Netflix documentary shows Stranger Things 5 was produced without finished scripts

Collider reports Netflix’s One Last Adventure: The Making of Stranger Things Season 5 confirms the final season was produced in a prolonged state of uncertainty and began production without finished scripts.

The Duffers always intended Eleven to die or be permanently removed, the documentary says, but they did not have a fully locked-in route for how to get there. Production proceeded while scripts — including the finale, "Chapter Eight: The Rightside Up" — were still being written, a process Ross and Matt Duffer describe as daunting and like “laying down the tracks as the train is going.” The season’s scale and pressure are documented with figures such as 237 days of filming, 6,725 setups and roughly 630 hours of footage, while Netflix grew impatient as scripts lagged behind production.

The film shows creative decisions often driven by conversation rather than completed scripts, forcing practical and VFX teams to adapt in real time and involving cast input on character moments. One Last Adventure frames the resulting unevenness and narrative gaps as a consequence of building the season in real time: the destination and Eleven’s ending were known, but the path to them was still being discovered under intense scrutiny, which helps explain why many viewers felt the finale was unfinished.

Key Topics

Culture, Stranger Things, Duffer Brothers, One Last Adventure, Eleven, Vfx