in orange dust from the rocks – it looked just like Cheeto powder! She was laughing and asked if he liked her fake tan. Her dad pointed out that she’d grown four inches since she started the show, and the costume team had already had to alter her dress three times to keep up!

Hilary Leavitt, who heads up Duffers’ Upside Down Pictures, started to describe how the scene ties into *Stranger Things: The First Shadow*. Matt Duffer playfully asked her not to reveal too much about the entire season.

He admits they wrote and then scrapped four scenes intended to fit with the play. He jokes that director Stephen Daldry – known for the Tony-winning production *The First Shadow*, which recently moved from London’s West End to Broadway – was frustrated by their constant revisions. However, he’s confident this latest scene will work.

Alice Creel’s creepy room

According to the play *The First Shadow*, Henry Creel gained the power to move things with his mind and a strange obsession with spiders as a child after being exposed to the Upside Down. He later murdered his mother and sister, making it look like his father was responsible. This led him to Dr. Brenner, a scientist researching the Upside Down, who experimented on Henry and gave him the number “001” as a tattoo. After years of being studied, Henry fought back, and another patient, Eleven, sent him to the Upside Down. While there, he transformed into the terrifying creature known as Vecna.

The house Henry Creel grew up in has become famously known as a location from *Stranger Things*. It’s been empty since his childhood and served as the eerie backdrop for last season’s confrontation with Vecna, as well as the place where Max fell into a coma. When I visited the set, I entered Alice Creel’s bedroom – Henry’s sister. The room is decorated to look like a typical mid-century children’s room, with details like a floral pillow and a toy kitchen. However, there are also disturbing elements, such as a Raggedy Anne doll with one eye missing and a creepy-looking stuffed bunny. An *Alice in Wonderland* poster hangs on the wall.

An Epic Battle Between Soldiers and Creatures from the Upside Down

The Hawkins library—the site where Vecna’s four ground fissures merged last season, creating a huge, red opening—is bustling with activity. There are many extras in military uniforms and stunt performers getting ready for a large action sequence, which the Duffer brothers say is their most ambitious one yet. They’re even planning something even bigger for the series finale.

In this scene, terrifying creatures called Demogorgons come bursting out of an alternate dimension to attack the soldiers in Hawkins. Some of the main characters, like Mike, Will, and Joyce, are there and try to fight back or escape. At one point, Mike bravely guides a group of kids to safety.

The team has been practicing this scene for two weeks, referring to different parts as “Hilltop,” “Crossing,” and “Massacre.” These sections will be combined into a single, long shot – or what filmmakers call an “oner.” While director Shawn Levy (known for *Deadpool & Wolverine* and executive producing *Stranger Things*) previously filmed a continuous shot during a Season 4 shootout, this new scene is much more ambitious, involving over 100 people.

The creators of the show have been building towards this finale for years. They avoided completely destroying the town of Hawkins because its people wouldn’t realistically stay in a place infested with monsters from the Upside Down. Now that the series is ending, they’re free to unleash all the creatures they’ve imagined. According to visual-effects supervisor Michael Maher, almost everyone standing at the beginning of this climactic scene will be killed off, leaving only the kids alive. He showed me 528 storyboard images detailing the sequence.

As soon as the Duffer brothers say “Action!”, the bright lights surrounding quarantined Hawkins start to flicker – a warning that creatures from the Upside Down are about to appear. They call “Cut!” and Matt points out that one of the soldiers in the scene looks too relaxed.

The monitoring station used by the Duffers is located inside an old, run-down Radio Shack – likely the same one Bob worked at in season two. Now, it’s filled with clearance sale signs and has missing ceiling tiles. After filming there for hours, the constantly flickering lights started to feel quite sickening.

The show’s creators are trying a new technique called “demo-vision,” filming attack scenes from the Demogorgon’s point of view using a drone that mimics running. The visual effects team has become much larger since the show began, and now includes major companies like ILM and WETA – known for their work on films such as *Star Wars* and *Lord of the Rings*.

