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Stranger Things 5: Winona Ryder, Duffers on Joyce Taking Down Vecna

Winona Ryder, the Duffer Brothers, and more discuss why Joyce Byers needed to deliver the final blow to Vecna in the Stranger Things finale.

Since revealing himself to be the major series villain in Stranger Things season four, Vecna (Jamie Campbell Bower) has terrorized the citizens of Hawkins, starting with Joyce Byers' (Winona Ryder) son, Will (Noah Schnapp) who he kidnapped in season one, infusing dark matter into him and perpetually psychologically torturing him throughout the series, but also gaining in invaluable psychic link. At the series finale, "The Rightside Up," our Hawkins heroes were able to battle Vecna in his lair in the Abyss one final time as the group overcame his Mind Flayer beast. At the same time, Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown) kept him occupied physically and pinned him against a stalagmite before impaling him telekinetically at his weakest. As everyone arrives in the scene, Joyce tells him, "You've fucked with the wrong family," before demonstrating her lumberjack skills to decapitate evil Groot. Ryder, Schnapp, Matt & Ross Duffer spoke to Netflix Tudum about a mother's revenge.

Stranger Things Star Winona Ryder and the Duffers on Why Joyce Had to Be the One to Kill Vecna

"I love Jamie so much," Ryder said of her final scene with Vecna. "I remember when he was in that position, and we were talking about bands, and he's the most lovely person. I came in that day just for that. You can't rehearse a scene like that. You just have to sort of save it for the take. I think I only did it twice." It was far from the only instance in Stranger Things when a mother is willing to go to extreme lengths for her child. Cara Buono, who plays Mike (Finn Wolfhard), Nancy (Natalia Dyer), and Holly's (Nell Fisher) mother, Karen Wheeler, fought valiantly against a Demogorgon in part one of season five with a broken wine bottle, trying to prevent it from kidnapping Holly before getting nearly mortally wounded and was able to recuperate at Hawkins hospital. As we saw demodogs arrive to try to kill Max (Sadie Sink), the noise rouses Karen from her hospital bed. She takes the initiative following Lucas (Caleb McLaughlin), who's carrying the comatose Max, who meets with Robin (Maya Hawke) and Vickie (MaryBeth McNulty). They subsequently hide in the hospital basement and laundry room as Karen runs a dryer with an oxygen tank inside, and it subsequently blows up, taking out the three demodogs in the process.

When it came to Joyce's signature badass moment, "We talked a lot about who should deal the final blow to Vecna, and we really went through everyone. And at the end of the day it felt like it had to be Joyce because Joyce was the one in the first season who's the first one to really take action, to believe that something strange was going on," Ross Duffer says. "And that fierce love she has for not only Will but her family and the others is a superpower in its own way. And so we thought if anyone is going to defeat this guy, it had to be Joyce."

"And, of course, she uses the ax early on in the season, but she's just swiping at the Demogorgon, and we wanted her to actually use that thing," Ross Duffer adds. "Even back in Season 1, she's fierce, and she was ready to use it, but she never got to use it against the monsters, and so we thought that would be a nice payoff after nine years to actually see her use this ax and kill this guy."

"I was always kind of curious how they were going to write that ending of who will really defeat Vecna," said Schnapp, who did his part in the final battle, preventing Vecna from counterattacking El by freezing his body. "And I think it was so fitting and perfect that it was Joyce, and it's very reminiscent of Season 1 and very full circle." For more, including why the Duffers scripted Ryder to use the choice colorful language, the mother-son bond between Joyce and Will throughout the series, committing to the role for 10 years across five seasons, and watching the kids grow, you can check out the whole interview. All five seasons of Stranger Things, INCLUDING ALL EIGHT EPISODES OF THIS FINAL SEASON, are available on Netflix.

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