A phenomenal success, a sci-fi horror series that’s captivated viewers around the world, Netflix’s “Stranger Things” now ends with several big bangs in this its fifth season.

For creators, directors and executive series producers, Matt and Ross Duffer, identical 41-year-old twins, it is, of course, bittersweet.

Matt, in a joint Zoom press conference, spoke of their original intention and how bigger budgets didn’t change that.

“As big as the scale has been, the core is a coming-of-age story about these characters. What’s been important as we continued to build up the show is we’ve never wanted to repeat ourselves

“We’re movie guys. We like the idea of changing it. Making it feel different. Because when we were kids the sequels we loved the most — mostly James Cameron sequels — they tended to evolve what came before in a way that felt organic. We looked at, obviously, ‘Terminator 2’ and ‘Aliens.’

“He didn’t betray what those original films were but he took them in a new direction. We wanted to do that with every season! That’s why I think it’s continued to evolve in the way it has.”

That meant pointing the way for today’s “Stranger” teens to dive back to seminal ‘80s movies.

“One of the things that got us first excited to tell this story was,” Ross said, “the chance to introduce films that inspired us, that we grew up on, to a different generation.

“For us, a big movie was ‘Scream,’ one of the first horror movies that we saw. ‘Scream’ references a lot of other films, whether it’s ‘Halloween’ or ‘Nightmare on Elm Street.’ It inspired us to go back and watch all these classic horror films.

“So when I hear watching ‘Stranger Things’ has inspired younger kids to go back and watch some of these films, whether it’s John Carpenter, an earlier Spielberg or Wes Craven, that fills us with joy.”

What’s now clear is that “Stranger Things” has never been exclusively about the kids. “At its heart, this is about family,” Ross believes. “Yes, it is about those friendships when we were young. But early on, we saw a multigenerational show. It’s one of the reasons we got so excited to tell the story in the first place.”
A story many hours – and years — in the telling.

“With the final season,” Matt said, “we wanted to recapture some of the feeling of the first season with everything going full-circle.

“And because the kids in the show are clearly not kids anymore, the only way to really recapture some of the first season’s energy and innocence was to introduce a new, younger cast. To get kids back into the show.”

Mission accomplished.

“Stranger Things” is streaming on Netflix 

Matt Duffer, left, and Ross Duffer arrive at an FYC event for “Stranger Things” on earlier this month at Netflix Tudum Theater in Los Angeles. (Photo by Andrew Park/Invision/AP)