The show started as a fun tribute to classic ’80s filmmakers like Steven Spielberg and Stephen King, but it’s now become a huge hit with incredibly exciting action sequences. The creators, the Duffer brothers, keep a running list of scenes they want to include before the series ends. They tried for years to film a scene reminiscent of *Jaws* in a town meeting, but kept having to cut it until they finally succeeded in Season 4. In the final season, they plan to film a scene of someone being set on fire – something they’ve always wanted to do.

The Upside Down lab

The military has not only occupied downtown Hawkins, but they’ve also built a laboratory *inside* the Upside Down to research the creatures living there. To get there, we traveled through tunnels that looked a lot like the ones we saw in Season 2.

As we walked in, we were immediately met with four flashing red lights. The exhibit featured creatures from another dimension, including one resembling an octopus, all displayed inside glass cases. We also saw a black, roughly three-foot-tall egg—the Demogorgon egg from the first season of the show.

I also noticed something that appears to be a metal torture device. It’s unclear whether it’s meant for a person or a creature.

Dr. Brenner’s office

This week, we’ll see inside Dr. Brenner’s office for the very first time. It’s right next to the Rainbow Room, where Eleven learned to control her powers and sent Henry to the Upside Down. The office is packed with notebooks filled with Dr. Brenner’s notes, equations, and drawings of creatures from the Upside Down – details the production team prepared in case the characters examine them on screen.

The Radio Station

Every season of *Stranger Things* features a new setting inspired by the 1980s – like the arcade, the mall, and video rental stores. Season 5 continues this trend. Instead of the Wheeler basement, the group will make their headquarters at WSQK “The Squawk” 94.5 FM, a local radio station. They’ll use the station as a hideout from government forces and as a base to track down Vecna in the Upside Down, meeting in secret below the station to plan their next moves.

The building’s design was inspired by a real radio station in the creators’ hometown of Durham, North Carolina. While the entrance features impressive Art Deco elements with golden arches around the front desk, the rest of the space looks rundown, with peeling paint and dirty green blinds. Every detail is carefully considered, from the Six Flags magnet and Indiana Pacers jersey on the break room fridge to the rubber chicken Steve uses as a sound effect. The DJ booth is filled with tapes for other sound effects, like UFOs, breaking glass, and a crying baby—it will be interesting to see if these are used in the new season.

Because Season 4 showed the Upside Down is stuck in 1983, and Season 5 happens in 1987, Trujillo and his team had to think about what new things would have appeared in the space over those four years – like updated documents or posters – every time they created a version of the Upside Down.

The Costume Hanger

Amy Parris, the costume designer who joined the show in Season 3, has created a massive wardrobe over the years – so many outfits that they fill an entire rack with items like polos, Dungeons & Dragons shirts, and tube socks! Her team even had to travel to Alabama to find authentic vintage ‘80s clothing and fabric, after exhausting all the options in Georgia. The collection is now so large, they need a crane to reach everything. They carefully store every costume from previous seasons, as the show’s creators might want to include a flashback scene.

Parris decorates her office with inspiration boards, categorizing minor characters as if they were in a high school yearbook – things like ‘Weirdo,’ ‘Jock,’ and ‘Nerd.’ She uses authentic yearbooks from the Midwest, from the relevant time period, to help her get ideas.

This season takes place in the fall of 1987, and you’d expect to see lots of classic ’80s fashion like bright colors and shoulder pads. However, the town of Hawkins isn’t quite as trendy. After the mall was destroyed in the previous season and a military quarantine was put in place, stores haven’t received new clothing. As a result, many characters are wearing more practical, olive-colored military-style clothing.

The show uses different uniforms to distinguish between groups. The standard military wears classic woodland green, while those operating in the Upside Down are in solid olive drab. A third group, a mercenary force called the Wolfpack, and specifically Dr. Kay’s team searching for Eleven, have their own unique look. Linda Hamilton will play Dr. Kay.

One of the oddest things on the tour is a special device used by the costume team to apply a white, sticky substance to jeans. It’s fun to imagine what strange happenings might have caused the goo in the first place!

2025-10-20 17:07