Winona Ryder has opened up about filming one of the most brutal and emotional moments of stranger thingsrevealing that the shocking scene could not be practiced and he was only shot twice.
Talking to Netflix Tudumthe actress reflected on Joyce Byers’ final confrontation with Vecna in the series finale, describing it as a moment that you simply have to commit to in the moment.
The climactic sequence sees Joyce decapitate Vecna with an axe, marking Ryder’s final on-screen moment with Jamie Campbell Bower, who plays the show’s long-running villain.
Ryder explained that the intensity of the scene left little room for repetition.
“You can’t rehearse a scene like that. You just have to save it for the take. I think I only did it twice,” he said.
He also shared a softer memory of the day, despite the violence of the scene itself.
“I love Jamie so much,” Ryder said.
“I remember when he was in that position and we were talking about bands, and he’s the most charming person. I came in that day just for that.”
The beheading follows Joyce’s defiant line to Vecna: “You fucked with the wrong family,” which stands out as one of the rare uses of the F-word in the show’s history.
Series co-creator Matt Duffer explained why the moment was so important.
“We haven’t used the F-word on the show, and we’ve been looking for a moment for it…we were looking for a real moment that deserved stronger language and we’ve been saving it and we feel like, well, if we’re going to go there, this is the moment. Let’s give it to Winona.”
According to Ross Duffer, choosing Joyce to deliver the final blow was a natural fit.
He described her as the group’s protector and said the scene gained emotional depth during editing, particularly through flashbacks connecting her anger to past trauma.
The goal, Matt Duffer added, was clear: “Let’s make this the most emotional beheading in history.”
stranger things 5 is now streaming in its entirety on Netflix.
