Stranger Things 5: Yes, you read that right! Beloved Steve Harrington, who evolved from a bully to an ally to Eleven and her band of friends was supposed to die in season 1. With the first volume of Stranger Things 5 now out and earning glowing reviews, the creators are opening up about the pressure surrounding the end of a global phenomenon.
They have shockingly, also revealed a plan that could have radically changed the show. As per The Duffer Brothers, Steve Harrington was never meant to survive Season 1. Creators Matt Duffer and Ross Duffer admit they are still anxious about how audiences will receive the final chapter, despite having envisioned the closing scene nearly seven years ago.
As per a report in Hindustan Times, sharing his nerves about landing the ending, Matt called it “a little stressful”, adding, “There’s probably more examples of shows that kind of crash and burn at the end then land the plane smoothly. So obviously, that was on our minds.”
However, Matt added that the good thing is they always knew what the last scene was going to be for seven years.
“So that kind of gave us a North Star,” he shared, adding, “We knew where we were going and we were confident, at least in that last scene. When we were working on the season with our writers, it was all about sort of building to that moment. It was challenging, but we’re very happy with it, the actors are very happy with it. And hopefully it resonates for the audience too. We won’t know till it airs on New Year’s Eve.”
Ross echoed the emotional weight of wrapping up every storyline with no safety net left. “There’s so many mysteries and storylines that we’ve wanted to get to and we’ve always been like, ‘oh, we’ll deal with that next season’. But the stress of this season was there was no next one.”
According to him, anything they wanted to say, any mysteries they wanted to resolve, any character arcs that they wanted to make sure reached their end, they had to resolve this season. “Just making sure we got it all in this season was certainly a challenge. But we’re feeling pretty good that we checked off all the boxes that at least we wanted to check off,” he revealed.
However, it was Matt who dropped the most explosive revelation of all. Steve Harrington – played by Joe Keery – one of the show’s most beloved characters, was originally supposed to be killed off in the very first season.
“That character was designed as kind of a jock and bully. He wasn’t supposed to be likeable. He wasn’t really supposed to last. I believe we were going to kill him at the end of season one,” he revealed.
However, the game-changing factor was of Joe Keery’s performance. “But Joe was just so charming that we could write the douchiest line ever and he would sell it and make you love him. So that led us to giving him a bigger and bigger role as the seasons went by. I would say his arc is one of the biggest and probably the one that surprises the most.”
With Season 5 coming towards its final moments, the revelation is not only shocking but also quips interest in what will be Steve Harrington’s final fate as Eleven, Will and the others gear up for their final showdown with Vecna in the Upside Down.