SPOILER ALERT! This post contains details from the finale of Netflix‘s Stranger Things.
Over the course of five seasons of Stranger Things, Nancy Wheeler (Natalia Dyer) went from a timid young high schooler to a self-assured, gun-wielding force in her town’s fight against inter-dimensional monsters.
The series finale, which arrived on Netflix on New Year’s Eve, even saw Nancy offer herself up as bait to lure the Mind Flayer toward a set of cliffs that would give the rest of the crew a better angle to ambush it — even though it meant running into a narrow dead end where, if things went wrong, she’d be quickly eaten. She’s come a long way, growing season-over-season with the show, Dyer admits.
“I mean, the finale really kind of felt a bit like an action movie at times, just so wildly different from things that we were doing in Season 1,” she tells Deadline on Friday morning. “Getting to live with these characters and grow with these characters and have them in these bigger and bigger scenarios has been so fun, such a training ground, such a fun place to grow up and grow as an actor.”
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In the interview below, Dyer spoke more about the finale season including Nancy and Jonathan’s breakup scene, the idea for Nancy’s future she influenced, and her experience closing this chapter after a decade on Stranger Things.
DEADLINE: How does it feel watching the world experience the finale?
NATALIA DYER: I mean, it’s kind of surreal. Yeah, I’m happy that it’s out, happy that we’re not sitting on all this information anymore. But also, the word that keeps getting [tossed around is] it’s so bittersweet. It’s like a real final goodbye. So, yeah, we’ll probably be processing our feelings for a long time.
DEADLINE: I saw you were with the cast and the Duffers together to watch the finale recently. How was that?
DYER: So beautiful and perfect. It was something we talked about doing for a while, and I’m so glad we were able to make that happen, because it was just really special to do that [and] have that moment for ourselves to see it all together in a theater. There wasn’t a dry eye.
DEADLINE: I have loved Nancy’s character growth. What’s the process been like for you as an actor to go from this timid young girl in Season 1 to, by the end of it, being the person to offer themselves up as bait for the Mind Flayer?
DYER: It’s been so fun. Nancy’s journey has been just, I couldn’t have possibly predicted it. I mean, the finale really kind of felt a bit like an action movie at times, just so wildly different from things that we were doing in Season 1. Getting to live with these characters and grow with these characters and have them in these bigger and bigger scenarios has been so fun, such a training ground, such a fun place to grow up and grow as an actor. We all really care about these characters and love them, so it’s been a really fun time.
DEADLINE: It has expanded so much in scale and scope since you all started. How did you reflect on that while making this final season? It really was quite modest at the beginning.
DYER: Oh, yeah. I mean, it was a quiet show [and],I guess, just felt more contained, and to see it grow and expand, and all the lore, even as somebody who’s on the show and finding that expanding and exploring that, and begging the Duffers for questions, trying to understand what’s going on underneath it all — it’s kind of wild. It’s wild to think about these characters, where they started out and saving the world, I guess, by the end of it.
DEADLINE: I really enjoyed the video Netflix released of you all at the table read for Episode 4. What were the table reads like for Volume 2 and the finale, just finally getting all those answers?
DYER: Kind of surreal, I think, finding out what the end is for all of these characters. I mean, obviously there’s a lot with the Abyss and the bridge and understanding a lot of the sciences, but then just the characters and where they’re going. The last table read was just very emotional and very satisfying, I think, for us as actors. We love all these characters, and the Duffers love these characters. I think everybody was very happy and sad. Mike’s whole speech at the end absolutely destroyed the whole room. Just what it meant to the characters, but also what it meant the actors working on it for so long. You’re trying to sit with it, and you’ve got to go work on it, and you’ve got to go do it, but I think always keeping in your mind that you’re like, ‘Wow. Okay, this is it,’ and every little moment it’s like, ‘Wow, this is the last one.’
DEADLINE: How did you feel about Nancy’s ending? I mean, breaking up with Jonathan but also we find out at the very end that she’s dropped out of school and is pursuing a career at the paper.
DYER: We really love that [breakup] scene, and we love having that scene and getting to do that scene, because a lot of the Nancy-Jonathan dynamic, you don’t get to see on screen, because there’s so much action and other things, and that’s true of a lot of characters, a lot of the relationships. You can only fit so much into a show. So having that scene is so nice, because you get to see the weight all of this has had on them, and how much love there really is still there. They think they might be dying in that moment. So, the truth of it becomes really important. Once I read that, I felt like [it was] maybe the only way and the best way, and a really satisfying way, for this love relationship to come to a close. That was really beautiful.
