Finn Wolfhard was left with mixed emotions after learning the fate of his Stranger Things character.
Wolfhard, 22, has played the hit Netflix series protagonist, Mike Wheeler, since 2015. The sci-fi drama — set in the fictional rural town of Hawkins, Indiana — will draw to a close with its fifth and final season later this year.
In a new interview with People, Wolfhard reflected on his 10-year journey on the show.
“I was so happy with his ending, and I don’t know, I was satisfied, but I was also very confused and sad, but also very happy,” he said.
Filming the finale, he added, “was definitely a lot. I felt like I was in a dream or something. None of it felt real. I don’t know, it felt perfect.”
On shooting the final scene, Wolfhard recalled: “It didn’t really start to go into focus until the next day. It was like an emotional hangover.
“But it ended really well, and I just have such positive things to say about everyone.”
He continued: “The cast all stayed for the last day; we were all there together. It was really great to be around each other.”
Born in 2002, Wolfhard was 13 years old when Stranger Things season one was released.
The role made him an overnight star along with his fellow child co-stars Millie Bobby Brown, Caleb McLaughlin, and, later, Sadie Sink.
Speaking to GQ in 2023, Wolfhard — who is also a musician — said that his “crazy whirlwind career” affected his mental health, causing him to have routine panic attacks.
“Everyone was like, ‘Look at him, he’s fine. He’s having the best time,’” he said. “But in reality, I was probably also developing, and things were happening in my brain, and anxieties were forming, and [there were] things that I didn’t realise that I had to bury because of how I had to feel at work.”
Bobby Brown, who plays Wolfhard’s love interest Eleven, has also spoken out regularly about the challenges of growing up under the public eye.
Stranger Things season five does not yet have an exact release date but is expected later this year.
