Stranger Things premiered in 2016 when the majority of the main cast were 11 and 12, and they all grew up together as they filmed more seasons of the hit show. As the upcoming Season 5 will also be the last one, the cast and crew got emotional on their last day on set.

Ahead of Christmas, Stranger Things surprised fans with the good news that filming for the series wrapped on Dec. 20. The show started filming the final season in January 2024, and it took almost an entire year to film the last eight episodes. On the final day of filming, actress Millie Bobby Brown, who played Eleven in all five seasons, shared a throwback look over the years on Instagram, adding a video of herself breaking down as she read a goodbye letter to the cast and crew.

Brown shared a series of photos from the set over the years, which showed her growing up with every new installment. The first photo showed her at a table, and many others showed how much fun she was having on set. She also included a final video of her saying goodbye to the crew.

“Isn’t graduation supposed to bring relief?” she asks with her voice shaking. “Like you’re glad to leave behind the teachers and classmates. Not me. I am nowhere near ready to leave you guys. I love each and every one of you and I will forever carry the memories and bonds we created together as a family. I love you, thank you.”

Isn’t graduation supposed to bring relief?

When Stranger Things premiered in July 2016, Millie Bobby Brown was 12 years old. She was only 11 years old when filming for Season 1 started in November 2015, and she’s now 20 years old, which means she spent almost half her life with the same cast and crew as they filmed the Netflix sci-fi series.

Stranger Things‘ young cast included Gaten Matarazzo (Dustin Henderson), Finn Wolfhard (Mike Wheeler), Caleb McLaughlin (Lucas Sinclar), Noah Schnapp (Will Byers), and Sadie Sink (Max Mayfield). The series also stars Winona Ryder as Joyce Byers, David Harbour as Jim Hopper, Natalia Dyer as Nancy, Charlie Heaton as Jonathan, and Joe Keery as Steve. Nell Fisher, Jake Connelly, Alex Breaux, and Linda Hamilton (Terminator‘s Sarah Connor) will join the final season.

Stranger Things Season 5 Will Premiere in 2025

The Duffer Brothers created Stranger Things, and the fourth season premiered in 2022. Due to the SAG-AFTRA strikes, production on the fifth and final season was delayed, further delaying the release, and leading to another big gap between seasons. According to actor David Harbor, it was originally supposed to start filming in June 2023, meaning production would’ve finished sometime in June 2024.

Although there are no details about the plot of the final season, the new season will also feature a big time jump, set “in the fall of 1987,” almost a year and a half after the events of Season 4, which took place in March 1986. It’s unclear how Netflix will combine the time jump with the cliffhanger ending. The stakes are high for all the characters, but especially for Max. Luckily, Stranger Things is officially set to premiere in 2025, although an official release date is yet to come.

The first four seasons of Stranger Things are streaming on Netflix.