Gaten Matarazzo is ready for one last trip to the Upside Down.
As Stranger Things prepares to come to an end with its upcoming fifth and final season, the stakes are higher than ever for the citizens of Hawkins, Indiana. And Gaten, who plays Dustin Henderson, just revealed his hopes for the beloved characters.
"There's an excitement there because you always want to wrap it up and see how these characters are finally going to develop one last time and how they're going to finish their journeys," the 20-year-old actor explained on The Tonight Show March 20. "But also, there's like a deep fear of—not only has it been amazing, but it's been pretty great job security for a while."
According to David Harbour, filming for season five isn't expected to take place until this June. But when it does come time to learn their characters' fates, Gaten and his co-stars—including Finn Wolfhard, Millie Bobby Brown, Caleb McLaughlin, Noah Schnapp and Sadie Sink—are confident that The Duffer Brothers will finish out the series on a strong note.
"I think it's in the best hands it can be," he admitted. "Matt and Ross know these characters better than I think we might. It's really interesting because they trust us all very much to make our own decisions and go about the scenes the way we've always instinctually wanted to. I've never really given myself the opportunity to think what they might want to do."
Gaten continued, "I'd love to see a good launchpad for growth and I'd love to see these characters thrive and move on from the trauma they've endured over the past few years."
And after spending the last seven years playing Dustin, the Sweeney Todd star is still blown away by the impact the show has had on fans.
"It's interesting to just be reminded constantly how much people resonated with it," Gaten noted. "It's something that's so important to all of us and just has been essential to the growth that I had over all of my teenage years into my 20s. It's the defining aspect of the past 10 years of my life, practically the last decade."
We'll miss you too, Dusty Bun.
While you await season five, catch up on seasons one through four of Stranger Things on Netflix. Plus, here's everything we know about the final chapter, below...