{"id":2220048,"date":"2026-01-02T16:50:12","date_gmt":"2026-01-02T16:50:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/?p=2220048"},"modified":"2026-01-02T16:50:12","modified_gmt":"2026-01-02T16:50:12","slug":"stranger-things-creators-reveal-why-joyce-hopper-didnt-recall-classmate-henry-creel-in-season-5","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/stranger-things-creators-reveal-why-joyce-hopper-didnt-recall-classmate-henry-creel-in-season-5\/","title":{"rendered":"&#8216;Stranger Things&#8217; creators reveal why Joyce, Hopper didn&#8217;t recall classmate Henry Creel in Season 5"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content%2Fuploads%2Fsites%2F2%2F2026%2F01%2FUntitled-4-copy-1-1.jpg?quality%3D90%26strip%3Dall\" \/><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>Joyce and Hopper never re-read their old yearbooks.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>In the fifth and final season of \u201cStranger Things,\u201d now streaming on Netflix, the show reveals that Joyce (Winona Ryder) and Hopper (David Harbour) used to go to school with Henry \u2013 the boy who eventually grew up into the evil villain, Vecna (Jamie Campbell Bower). <\/p>\n<p>He was even in Joyce\u2019s high school play, a rendition of \u201cOklahoma,\u201d that she directed. <\/p>\n<p>Bizarrely, although the show has a flashback to their time in high school, Joyce and Hopper never acknowledge that they used to know Henry.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAm I the only one who thinks this makes no sense? They went to Henry\u2019s memories in the show and showed that Joyce was there in high school. Do they think their audience is stupid?\u201d one fan complained <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/kainestakes\/status\/2007011553305153746?s=46\">on X, formerly Twitter.<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>Jamie Campbell Bower as Henry Creel in \u201cStranger Things\u201d Season 5. <span class=\"credit\">COURTESY OF NETFLIX \u00a9 2025<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<aside class=\"single__inline-module aligncenter wp-block-nypost-editor-primary-tag\">\n<\/aside>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>Winona Ryder as Joyce Byers in \u201cStranger Things\u201d Season 5. <span class=\"credit\">COURTESY OF NETFLIX \u00a9 2025<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>In a story published Thursday, the Duffer brothers addressed it to <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/variety.com\/2026\/tv\/news\/stranger-things-finale-is-eleven-alive-vecna-killed-rock-spinoff-1236621528\/\">Variety. <\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe had a walk a fine line with the play,\u201d referring to the <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2025\/04\/23\/entertainment\/stranger-things-the-first-shadow-review-netflixs-broadway-play-is-an-assault-on-the-senses\/\">Broadway \u201cStranger Things\u201d spinoff<\/a> play, \u201cThe First Shadow,\u201d which covers the events of Henry\u2019s life before \u201cStranger Things.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>Ross Duffer added, \u201c We don\u2019t want to frustrate, because so much of our audience is unable to see it. To have them start talking about it would have been confusing in the context of someone who hasn\u2019t seen the play. But I\u2019m sure they did have that conversation.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe really needed the final season to be exactly as it would have been without the play,\u201d Matt Duffer chimed in. \u201cThe play is Henry\u2019s backstory after he\u2019s infected by the Mind Flayer. But this is how the season was going to play out regardless.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>Young Joyce in the \u201cStranger Things\u201d flashback.  <span class=\"credit\">Netflix<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>An advertisement for Joyce\u2019s play in \u201cStranger Things\u201d Season 5.  <span class=\"credit\">Netflix<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Even within fudged TV ages, Bower, who is 37, does not look like he is in the same generation as Ryder, 54, or Harbour, 50. The Duffer brothers did not comment on that. <\/p>\n<p>In the<a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2025\/12\/31\/entertainment\/how-did-stranger-things-end-and-did-it-stick-the-landing\/\"> series finale, Joyce is the one<\/a> who strikes the killing blow to Vecna \u2013 all while still failing to acknowledge that she used to be his classmate and directed him in a school play. <\/p>\n<p>\u201c\u2026. If Joyce was gonna be the one to do the kill shot\u2026. Vecna should have turned back into Henry or at least said her name to tie in the fact that THEY ACTUALLY KNEW EACH OTHER,\u201d one fan said on Twitter.\u00a0<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>Jamie Campbell Bower as Henry Creel in \u201cStranger Things\u201d Season 5. <span class=\"credit\">COURTESY OF NETFLIX \u00a9 2025<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>David Harbour as Jim Hopper, Noah Schnapp as Will Byers, and Winona Ryder as Joyce Byers in \u201cStranger Things\u201d Season 5.  <span class=\"credit\">COURTESY OF NETFLIX \u00a9 2025<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Another fan joked, \u201cjoyce killing henry at the end, she really did NOT enjoy his acting in her play.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Ross explained that the writers didn\u2019t plan for it to be Joyce all along. Rather, it was a decision they arrived at after thinking it over.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI remember we went through, \u2018Who gets to do the final blow?\u2019\u00a0It works with all of them in a way. So, we just cycled through, what if Steve does it? What if Dustin does it? And then finally, when we landed on, what if Joyce does it?\u2019\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>David Harbour as Jim Hopper in \u201cStranger Things\u201d Season 5. <span class=\"credit\">COURTESY OF NETFLIX \u00a9 2025<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>David Harbour and Winona Ryder in \u201cStranger Things\u201d Season 5.  <span class=\"credit\">COURTESY OF NETFLIX \u00a9 2025<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>Jamie Campbell Bower as Venca in \u201cStranger Things.\u201d  <span class=\"credit\">COURTESY OF NETFLIX \u00a9 2025<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>He explained, \u201cIt felt right for a lot of reasons. She is sort of the mother of this group, the protector. And also, we never got to see her hit anything with that ax, so that felt like such a satisfying way to deliver the final blow to Vecna.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>It wasn\u2019t just a \u201cf\u2013k you moment\u201d either.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt was also, in a way, a cathartic moment for our characters, who are purging all this trauma that\u2019s been caused here. It\u2019s not just a stand-up and cheer moment,\u201d he explained. \u201cIt\u2019s remembering that this evil has caused them so much pain.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><em> \u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n<p><em> \u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source celebrity.land \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Joyce and Hopper never re-read their old yearbooks.\u00a0 In the fifth and final season of \u201cStranger Things,\u201d now streaming on Netflix, the show reveals that Joyce (Winona Ryder) and Hopper (David Harbour) used to go to school with Henry \u2013 the boy who eventually grew up into the evil villain, Vecna (Jamie Campbell Bower). He [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2220049,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25174],"tags":[40867,21741,23191,305890,22205,21913,364445],"class_list":["post-2220048","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gossip","tag-david-harbour","tag-entertainment","tag-netflix","tag-stranger-things","tag-television","tag-tv","tag-winona-ryder"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Stranger-Things-creators-reveal-why-Joyce-Hopper-didnt-recall-classmate.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2220048","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2220048"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2220048\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2220050,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2220048\/revisions\/2220050"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2220049"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2220048"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2220048"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2220048"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}