Gearing up for a Stranger Things rewatch and wish to explore every corner of Hawkins before the final chapters arrive? Or just looking to impress your friends with some mind-flaying facts that will turn their worlds Upside Down? Well, we’ve got you covered. 

Millie Bobby Brown, Finn Wolfhard, Noah Schnapp, Caleb McLaughlin, Gaten Matarazzo, Charlie Heaton, Natalia Dyer, and Joe Keery are among the series’s stars who shared Demogorgon-sized details about what it was like filming the first season.

From memorable line flubs to stunts that didn’t go according to plan, these behind-the-scenes anecdotes are pure gold. Grab a can of vintage Slice soda, fire up the Christmas lights, and settle in for illuminating facts from the Stranger Things cast.

The Dungeons & Dragons game in Chapter 1 was shot on the first day of filming. 

Wolfhard, Schnapp, McLaughlin, and Matarazzo began their Stranger Things journey with the popular role-playing game. 

McLaughlin has never played D&D.

Best friends Will, Mike, Lucas, and Dustin might be avid players in Stranger Things, but McLaughlin has not yet joined a campaign in real life. 

On the other hand, Matarazzo and Wolfhard have both spent time in the D&D dungeon. Wolfhard, who revealed he’s played two small campaigns, told Netflix it’s “pretty fun,” when you’re not the Dungeon Master. “You just have to be committed to staying with the bit.”

McLaughlin and Matarazzo roughhoused between takes. 

Mirroring their onscreen friendship, the young co-stars would smack each other just before filming. “They had to tell us to stop because our faces were getting red,” Matarazzo said. 

Believe it or not, Eleven crushing a Coke can was a practical effect.

A pipe was placed underneath the can, which then sucked the air out. “I thought it was the coolest effect I’ve ever seen,” Brown shared. 

Eleven’s epic van flip in Chapter 7 did not go as planned.

“We were so excited to see that van flip,” Brown recalled of her co-stars’ anticipation of the big stunt. “Of course, we weren’t allowed to be anywhere close to it. We just heard over the radio that the van flip had gone wrong.” 

Instead of leaping into the air, the vehicle skidded on the road, taking out a mailbox, camera, and prop car. 

Millie Bobby Brown was so frightened during filming that she ran for the exit.

In Chapter 8, a Demogorgon crashes through a science classroom, where Dustin had just set Eleven on a table. 

“They put a speaker in the cabinet behind us and played a shrieking — I think the velociraptor noise from Jurassic Park — and it worked really, really well,” Matarazzo explained. “Millie got so scared that she jumped off the table and ran towards the door.”

Season 1 Profile Icons have arrived. 

Love Will’s legendary bowl cut? Or Eleven’s iconic pink dress? Add a touch of 1983 Hawkins to your Netflix profile with new icons of your favorite characters from the first season. 

Now that you’re armed with this new knowledge, dive back into Seasons 1–4 of Stranger Things, which are currently streaming on Netflix. 

Stranger Things 5 releases with the first four episodes on Nov. 26, followed by three episodes
on Christmas, and the finale episode
on New Year’s Eve. Find out when new episodes arrive in your part of the world here.