Maya Hawke and Joe Keery on the set of 'Stranger Things.' Atsushi Nishijima/Netflix Share on Facebook Share on X Google Preferred Share to Flipboard Show additional share options Share on LinkedIn Share on Pinterest Share on Reddit Share on Tumblr Share on Whats App Send an Email Print the Article Post a Comment Logo text I learned a lot from watching Martina Radwan's Stranger Things documentary, One Last Adventure: The Making of Stranger Things 5, which is currently streaming on Netflix. (OK, so I learned five things.) I learned even more from speaking with the filmmaker herself. One thing I don't need anyone to teach me is that Stranger Things fans - the very online ones, especially - don't want to hear from me but are dying to hear from Radwan. Without any further adieu, read our Q&A, below. *** Related Stories Business "Streamflation" Is Real: U.S. Inflation Data Shows Soaring Price of Streaming Video Services Movies 'People We Meet on Vacation' Writers on the "Rubik's Cube" of Adapting Emily Henry's Novel, 'When Harry Met Sally' Influence and Making the "EmHen Hive" Proud How big of a fan of Stranger Things were you before this experience? I was a huge fan. I watched season one twice. I was- like, everybody else, I was waiting for the next season to come out. So it was really a nice surprise when it was like, "Oh, I'm gonna be part of this." Do you know if Eleven is dead or alive? I can't give that - the whole point of it is that you have to understand it for yourself, whatever you want to see. It's like, whatever you believe - whatever you need to believe, I think that's the whole point of it. It's not a definitive answer. You have to participate. You can't just sit and watch and get spoon fed. I'm not asking you for the answer, but did the Duffer Brothers ever say, "Just so we're all on the same page in the writers room, Eleven is dead," or "Eleven is alive"? They do say it in the sense of, like, "She represents magic, and magic has to die for everyone to move on. But you hold it in your heart, you never let go of that." So I think that is the answer. You've got super fans pausing and zooming in on individuals frames of your documentary. One allegedly shows one of the Duffers with a ChatGPT tab open on their computer. Did they use ChatGPT in your presence, and if so, what for? I mean, are we even sure they had ChatGPT open? I'm personally not, but the internet seems sure. Well, there's a lot of chatter where [social media users] are like, "We don't really know, but we're assuming." But to me it's like, doesn't everybody have it open, to just do quick research? I do. How can you possibly write a storyline with 19 characters and use ChatGPT, I don't even understand. I don't think many fans truly believe the Duffers had gen-AI write their scripts, I think it's more of an aversion to the use of the technology in general in Hollywood. Again, first of all, nobody has actually proved that it was open. That's like having your iPhone next to your computer while you're writing a story. We just use these tools ... while multitasking. So there's a lot going on all the time, every time. What I find heartbreaking is everybody loves the show, and suddenly we need to pick it apart. So just to button-up the topic: You didn't witness an unethical use of generative-AI in the writers room? No, of course not. I witnessed creative exchanges. I witnessed conversation. People think "writers room" means people are sitting there writing. No, it's a creative exchange. It's story development. And, of course, you go places in your creative mind and then you come back [to the script]. I think being in the writers room is such a privilege and such a gift to be able to witness that. [Writer's note: Netflix and the Duffers did not respond to The Hollywood Reporter's request for comment on the ChatGPT question.] (L to R) Millie Bobby Brown, David Harbour, and Director Frank Darabont behind the scenes of Stranger Things: Season 5. Andrew Cooper/Netflix I'm curious about the dynamics in the room. It seemed weird to fans that there were no monsters in The Abyss. One writer brings it up in the doc, which is countered by this notion of "Demo fatigue." Were we close to having Demogorgons, bats or dogs in The Abyss? Making a documentary is a moment in time, right? They didn't write the script in, like, the four days that I was in the writers room. That's a long, long process, and it has ups and downs and ins and outs. The reason why I included (that discussion) in the doc was to show the audience how much thinking goes into that, and that the thinking is never just- nothing goes streamlined straightforward. The reason why I included it in the doc is to show how complicated it is, how much you have to think about all the aspects of a story - particularly if you have 19 characters and you have 12 locations. So, none of these decisions are easily made. Every decision goes through so many processes. So you spent four days in the writers room and