Gaten Matarazzo Discusses Dustin's Emotional Side in Stranger Things

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Gaten Matarazzo Discusses Dustin's Emotional Side in Stranger Things

Gaten Matarazzo’s Dustin Henderson has always been known as more of a comedic character in Netflix’s Stranger Things. However, things changed in season four, which saw Dustin becoming much more nuanced and connected to his emotional side, which wasn’t by coincidence.

Speaking to TV Insider about his character in the fourth season, Matarazzo said that a more emotional version of Dustin wasn’t necessarily a new thing, but definitely something that didn’t come to the surface as much as it did in the latter half of the season, which saw Dustin dealing with Eddie Munson’s (Joseph Quinn) death and the subsequent conversation Henderson has with Munson’s uncle.

“It’s not necessarily new,” Matarazzo said of his character’s emotional side. “It’s the first time anything like that’s ever been able to bubble up. You can’t really hide these feelings through jokes anymore. You know?”

As for what the future holds for Dustin and his group of friends in the final season of Stranger Things, it’s unknown. However, as the characters continue to grow, fans can likely expect much heavier and more emotional moments to come in the fifth season.

Recently, Stranger Things Season 4 set a record for Netflix, having been viewed for more than 287 million hours during the week of May 23-30. That’s not only good enough for the top spot of the week for Netflix, but it’s also more than enough to break the record for the streaming platform’s biggest-ever premiere weekend for an English-language series, which was previously held by season two of Bridgerton (193 million hours).