Noah Schnapp: Oh God, I can’t watch this. 

Finn Wolfhard: Oh God. 

Natalia Dyer: No.

[Caleb McLaughlin laughing]

[Gaten Matarazzo laughing]

[Charlie Heaton laughing] 

Younger Millie Bobby Brown: Well, this is a hot mess, isn’t it?

Millie Bobby Brown: Oh my goodness.

[Younger Millie Bobby Brown laughing] 

Gaten Matarazzo: Do I look exactly the same? Because I think I look exactly the same. 

[GFX: Stranger Things Cast Reacts to Their Very First On-Set Interviews]

[GFX: How did you get cast in Stranger Things?]

Younger Millie Bobby Brown: Then they wanted to fly me over to LA. So, I mean, that was pretty … That was so exciting to meet Finn for the first time. And the Duffers really didn’t explain the show to me. They just … They explained more my character and how she’s so emotional throughout the series. And, you know, goes through some stuff, you know? So, and how she has that connection with Mike throughout the series. 

Millie Bobby Brown: Aw. Considering the world that I was surrounded in at that time, to be able to stay grounded and still so excited and grateful and happy, I think — I’m definitely proud of that version of me. 

Younger Finn Wolfhard: My dad said that we got this audition for a show called Montauk, which is the original name for Stranger Things. And I was sick at the time. So I was like, “Okay, I guess we’ll just fire this out, why not?” And, uh, I did it and they really liked it and they wanted me to do it a second time. And I did it a second time. Then they asked me to come to LA. So that was kind of it for that.

Finn Wolfhard: Wow. Yeah, that’s crazy. By the way, I have no memory of that. I have no memory. 

Younger Natalia Dyer: I auditioned in the room in New York.

Natalia Dyer: [whispering] Oh my God.

Younger Natalia Dyer: And I had my callback there as well.

Natalia Dyer: [whispering] Baby.

Younger Natalia Dyer: I didn’t actually meet the Duffers.

Natalia Dyer: Wow, I forgot about that outfit. 

Younger Natalia Dyer: After that, via Skype for the test in LA, I got to meet them in person, finally. And they were exactly what I expected. Chill, uh, cool guys. 

Natalia Dyer: Wow, that’s so crazy. It’s 21-year-old me. And now, like I said, I’m almost 30. That’s crazy. 

[GFX: How did you meet the cast, and what’s it like working together?]

Younger Gaten Matarazzo: Well, I had met Caleb who plays Lucas a while ago because we had known each other. Because when we were working in New York, we would see each other a lot at the playground and we would see each other in the hotel lobby and we would hang out sometimes. 

Gaten Matarazzo: That’s true.

Younger Gaten Matarazzo: And so I already knew Caleb, but I met Finn at the audition and then, um, we became friends right then. And then I met Noah here.

Gaten Matarazzo: I remember …

Younger Gaten Matarazzo: I met Millie here as well. And we all just had a special bond. 

Gaten Matarazzo: Sorry, I just remember that I rehearsed this so, so many times. We got the questions well beforehand and I was reading this with my mom over and over and over again. I was so, so nervous, as you can probably tell. It’s ridiculous. 

[CLIP] Dustin Henderson: Sometimes your total obliviousness just blows my mind. 

Younger Caleb McLaughlin: There’s Mike, Lucas, Dustin, and Will. 

Caleb McLaughlin: Oh man.

Younger Caleb McLaughlin: Well, it’s like, we’re like a good group because it’s like a computer. Like if … Like we all have different personalities. So like a key, you need keys to type on the computer to, like, open up certain links or whatever.

Caleb McLaughlin: It’s wild, I say “like” so much.

Younger Caleb McLaughlin: Will is the keys.

Caleb McLaughlin: I still say that a lot.

Younger Caleb McLaughlin: Mike is the screen. Dustin is the base of the computer. I’m the memory of the computer. Like we’re all together makes a computer, so. 

Caleb McLaughlin: Interesting. I guess I was just trying to say it makes Stranger Things. “Like we’re like a, like a computer. Like, yeah, yeah, like …” That’s so cute. Oh my gosh. 

[CLIP] Lucas Sinclair: It’s from Lord of the Rings. 

[CLIP] Dustin Henderson: The Hobbit. 

[CLIP] Lucas Sinclair: It doesn’t matter. 

[CLIP] Dustin Henderson: He asked. 

[CLIP] Lucas Sinclair: “He asked.” 

Younger Finn Wolfhard: I had met Gaten and I had met, um … I had met Caleb and I met Noah and I met Millie and I trusted all of them.

Finn Wolfhard: Oh, that’s good.

Younger Finn Wolfhard: And, um … We’re all great friends on that set. And what …

Finn Wolfhard: [chuckling] I like how it sounds like I’m lying. And just, “And we’re all still friends. Don’t worry about it.” 

