{"id":212653,"date":"2025-12-26T23:46:09","date_gmt":"2025-12-26T23:46:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/212653\/"},"modified":"2025-12-26T23:46:09","modified_gmt":"2025-12-26T23:46:09","slug":"stranger-things-episode-8-had-the-entire-cast-crying-star-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/212653\/","title":{"rendered":"Stranger Things&#8217; episode 8 had the entire cast crying, star says"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.polygon.com\/stranger-things\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Stranger Things<\/a> fans are waiting in suspense until New Year\u2019s Eve, when the final episode of the hit Netflix series will be released, bringing an end to the story of the unlikely heroes of Hawkins, Indiana. In a virtual roundtable Polygon attended, series star Noah Schnapp said he was just as anxious to read the final script.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey didn&#8217;t send it to anyone,\u201d Schnapp revealed. \u201cWe all actually read it together for the first time at a table read. It was scary to turn the page. You want to just skip to the end and see is it good? Progressively through that table read, the emotions just were higher and higher, and everyone was crying by the end. If it was that emotional reading it, I can&#8217;t even imagine what it&#8217;s like to watch the episode.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>[Ed. note: This article contains spoilers for Stranger Things season 5, volume 2]<\/p>\n<p>Stranger Things season 5 involves lots of big moments for Noah\u2019s character, Will Byers. The season premiere begins with a flashback thatprovides a new look at Will\u2019s abduction, revealing it was the beginning of a scheme by Vecna (Jamie Campbell Bower) to exert influence over Hawkins. While Will has been a victim for much of the series, this season he\u2019s proving as good at fighting monsters as Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown).<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMillie was so excited and supportive,\u201d Schnapp said. \u201cIt\u2019s fun that now we\u2019re both like twin superheroes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>        <img width=\"1650\" height=\"928\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Will (Noah Schnapp) wipes away a nosebleed while a fire burns behind him after unleashing his powers in Stranger Things season 5, episode 4\" data-img-url=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/strangerthings_s5_0376_r.jpg\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/strangerthings_s5_0376_r.jpg\" class=\"img-brightness-opt-out\"\/><br \/>\n        Image: Netflix<\/p>\n<p>After using his new powers to protect Max (Sadie Sink) and Holly (Nell Fisher) from Vecna in season 5 episode 5, \u201cShock Jock,\u201d Will finds himself at Vecna\u2019s mercy again in the episode 6. But while Vecna holds Will in a trance to extract information about Max\u2019s whereabouts, Will now has the strength to fight back. Schnapp enjoyed filming the scene, which involved being tied to a wall with lots of blood coming out of his eyes and ears.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt was fun to be face-to-face with Vecna and actually get to talk back to him,&#8221; Schnapp said. &#8220;He&#8217;s always talking to me, and I&#8217;m just sitting there, taking it, scared. But this time, I actually got to put my foot down and speak assertively to him. It just felt very full circle. That place is where I was in season 1. I love revisiting those moments and showing how far we&#8217;ve come and how long this journey has been.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>        <img width=\"1650\" height=\"928\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Will Byers (Noah Schnapp) talks to his mom, Joyce Byers (Winona Rider) while holding the rungs of a ladder in Stranger Things season 5\" data-img-url=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/strangerthings_s5_0486_r.jpg\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/strangerthings_s5_0486_r.jpg\" class=\"img-brightness-opt-out\"\/><br \/>\n        Image: Netflix<\/p>\n<p> Vecna tortured Will with his own fears about how his friends and family would react to him coming out. That made Will further internalize the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.polygon.com\/stranger-things-5-volume-one-will-robin\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">lesson Robin (Maya Hawke) taught him<\/a> about loving himself and led him to prepare for the final confrontation with Vecna by sharing his secret with everyone so there wouldn\u2019t be anything holding him back.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI just hope [that scene] can touch real people and help empower so many kids out there struggling with that same self-identity journey to come to terms with themselves and accept themselves and, beyond just the queer community, help many people out there who just struggle to believe in themselves and are scared to be who they are, to feel empowered and that it&#8217;s OK,\u201d Schnapp said. \u201cWhen you see everyone hug Will and embrace him like that, it&#8217;s just so powerful.<\/p>\n<p> The first seven episodes of Stranger Things season 5 are available to stream on Netflix now, with the finale airing on New Year\u2019s Eve.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Stranger Things fans are waiting in suspense until New Year\u2019s Eve, when the final episode of the hit&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":211592,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[93,61,60,282],"class_list":{"0":"post-212653","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tv","8":"tag-entertainment","9":"tag-ie","10":"tag-ireland","11":"tag-tv"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/212653","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=212653"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/212653\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/211592"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=212653"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=212653"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=212653"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}