Stranger Things creators respond to emotional series ending scenes – and reveal which spin-off ideas aren't happening

*Warning - contains major spoilers for the Stranger Things finale.*

It was a bittersweet start to the new year for Stranger Things fans, as the series came to an emotional end in one epic, two-hour episode.

Despite fans' fears that a number of their favourite characters might bite the dust, in the end it was only Eleven who failed to make it, sacrificing herself to destroy the Upside Down. In fact, even she may have actually survived, if Mike's theory that he relays in the show's final moments is correct.

Now, speaking with Deadline, creators Matt and Ross Duffer have reacted to the "very emotional" final days of shooting, saying there were "a lot of tears at the end".

"I just felt like everything had come full circle," Ross said, "and just to see how much they’ve grown up over the years... it was really the perfect way to end the whirlwind of press tour and filming and everything. It was quiet, but I thought it was beautiful."

Matt said that Eleven's 'death' had been on their minds "for a really long time", and that the original ending of the show, when it was designed as a limited series, was that Eleven would have to "sacrifice herself in some way".

"I mean, the first thing we did when we were working on season 5 was to talk about the ending and specifically talk about Eleven and, it was hard," he added.

"This is a character we’ve been with for 10 years. We’ve been with Millie for 10 years. So it was a really hard and emotional decision to make, but at the end of the day, it just felt right to us."

"It was always going to end with the kids in the basement," Ross added. "That’s been planned for eight years. Once we figured out this, ‘I believe,’ line from Mike, that’s when everything sort of crystallised. And of course, that was very early on, like week two or three of the writers room this [season].

"Once Holly became a bigger figure, sort of the passing of the torch, those were some of the first ideas we had when we were talking about what we wanted this basement scene to be, before we even started writing the season. So it was always headed towards that goal post."

The duo were also asked about the future spin-offs they have planned, beyond the already announced animated inbetween-quel show, Stranger Things: Tales from ‘85.

While they didn't confirm what the spin-off would be, they did confirm some stories that it wouldn't tackle.

"It’s not Hopper mentioning Montauk," Ross revealed. "There’s no Montauk spin-off. That was more of a wink to the fans, deep-cut fans that know that the show started as 'Montauk'. It’s obviously not Holly and the kids or anything like that. It’s something much smaller than that. We’ve said this before, the spin-off idea we have, it is early days, but it is an entirely new mythology.

"So, it is connected, and it is going to answer some questions that people have, and there’s some lingering questions that weren’t answered in the finale that will be answered in the spin-off. But at the end of the day, it’s got its own story and its own mythology."

Stranger Thing season 5 is available to stream in full now. Sign up for Netflix from £5.99 a month. Netflix is also available on Sky Glass and Virgin Media Stream.

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