One of those was Gaten Matarazzo, who plays Dustin in the show, and took his fair share of beatings on his way to the finale. While Dustin has been at the heart of the show as much as anyone, the Duffers had already made fans worry about his safety by having him beaten to a pulp by school bullies earlier in the season.

In an exclusive interview with Cosmopolitan, the actor reflects on playing a darker version of Dustin and letting the last 10 years of his career come to an end.

Gaten Matarazzo, who plays fan-favorite Dustin Henderson, said he was "taken aback" by how much he realized the "Stranger Things" finale made sense.

As Stranger Things closes its final chapter, Gaten Matarazzo is reflecting on what he hopes fans ultimately take away from Dustin Henderson.

Stranger Things star Gaten Matarazzo spoke with Deadline about Dustin's grief journey in Season 5 and more from the finale

Stranger Things star Gaten Matarazzo opened up about a seriously ‘upsetting’ encounter he had with a 40-year-old woman and fans are 'disgusted'.

Stranger Things Season 5 brings the Hawkins gang’s coming-of-age journey to a powerful and long-awaited culmination.

Stranger Things has come to an end, and the finale centered on tying up loose ends, and seeing the group of friends move on with their lives. While most of the peripheral characters were at least seen in the final episodes,

This story contains spoilers from the series finale of “Stranger Things,” now streaming on Netflix. Gaten Matarazzo was hardly a teenager when Matt and Ross Duffer cast him as the insatiably lovable Dustin Henderson in the first season of “Stranger Things.