Younger Finn Wolfhard: They’re your family. 

Finn Wolfhard: That’s sweet. You know, we all went through this shared crazy experience together. And I think we’ve, like, all gotten even closer than, you know, how we were that first season. I live with Gaten. We’re roommates. So it is pretty amazing to watch a video like that and to see sort of the beginning of this amazing journey together. But it’s very funny how intense I am about it. 

Younger Noah Schnapp: I mean, it’s really cool. ’Cause last year I was … I came back and forth and I didn’t really get, I mean, I did. 

Noah Schnapp: Oh yeah, that was annoying. I always had FOMO. 

Younger Noah Schnapp: But I didn’t really get to see everyone and I had to leave and come back and it was just a whole crazy thing. And this year is pretty crazy too. But it’s nice to know that I can just stay here and stay with my friends and the crew and everyone. And just, it’s a real, like, bonding experience. 

Noah Schnapp: Yeah, he’s right. It was so much nicer in Season 2 to be there ’cause Season 1, like everyone got to hang out all year and I was going back and forth from school and would film for like two days and then leave. And I had become best, best friends with Millie and Caleb. And I remember always, like, we would always be like crying, hugging, saying goodbye. Like, “No! I’m not gonna see you for so long.” I just had such FOMO. Like they were all together having fun and then I had to go to school. Ugh. But Season 2 was so nice to be all together. And wow, that’s crazy to watch.

[CLIP] Mike Wheeler: Byers!

[CLIP] Joyce Byers: Be careful. Be careful. 

[CLIP] Dustin Henderson: Move.

[CLIP] Jonathan Byers: Guys, guys, go easy on him.

Millie Bobby Brown: A memory I’ll never forget is meeting Noah Schnapp for the first time, knowing in my gut that he would be my best friend forever. I thought to myself, “I really want to be friends with him.” He’s like the coolest guy to me, still is. 

Younger Charlie Heaton: Well, I first got sent the script … Uh, last year.

Charlie Heaton: [laughs] Chewing my nails. 

Younger Charlie Heaton: But my American agent sent me it. And we read it first and I did a few tapes for the role of Jonathan. Kind of wanted to … 

Charlie Heaton: I feel like we’ve aged so much. I think it looks like I’m in the same jacket. [laughs] Stop picking your nose. 

Younger Charlie Heaton: Like my character and how, you know, what I thought and kind of they want to know about my background and where I’m from, what they could find, I guess. They were looking for similarities between Jonathan and me. 

Charlie Heaton: Wow, I wondered what they’d do with that. 

Younger Natalia Dyer: Honestly, couldn’t ask for better co-workers in general. 

Natalia Dyer: Still true.

Younger Natalia Dyer: Like everyone from the kids to the crew to, yeah, Charlie and Joe are just, you know, fun to work with and everybody’s excited about what they’re making. And just, it’s cool to have people to, you know, hang around with and they’re all, they’re all great. And they’re all happy to be here. We’re all happy to be here. 

[GFX: How was it shaving your head for the role?]

Younger Millie Bobby Brown: So when I had to shave my head, it was a very scary feeling. When I first met, you know, our hairdresser, Sarah, she’s like, “Okay, so first of all, we’re going to cut it.” And I’m like, “Yeah.” She’s like, “And then I’m going to get a razor.” I’m like, “Yeah.” I was sitting there and then she starts cutting it. I’m like, “Oh, it’s not too bad.” And they’re like, “Hmm, it’s, you know, it’s like quite long, to be honest.” And then they was like, “We’re going to go a little bit shorter.” I’m like, “Shorter? Really? A bit shorter? Are you sure?” You know, and then they just, they just cut it. And I was like, “It’s not too bad.” I wore a nice outfit that day as well. So I sort of just, trying to calm myself down. You know, “Okay, I look pretty. It’s okay. It’s fine.” You know, and then I went for the read through and everyone’s like, “Is that Millie?” I’m like, “Yep, yep. Don’t be jealous of my amazing hair. “You know, I don’t have a lot, but it’s pretty short and it’s great.” 

Millie Bobby Brown: Oh my goodness. It’s like really weird. I … It’s really weird to see myself. Like, in the moment, I genuinely didn’t care. Like, I just didn’t care about my hair. Like, I really didn’t. Like, I remember what I felt like. And then months, months into filming, I started to care because I started to get like really bullied, like just in the street and in stores and by kids. I started to feel the effects of like, “I don’t feel pretty anymore.” And like, I dealt with a lot of like insecurity at kind of a young age. I felt, like, really insecure because I felt like I wanted to be feminine and I didn’t know how to do that because I thought hair defined femininity, which now obviously I know does not. But I grew into it and I started to just think, like, “You’re doing good and you’re going to be okay.” 

