‘Stranger Things’ Star Cara Buono Weighs in on Series Finale

The Stranger Things finale is creeping up faster than a Demogorgon.

After the first four episodes of Season 5 dropped last week, fans are as anxious as ever for the final four later this month.

Episodes 5-7 are set to premiere on Christmas Day, while the eighth and final episode will be dropping on New Year’s Eve. Considering what happened in Stranger Things 5 Part 1, there is no telling what will happen next, but Cara Buono, who plays Karen Wheeler, told Us Weekly that fans will be satisfied.

“I think the show ends in the best way for everybody,” she said. “With every great show, you can’t satisfy everybody. But I do think that the audiences will be very happy.”

Buono also praised creators Matt and Ross Duffer for doing “an amazing job” with how they ended the season “for everyone.” She recalled filming the final season and what it was like when that final day came. “I remember the read-through before we got started [on Season 5] and we were all together as a cast,” Buono shared. “That was a great moment. We embarked on what was going to be a full year, which is really unheard of — especially in television. We all thought, ‘That’s going to be a long time.’ But I felt like it went by really fast. And the last day of the show for me was the very last day of shooting.”

“Everybody was there, the families were there, and I was in the second-to-last setup for the very end of the show,” Buono continued. “So, it was really a beautiful moment. Because in Season 1, I was the first day, first scene, and first take. For me, it came full circle at the end. It was just a matter of getting out by trying not to cry and getting to deliver my lines.”

Stranger Things is already breaking records for its final outing, achieving the best premiere-week viewership an English-language Netflix series has ever had, bringing in 59.6 million views worldwide. The wait for Season 5 was a long one, as Season 4 dropped in 2022, and despite the long wait, it’s clear that the interest was still there, and even more than ever before. The series finale will also be shown in theaters on New Year’s Eve, beginning at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT when the episode premieres on Netflix. Showings will go through New Year’s Day, and fans can buy tickets now, but seats are quickly filling up.

Part 2 of Stranger Things 5, which will be three episodes, premiere on Christmas at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT, while the two-hour series finale premieres on New Year’s Eve at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT on Netflix and in select theaters.