Duffers saved Stranger Things' only scripted F-bomb for Winona Ryder

Movieweb reports the Duffer brothers said they reserved Stranger Things' only scripted F-bomb for Winona Ryder's Joyce Byers in Season 5, using it during the sequence in which she decapitates Vecna.

In the finale, a wounded Vecna appears to beg for death inside the Mind Flayer's corpse and Joyce tells him he 'f*cked with the wrong family' before hacking off his head with an ax. Matt Duffer said the show had avoided the F-word and had been 'looking for a real moment' that would 'deserve stronger language,' noting an earlier unscripted mutter by Dacre Montgomery; 'if we're going to go there, this is the moment for it. Let's give it to Winona,' he said. Ross Duffer told Variety that Joyce felt like the right choice as 'the mother of this group' and that the killing was meant to be cathartic rather than just celebratory.

Winona Ryder told Tudum she could not rehearse the beat and said she only did the take twice. The piece also noted some viewers have questioned previous comments by the Duffers about Season 5's violence and suggested Vecna's demise may be the moment they were referring to.

Key Topics

Culture, Stranger Things, Winona Ryder, Duffer Brothers, Joyce Byers, Vecna