Ending a show on your own terms is a privilege, and we feel so lucky that we ended Stranger Things the way we always wanted. But even still, endings are hard — and scary. In the near-decade of making Stranger Things, there were plenty of challenging moments, but writing this final episode — putting a period on the end of a five-season journey — was the hardest and most heart-wrenching thing we’ve ever done. It wasn’t hard because the scenes themselves were more of a struggle than usual, but because we knew that each line we wrote was bringing us closer to the end. Each moment was a “last”: the last time Dustin and Steve bicker; the last time Eleven holds out her hand; the last time Lucas and Max share a smile. These characters are fictional, of course, but to us they feel like living, breathing people. They live inside our heads as we write them, and then our brilliant actors bring them to life. We felt a real responsibility to give each of them an ending that felt earned and true to who they are. What kept us going was our north star: the final scene. For as long as we can remember, we have planned to end the show with our “kids” gathered in Mike’s basement, playing D&D one last time. It would serve as a full-circle moment, mirroring the show’s beginning. But, more importantly, it would be a way for our characters to say goodbye to their childhood. It also became a way for the actors and us to say goodbye to the show. By the time we wrote our final line — “END SERIES” — we were sad. But like Mike at the end of the show, we were grateful too. For all the memories. For the friendships. For the adventure. And what an adventure it was.