The end, I would say Nancy not being in school is something I was very adamant about. The Duffers, they’d go around a little bit and be like, ‘Well, what do you think?’ They’re very collaborative. They would ask, like, ‘Where do you see your character? What do you think?’ Just kind of checking in with the actors, which I thought was really nice. My main thing is like, I just do not think Nancy could go back to school. I just cannot see her in school. and that was something that I said, ‘Pretty please. I just cannot.’ I remember reading the epilogue like, ‘Yeah, that’s perfect.’ For me. For Nancy. I felt really satisfied. I think after everything she’s been through, I just couldn’t [see her] writing papers and turning it in. You know? It’s hard, in a way, you feel so much love and care for these characters, and you want so many things for them, but you also wanted to stay kind of grounded. I think for everybody, it felt really good.
DEADLINE: The Duffers told me that they at least tried to use mostly practical effects for the breakup scene. I heard there were some issues. But what was that experience like for you to juggle that kind of chaos with also finding the emotional center of that scene?
DYER: It was so fun and challenging having this sort of melted goo — and I know there was a lot of talk about the consistency, and was it right on the day — but it was so challenging. Such a gift, especially these days when we have CGI and AI, and getting to work with things that are so practical like that, I think, really felt monumental as an actor. You’re just like, ‘This is so cool,’ when you get to do this. But also, I think it helps. Anything like that always helps with the emotion of a scene and just being there and being in it. I mean, really in it. You’re covered in it. You’re rolling around in it all day. So it’s one of those very exhausting, cold, wet days that’s so fun to do.
DEADLINE: There’s also been some chatter that the cast stuck around after they wrapped to watch a lot of their fellow cast wrap, and you guys were all there for the final day of filming. What was that experience like?
DYER: Gosh, yeah, I think a lot of people were going to each other’s wraps, and that just felt so natural, really, but so lovely and important. For us to see everybody down there, like Finn and all the kids and Cara [Buono], it means a lot. Being there for the basement day, the last, last day, and just getting to watch them wrap out and wrap these characters out is really, really powerful. I wouldn’t miss it.
DEADLINE: This show was a part of your life for a decade, and it’s pretty rare to have that kind of consistency as an actor, especially so early in your career. How formative has it been for you to have that consistency?
DYER: I mean, you feel very lucky. It’s just not something that’s guaranteed, ever, to have that steady job. Cast has referenced it as, like, summer camp, in a sense. You get to keep going back to this thing. It really is such a gift, especially when you like the people that you’re working with, which is also a gift. Having all of those elements together, it’s so rare, and I think that’s so not lost on any of us. I remember at the end of Season 1, when we were wrapping, I don’t think it had really occurred to me that there could be a Season 2, at that point. I don’t know. I guess I assumed it was a limited series or something where I was like, ‘Okay, well, that’s it.’ Then they’re like, ‘Well, I hope we get a Season 2.’ And you’re like, ‘Oh, wow, well, that would be amazing. This has been so much fun. That would be great to get a Season 2.’ My gosh, having it go for about a decade, I think all of us are just feeling so, so grateful for that and grateful to the fans, as well, because that doesn’t happen without all the support that you get from that side of things.
DEADLINE: So we get a sense of what Nancy’s up to after they close the Upside Down for good, but how do you think she’s just been coping with all of this trauma and loss? She lost so much agency throughout this process, as a lot of them did.
DYER: Oh, gosh, yeah, I think you’re right, that they all get sort of pulled into this. I think there’s a lot of different ways you could feel about this. I think that’s part of what I admire so much about Nancy, is that she went after the truth. She lost her friend, and she wanted to figure it out, and she wanted justice. There can be a problem [inside] of that as well. She can be righteous, and she can be bullheaded about things. She didn’t back down from it. I think she finds pieces of herself, and she makes mistakes. She’s definitely not perfect. I think instead of letting this thing destroy her, she tries her best to find strength in it and tries to manage and control. In this season, there’s a sense of leadership and trying to logically attack this thing, and understanding that you can’t control everything. I think she tries to find her strength through all of these terrible, truly terrifying things that keep happening to them.
DEADLINE: My last question for you is just what are you looking forward to next?
DYER: It’s the new year. It’s been feeling very, very nostalgic for all of us, in a way. We’re processing, but excited for this next chapter. It definitely feels like a closing of a chapter. So, we’ll see what happens.