[CLIP] Jim Hopper: Well, what do you think?

[CLIP] Eleven: Bitchin’.

[CLIP] Jim Hopper: Mm.

[Hopper and Eleven laughing]

[GFX: How does Mike and Eleven’s relationship develop?]

Younger Finn Wolfhard: It’s a lot of spending time together. And because this is the first girl that’s ever liked him, he’s really liking her. And he keeps her in his basement. And it’s like, he’s this guy.

Finn Wolfhard: That doesn’t sound creepy at all. [laughs]

Younger Finn Wolfhard: And he has a puppy. If you have man’s best friend, this is like man’s best friend. It’s … You’re getting to know this character as Mike’s getting to know this character. And I think that’s what’s so great about the relationship between the both of them. They grow over the eight episodes and they grow together. 

Finn Wolfhard: It was funny that I compared her to a dog and said that I was keeping her in my basement. It’s insane out of context. We filmed the kiss scene on the last day. And I remember the whole season, Caleb and Gaten making fun of me like, “Oh, you’re gonna have to kiss at the end of the season. I’m like, “Shut up.” And then, yeah, then it happened. It was totally fine. It was totally normal. 

[ambient, emotional music playing]

Younger Millie Bobby Brown: We went to an amusement park once. That was interesting. [laughs] Caleb screamed like a girl on this roller coaster and I could not stop laughing. And then we went on this swing and they were saying that I was hyperventilating. I was like, “Oh my God!” You know, we do a lot of stuff together. 

Millie Bobby Brown: Being the only girl was difficult in the beginning because I didn’t really understand what they were talking about most of the time and they all had their thing. They liked their video games and they liked their kind of, you know, they had their own thing going on. So I actually had to squeeze my way in there. When I did, it was very rewarding because their friendship means a lot to me. 

Younger Charlie Heaton: You do these projects, that’s something that’s really nice about the luxury being able to do that, being able to meet new people and create bonds and, you know, experience things. And it kind of helps in the scene. You feel, you know, you relax, you feel comfortable with each other, you know each other. Um … 

Charlie Heaton: I feel like it’s ten years on and I still don’t know what to do with my hands in these things. Surprisingly, still hanging out with Joe and Natalia. Yeah, what a journey. 

[GFX: What is cool and fun about Stranger Things?]

Younger Gaten Matarazzo: It’s got every element you can think of. It’s got so many genres. It’s got … They all just morph together perfectly. It’s got, like, romance. It’s got mystery, suspense, horror. It’s got comedy.

Gaten Matarazzo: Oh man.

Younger Gaten Matarazzo: It’s got all those things mixed into one and they all work so perfectly together. It’s like different ingredients going to make the perfect smoothie and like that smoothie is the show.

Gaten Matarazzo: Yeah. Never had a smoothie in my life. No idea why I would make a smoothie analogy. I don’t drink smoothies. I don’t know why that was the concoction of things that I came up with. What I will very much agree with 13-year-old Gaten on is that we blend genres really, really well and always have. And I think 13-year-old me, his mind would just be blown with how big this smoothie has gotten.

[Lucas, Will, Dustin, and Mike cheering] 

[GFX: What was the first day of shooting like?]

Younger Millie Bobby Brown: I can’t remember what scene we filmed the first day but, um, it was so exciting. Obviously, I’ve worked on a couple of shows before but this show felt different. This show felt like, “Oh my goodness, I’m with kids and it’s so much fun and, you know, we mess around.” But as soon as it’s down to work, the Duffers are like, “Let’s go,” you know? But it was so much fun. You know, we do school. I mean, it was in between, in and out doing school but it’s so much fun just to hang out with them. 

Millie Bobby Brown: Amazing. I love them like family. It’s gonna be really hard to say goodbye to them. 

Younger Caleb McLaughlin: Well, it was the first scene and we all were so excited. We had like laughing gas that day. Like it seemed like we were drinking a whole bunch of soda. Like every scene we would be like laughing every single take, but it was just so much fun together having fun. ’Cause it was like the first scene that we did for the whole season. 

Caleb McLaughlin: Mm. Yeah, I was explaining that it seemed as if we were on like a sugar high and we couldn’t calm down. Noah, Finn, Gaten, every single thing we did, it was just laughs. What was so authentic about it, about us in Season 1 was that we were just there to have fun. We were there because we loved acting. We loved being around one another. We loved the characters that we played. We just truly enjoyed being kids. 

[CLIP] Lucas Sinclair: “El, El, I love you so much. Would you marry me?”

[CLIP] Mike Wheeler: Shut up, Lucas. 

