We were joined on the Popternative show by Calista Craig, who plays Mary in the fifth and final season of Stranger Things. The series wrapped up on New Year’s Eve with an epic 2-hour-and-8-minute finale that left fans across the globe talking. Mary, first introduced in Volume 1 of Season 5 as Holly Wheeler’s (Nell Fisher) friend, faced terrifying challenges alongside Holly, Derek (Jake Connelly), and the other kids, including being trapped in Vecna’s Pain Tree.
Calista shares her experience bringing Mary to life and what it was like to be part of the climactic conclusion of one of Netflix’s biggest hits. When it came to the audition process, she was aware it was for Stranger Things, but didn’t get much information about her character, only being told she was a “girly girl in the 80s” and Holly’s friend. She also had an idea Mary would be perceived as “feisty” or “evil” at first from audiences based on her audition.
She also goes into detail about being part of the emotional, final scene of Stranger Things, where Mary, Holly, Derek, and their other friends are in the Wheeler basement getting Dungeons and Dragons set up, while Mike tearfully watches from the top of the stairs.
Calista only learned about that scene a day before filming, describing it as largely improv: “I had no idea until, I think, a day before or the day of. I think we knew the day before. But I got my actual lines and script the day of and it was insane. And I knew it was going to [take place] a year and half later. I knew there was going to be some sort of change. That’s why we were coming back because the last the audience really saw of us was when we were just running and escaping [Vecna]. That was our last day on set, everyone was saying goodbye and then they were like ‘okay, but you guys are going to come back and film this last scene. And it was insane. It was also Finn [Wolfhard], Sadie [Sink], Noah [Schnapp], it was all their final day too. So we were all just living in the moment together and experiencing it all together.”
Watch the full conversation with Calista Craig below.
All three volumes of Stranger Things Season 5 are streaming on Netflix.
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