It has been a cultural phenomenon for a decade. Now, Stranger Things is coming to an end. Matt and Ross Duffer, the twin brothers who conjured Hawkins, Indiana from their nostalgia-soaked minds, sat down with Netflix to discuss the Herculean task of sticking the landing.

"We are obsessive perfectionists," Ross Duffer admitted. "This isn't just a season finale. It's the end of an era. We owe it to the fans, and we owe it to these characters we've grown up with, to get every single frame right."

"A Sprint from Minute One"

Unlike previous seasons that often started with a slow burn—kids playing D&D, mall montages—Season 5 starts "in a sprint," according to Matt Duffer. "There is no time for normalcy," he explained. "Hawkins is falling into hell. The characters are already in the trenches. We drop you right into the action and we don't let up for 10 hours."

The Logic of the Upside Down

One of the biggest promises made in the interview is that the mythology of the Upside Down will finally be fully explained.

• What is it?
• Why is it stuck in 1983?
• How does Vecna control it?

"We wrote a 25-page mythology document back in Season 1," Ross revealed. "Netflix asked us to explain everything to them. We haven't used all of it yet. Season 5 is where we flip over the last card."

Will's Journey

They also highlighted the importance of Will Byers (Noah Schnapp). "It started with Will, and it ends with Will," Matt said. The interview hinted that a specific scene in Episode 7, involving Will, was one of the hardest and most emotional things they have ever filmed.

Goodbye, Hawkins

The brothers reflected on the emotional toll of saying goodbye. "It's bittersweet," they said. But they also hinted that while the story of Eleven and her friends is ending, the universe might live on in spinoffs. "There are still other stories to tell," they teased.

The final season is currently in post-production and is expected to break every streaming record in existence when it drops.

Catch up on Seasons 1-4 on Netflix.