Millie Bobby Brown has opened up about how finishing Stranger Things left her worried about losing touch with the cast she grew up alongside.
Netflix brought Stranger Things to a close at the end of 2025, with its fifth and final season rolling out in multiple parts before the New Year’s Eve finale.
Brown was only 12 when viewers first met her on the series, meaning much of her childhood and teenage years were tied to the show.
She is now 22, married to Jake Bongiovi, and last year revealed that the couple had adopted a child. They have kept their daughter out of the public eye and have not shared her name.
Her fellow young stars also spent their formative years on the show, including Finn Wolfhard, Caleb McLaughlin, Sadie Sink, Gaten Matarazzo, and Noah Schnapp.
Because they spent so many years working together, many people assumed the cast would remain especially close after the cameras stopped rolling. Brown, however, admitted she became anxious that the group might start to drift apart once the series was over, so she contacted them in January to check in.
“They probably thought I was crazy,” she said at a live recording of the Happy Sad Confused podcast (per USA Today).
“I was like, ‘We’re still friends, right? Like, you’re not going to stop talking to me anymore?’ I was like, ‘I’m sorry if I ever upset you’ and was just trying to mend anything.
“It’s been 10 years, and I really want to be friends. You’re my sibling.’ And then I was on the beach, it was beautiful, and I just sat there crying. It was a very hard time for me.”
She also explained that the experience of being part of Stranger Things for so long is something very few people could truly relate to.
“I started the show when I was 10, and this character was me, and these people were in my life more than my own family,” she shared.
“I saw these people more than going home and eating dinner with my family. Saying goodbye to that after 10 years was a very, very emotional thing, and I’m going to miss Eleven more than anything.”
Brown also said the end of the series had a noticeable effect on her emotionally, admitting that she struggled more than she expected after filming ended.
“I went into a little bit of a slight, slight depression,” Brown said.
“It was very hard for me. I would not have expected that coming off of the show. I’m a very happy-go-lucky person.”
Brown’s next release, Enola Holmes 3, premieres on Netflix on July 1, 2026.