(Credits: Netflix)

So we all screamed during volume two, right? Max waking up, Will coming out, Eleven walking back into the Upside Down as she owns it…. But here is the thing: whatever you have seen in this season of Stranger Things is what the camera let you. What was actually going down behind the scenes? Oh, baby. That is where the real plot twists live.

Turns out, the Duffer Brothers were playing 4D chess the whole time. Writing scenes that almost didn’t make it (hello, the un-proposal scene). Max, giving that long-ass monologue to Holly while we were all screaming, “RUN!” Turns out they have finally started talking about it.

Some of these reveals are absolutely insane. Like, they’ll blow your brains out. Others? So subtle you probably didn’t even clock them, but now you won’t be able to unsee it.

So grab your emotional support waffle and buckle up. These five behind-the-scenes facts are Stranger Things lore now, and you are not ready for half of it.

Will’s coming-out scene broke the Duffers

You know that scene? THE scene? The one where Will finally gathered all his courage and came out to everyone? That was the hardest one for the Duffers to write. It wasn’t just a character moment; it was personal. They scrapped version after version, originally writing it as a conversation between Will and Joyce before realising it had to be bigger. It had to include the whole group.

And when they finally filmed it? Noah Schnapp crushed it on the first close-up. Barely any direction. Just him, tapping into something so real the Duffers literally sobbed at the monitor. The rest of the day? Just trying to match that one take.

Steve might actually be on borrowed time

The Duffers have always joked about how fans are constantly panicking about Steve. But even they admit… his beatdowns keep escalating. First bats and vines in season four. Countless emotional sacrifices (he, after all, is the mother and the unsolicited babysitter).

They won’t confirm anything, but they did say the “next logical step” might be death. They have been hinting, teasing, and foreshadowing his readiness to die every season, but whether that’s a setup or a switcheroo? The finale holds the answer.

Nell Fisher was cast from a single trailer

Holly has low-key become the MVP of season five, and it’s impossible not to talk about her. But do you know how they found her? Matt Duffer watched the trailer for Evil Dead Rise. Not even the film. Just the trailer. He saw Nell Fisher’s face and immediately said, “That’s our Holly.” No long audition arc or screen test drama. Just a gut feeling, and oh, how right he was.

When she walked into the casting room? She blew them away. No one was more on their mark. The Duffers even said she reminded them of a young Sadie Sink. Maybe that’s why those two got so many scenes together this season.

The finale script? Printed on red paper like a top-secret heist file

The Duffers didn’t shoot fake endings. They didn’t drop decoy scripts. But they did print the final episode of Stranger Things on red paper. Why? Because red paper can’t be photocopied or scanned. That’s how deep the paranoia ran.

Only the final script got this treatment. Because, as Matt Duffer put it, red paper is annoying, and no one wants to read an entire season on that stuff. But the finale? Worth it. Every page was guarded like gold. We’ll see.

Sadie Sink knew she was safe… sort of

Max was never off the board, but Sadie Sink wasn’t exactly given the master plan. She was told just enough before reading her fake-out ending in season four to stop her from thinking she was out of the show completely. The whole Vecna-mind-trap angle was still evolving as they wrote season five.

What makes it even sweeter? The Duffers knew Max would pass the torch to Holly before they even expanded Holly’s role. Sadie became a mentor to Nell Fisher in real life, too, and if that doesn’t break you a little bit, you might be a Demogorgon.