Yahoo Lifestyle ‘Stranger Things’ Star Finn Wolfhard Talks “Very Emotional” Experience Leaving Show Behind & What He’s Looking To Do Next – Sundance Studio
Stranger Things star Finn Wolfhard is reflecting on the way he’s been personally affected by seeing his 10-year run with the show come to a close, with the conclusion of production on the series’ fifth and final season.
“A lot of people grew up on that show. It was a very emotional thing to leave behind,” Wolfhard told Deadline today in an appearance at our Sundance Studio, where he was promoting his forthcoming A24 film The Legend of Ochi. “But I’m incredibly excited just to see the show because you work for something for so [long]… It was sort of like this movie where it’s like, we worked on this so long ago, in 2021, and you move on and live your life, and then all of a sudden it’s like, oh, it’s happening. The thing we did is finally coming out, and you get to re-experience these awesome things.”
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Initially, Wolfhard said, when production on the beloved supernatural epic wrapped in December, after 11 months, “I was feeling a bit depressed about it being over just because of not being able to see everyone and stuff. And then you remember…You’re like, ‘Oh, but it comes out and people get to see it, and you get to re-experience it with everyone.'”
Wolfhard compared the impending arrival of Stranger Things Season 5 to the experience of premiering The Legend of Ochi at Sundance, reconnecting with cast and crew for the first time since wrapping production in 2021. “To be able to sit down and watch the movie with the crew and reconnect was so emotional for me and made the movie all that more important,” he said. “And I would hope that obviously that’s where Stranger Things 5 goes.”
With Stranger Things‘ final set of episodes set to debut this year, what’s next for Wolfhard? Aside from The Legend of Ochi, which is set to unspool on April 25, he has the Neon unveiling of his feature directorial debut, Hell of a Summer, directed with Billy Bryk, which is set for the week prior, on April 18. Going forward, he’d like to continue to pursue his work on both sides of the camera.
RELATED: Everything We Know About ‘Stranger Things’ Season 5 So Far
“I think I’m deeply curious about filmmaking and really would like to keep directing,” he said. “That’s something that I just feel very comfortable doing, and performing is also something that sometimes comes naturally. But also, at the same time, it’s like, [I’m] 22. Not to discount myself or anything, but it’s also just trying to live life and come out the other side a semi-normal person.”
On Stranger Things, Wolfhard plays Mike Wheeler, one of a group of teenagers fighting supernatural forces in the town of Hawkins, Indiana. Season 4 ended on an ominous note, as Vecna (Jamie Campbell Bower), revealed as Henry Creel (aka One), executed his plan to tear open the barriers between Hawkins and the dimension known as the Upside Down by attacking Max (Sadie Sink), leaving her on the brink of death, with Hawkins in ruins and the end of the world seemingly imminent.
The upcoming season will feature a time jump, advancing the storyline to the autumn of 1987, more than a year after the events of Season 4. Episode titles include “The Crawl,” The Vanishing of…,” “The Turnbow Trap,” “Sorcerer,” Shock Jock,” “Escape from Camazotz,” “The Bridge,” and “The Rightside Up.” Other core cast members set to return include Millie Bobby Brown as Eleven, David Harbour as Jim Hopper, Noah Schnapp as Will Byers, Gaten Matarazzo as Dustin Henderson, Caleb McLaughlin as Lucas Sinclair, Sink as Max Mayfield, Natalia Dyer as Nancy Wheeler, Charlie Heaton as Jonathan Byers, Joe Keery as Steve Harrington, Maya Hawke as Robin Buckley, and Winona Ryder as Joyce Byers. Among the newcomers to appear is the Terminator franchise’s Linda Hamilton.
Marking the feature debut of writer-director Isaiah Saxon, The Legend of Ochi is an Amblinesque fantasy adventure pic centered on Yuri (Helena Zengel), a young girl from a remote northern village, who is raised to fear the elusive forest creatures known as the ochi, only to discover a baby ochi separated from its pack, which she decides to reunite with its family. Wolfhard portrays Petro, Yuri’s adopted older brother, who is trained by their father, Maxim (Willem Dafoe), to hunt the ochi. Check back later for our video interview on the film out of Sundance.
RELATED: ‘Stranger Things’ Reveals Season 5 Episode Titles, Confirms Release Window
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