David Harbour says the Stranger Things season 5 finale table featured "so much heavy, heavy weeping" from the cast
"This was actually their childhood"
The final instalment in one of the best Netflix shows of all time is on the way, and it sounds like things are already getting pretty emotional. David Harbour has revealed that the very last Stranger Things season 5 table read had the whole cast in tears.
"We just did a read through of the last episode and the amount of crying... like the episode is very beautiful. But there's also a deeper level of that, this was actually their childhood," said Harbour in an interview with Comic Book. "They were 11 years old and grew up and fought this monster. And I've never seen so much heavy, heavy weeping from teenagers or young adults in my life."
Stranger Things season 1 landed on Netflix back in 2016, first introducing us to Mike Wheeler (Finn Wolfhard) and his Hawkins AV Club Will Byers (Noah Schnapp), Lucas Sinclair (Caleb McLaughlin), and Dustin Henderson (Gaten Matarazzo), who stumbled upon super able orphan Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown) and later newcomer Max Mayfield (Sadie Sink). But now, eight years on, it's time to say goodbye to this generation’s Losers Club as they all now venture on projects of their own.
"I think that's a wild experience for all of us," continued Harbour, who plays Chief of Police Jim Hopper and Eleven's adoptive parent. "I mean, those kids were 11 years old when we started, 12 years old. Now they're 20 and they're shaving and they aren't kids anymore. Finn (Wolfhard) just directed a movie."
However, as touching as the final table reading sounds, the star is hoping that, although it was filmed, not that much footage gets out as it was an "intimate" moment between a "family" of sorts. "There is the deeper level, it is about us as individuals who've worked together for nine years since they were kids, and that really came through," said Harbour.
Although season 5 does not have an official synopsis at this moment, we expect to see the residents of Hawkins reeling from the destruction caused by Vecna in season 4 volume 2. Alongside Harbour and the AV club, returning cast members also include Winona Ryder, Jamie Campbell Bower, Maya Hawke, Joe Keery, Natalia Dyer, Charlie Heaton, Priah Ferguson, and a few new faces too.
Stranger Things season 5 doesn't yet have a release date. For more on the small screen, stay up to date with upcoming TV shows heading your way.
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I am an Entertainment Writer here at GamesRadar+, covering TV and film for SFX and Total Film online. I have a Bachelors Degree in Media Production and Journalism and a Masters in Fashion Journalism from UAL. In the past I have written for local UK and US newspaper outlets such as the Portland Tribune and York Mix and worked in communications, before focusing on film and entertainment writing. I am a HUGE horror fan and in 2022 I created my very own single issue feminist horror magazine.