(Credits: Netflix)

Stranger Things season four was nothing less than a trial by fire for the Hawkins gang. With Eleven fumbling with her powers, Joyce and Murray somehow managed to save Hopper from the Russian labour camp. But then came Vecna, and hell broke loose on Netflix like never before.

Every time fans thought there couldn’t be a villain any worse than what Stranger Things had already shown, Netflix turned the tables. And the most horrifying entry so far had been Vecna, who had Max Mayfield levitating above her step-brother, Billy’s grave stone.

Now that we’re closer than ever to the fifth and final season of Stranger Things, the rewatch party on Netflix feels like a revelation in itself. However, with the stars of the show, Millie Bobby Brown, Sadie Sink, Caleb McLaughlin, Gaten Matarazzo, Joe Keery, and Jamie Campbell Bower chiming in, fans have also gotten the behind-the-scenes insights into the instalment that had them on the edge of their seats.

In case you’re yet to catch up with what went down in season four, here are the secrets we never knew before.

The skate scene was initially set on a mini golf course

Remember the chapter two scene from Stranger Things season four, when Eleven scornfully hit Angela with a roller skate at Rink-O-Mania? It turns out that the scene was originally conceived a bit differently in the earlier drafts. “It was originally written at a mini-golf [course],” Brown revealed. “I was meant to get a golf club and whack her on the head with it.”

Steve getting dragged into Lovers Lake was partially filmed in reverse

Steve Harrington was dragged through a gate into the Upside Down at Lovers Lake in chapter six, which Keery recounts as an “intense challenge.” As a result, they had to turn to some “movie magic” to achieve the needful, where the character is pulled by invisible forces. Besides having Keery snatched under, the filmmakers filmed the scene backwards to finish the shot.

“They moved the rift to the top of the surface, and they actually pulled me backwards, [making] the surface of the water [look like] the bottom of the water and moving the camera. I will look back on these three days of filming as definitely one of the coolest things I’ve ever gotten to do,” Keery said.

Sadie Sink and Jamie Campbell Bower took home some Max and Vecna souvenirs

It doesn’t exactly come as a surprise that the scene that made Stranger Things season four such a hit had the actors taking home some well-cherished souvenirs. Jamie Campbell Bower reportedly took one of Vecna’s prosthetic hands. “I have one, but it doesn’t have the mechanism in it [to make it move], so it just kind of flops around,” he said.

Meanwhile, Sadie Sink took back Max’s Walkman, a portable tape player, which had Kate Bush’s ‘Running Up That Hill (A Deal With God)’ blasting in that unforgettable sequence. “I kept one of them. There were several. So I would listen to it,” she said.

Gaten Matarazzo was afraid of Dustin and Eddie’s on-screen chemistry

“People grew to love the dynamic between Dustin and Steve so much that when they had the choice to bring in a new character and relationship, that challenged that bond. I think the only way it works is if you have an actor like Joe [Quinn],” Gaten Matarazzo said.

Max’s near-fatal experience in the Creel House attic and in the Void were shot separately

When Max almost succumbs to Vecna’s spell in the Creel House attic, with Lucas accompanying her but unable to help her, she makes it out alive. However, she doesn’t gain consciousness and spends the season in a coma. Eleven sees Max’s near-death experience from the Void. However, according to the actors, that scene was shot separately with Brown a week after filming the Creel House sequence.

“You give your performance, you feel good about it, and it’s like, ‘Wait, we have to re-create that in the Void,” Sink said. But she wasn’t alone. Caleb McLaughlin also found it especially challenging to retain that emotional gravity that went behind filming the scene the first time around. “I’m like, ‘How do I get back to this same feeling?’ Just having to cry a lot in different takes was very draining,” he explained. However, the Duffers made it easy by allowing him to improvise. And just like that, one of the most iconic scenes was born.