Younger Gaten Matarazzo: It was great. It was like this new feeling, but I was like, “I’m gonna be on a TV show.” It just hit me there. I got to see the set, which was amazing. I got to see this basement, which is like, it was awesome. It was all getting started. It was like, “Oh my gosh, I’m gonna get to use this. I’m gonna get to ride this bike.”

Gaten Matarazzo: [laughing] I'm gonna get to ride this bike. 

[CLIP] Dustin Henderson: Son of a bitch. 

Gaten Matarazzo: He said it best. I think sometimes I still come to set and say, “Wow, I’m making a TV show.” And I still feel like that little 13-year-old boy who doesn’t know how to string a sentence together. That hasn’t changed. 

[GFX: What was it like working with the Duffers?]

Caleb McLaughlin: I know what I’m gonna … 

Younger Caleb McLaughlin: It is so much fun working with the Duffers because they’re not like … They’re big teenagers. You can, like, talk with them, ask them questions, and don’t feel that you’re like … Like to ask if I could change a certain thing with your character. They help you get to that point because they understand from a kid’s eye or whatever. They have so many bright ideas. That’s why they can make a show like this, because they say that kids have such a big imagination, and they have a big imagination, and it helps you bring your character out and gives you ideas. 

Caleb McLaughlin: Oh, that was great. They’ve become, they’re honestly like big brothers. Give them their flowers now. They’ve changed the trajectory of, like, pop culture. Yeah, I said it perfectly, honestly. 

Younger Charlie Heaton: What I like about the Brothers is they give you a lot of freedom to express yourself in the role. I mean, they have their vision and how they want it, but when it comes to shooting, they’re very free with how, usually, how you wanna play it. 

Charlie Heaton: Oh man, yeah. They’ve become so dear to us. Such a testament that we’re here ten years later and they’re still putting in so much work. I mean, they haven’t stopped. They’re really good at capturing the souls of people and what it means to be human and play the good guys as well. 

[GFX: How has starring in Stranger Things changed your life?]

Younger Noah Schnapp: I’m still me and my life’s still going the same way. It’s just all this attention the show has gotten and the love and support from countries across the world just blows my mind. And I think that’s what really shocked me the most, how this like … Because we all thought it was just, we all were like a small little family. 

Noah Schnapp: Literally the same answer.

Younger Noah Schnapp: We were just doing a little show and then it becomes this huge hit on Netflix and people in Brazil are watching this show and it just, that's how my life has changed. 

Noah Schnapp: Yeah, he was right. That's … I echo that same thought. 

Millie Bobby Brown: Career-wise, it's completely turned my whole life upside down, um, no pun intended. I have had more opportunities. I've had more recognition, and it's been, that has been amazing. Um, but personally, it's made me into the woman I am today. I know how I want to treat people and I couldn't be more prouder of the person I've become, considering I've met really unbelievable crew members that have been a part of my family forever and will be a part of my family forever. 

Caleb McLaughlin: It's crazy, because I remember that interview and overthinking, like, “What am I going to say? How am I going to say it?” And, like, putting so much pressure on myself. Dang, I feel bad. I wish I can give him a hug. Like, it's all good, man. You're good. 

Gaten Matarazzo: Nothing gives me more anxiety than watching 12-year-old me speak words.

Natalia Dyer: [chuckling] Sorry, that was wild. Um … 

Caleb McLaughlin: We're in the same show for ten years. We're all around the same age. We came up together. It's a relationship and a bond that I will never have again. 

Natalia Dyer: There is a sense of like an experience that we all went through together at the, you know, at the same time of being relatively unknown and then the show taking off. 

Gaten Matarazzo: Nobody truly could have expected what happened once it finally released. And I guess we didn't know at that point either. I've always been overwhelmingly grateful for this show. It's been the greatest gift that anybody could possibly ask for. 

Charlie Heaton: I still feel like it's hard to understand. I feel like it's like you're in the eye of the storm still. I think it'll take years to process and reflect on it. Like, it still feels too early to kind of say what it was actually like. I feel like in five, ten years time, if we ever gets back to do an EPK again, I might be able to give you a better answer. 

Finn Wolfhard: It's very trippy. You know, I could never have guessed that I would be here, like, in a chair watching my younger self. I mean, the show has changed my life, like, exponentially. It, you know, also got me to have another family, which is amazing. In a way, it's kind of like you're graduating high school class or you're here for camp or whatever. It's like, you're always going to have those years. 

Noah Schnapp: You know, it wasn't that bad. I thought it would be worse. I thought I'd be cringing more, but it was okay. It's just nice to see how far we've all come and how so much has changed, but how little has changed. 

Millie Bobby Brown: I feel like nothing's changed and yet everything's changed. I had my first kiss on the show and now I'm married. It's just a mind****.

[upbeat music playing] 

Gaten Matarazzo:♪Tudum!♪

[Tudum sound effect]