The Stranger Things‘ cast final season press tour continues. Following Maya Hawke’s appearance last week, Charlie Heaton (Jonathan Byers) sat down with Jimmy Fallon last night to look back on a decade in Hawkins—and to finally clear up that confusing Season 5 “un-proposal.”
2016 Throwback
Charlie admitted that he is not into social media, and thus, unaware of many of the trends from it. He had no idea that 2016 nostalgia is currently the internets favorite trend, even asking “What is the point?” when Jimmy mentions it.
2016 just happens to be the year that the first season of Stranger Things was released. It turns out, though, that Charlie accidently joined in on the trend because he brought picture that show him on his first day on set and the last day on set. Referring to the 2016 photo, Charlie joked that the haircut was very concerning as it was his real hair and he was unsure of the very 80’s bowl cut style. In the second photo, he remembers feeling sad, telling us that the photo was taken on the very last day of filming.
The “Un-Proposal”: Confirmation of the Breakup
Jimmy brings up Jonathan’s and Nancy’s break up scene from season 5, which many of the shows fans were actually confused by. Was it a break up or not? Though already confirmed as a break up by the Duffer Brothers, Charlie adds a final confirmation of the un-proposal, adding he isn’t sure why so many people were confused by it. Jimmy and Charlie chalk this up to much of the Stranger Things audience being young, so perhaps they didn’t understand the scene.
I think the confusion stems from the presentation of the ring, the dialogue, and the context. Jonathan asks Nancy, “Will you not marry me?” while the two believed they were about to die in the Upside Down. Some viewers probably took this as an actual proposal, but with the two thinking that they wouldn’t actually survive to make it to marriage.
Team Steve and “Charlie’s Garden”
Like most fans of the series, Charlie is no exception to being a fan of Steve Harrington, telling us he “loves team Steve – I am actually a bit more team Steve.” He was happy that the scene where he saves Steve on radio tower gave the two a positive interaction for once, feeling like it was one good thing his character could finally be given credit for.
The friendship extends off-camera, too. Charlie gave us the backstory on the Djo (Joe Keery) song “Charlie’s Garden” from the new album The Crux. During filming, Charlie and Natalia Dyer lived in a house with a garden that backed up to Joe’s place. The song—which even features a voice note from Charlie—was born from the long hours of “waiting around” to be called to set.
Flamethrowers and the “Byers Run”
Charlie jokes that throughout all of the series, his character never is really given a weapon, until the very final battle where he gets flamethrower which was hyped up early on the Duffer Brothers. But in reality, its kind of anti-climatic since on set the flamethrower has no real flames – just a small light. Jimmy shows us how he would make a fake flamethrower look cool.
The two wrap up the Stranger Things talk by discussing Jonathan’s awkward run. Sarcastically, Charlie says that “Oh yeah, that was total character choice,” and that he doesn’t run at all like that in real life. Uh huh. Sure.
The segment ends with Jimmy trying to do the run, but he needs some coaching from Charlie.
What’s Next?
Charlie is currently appearing in season 4 of Industry on HBO. He tells us at the show was somewhat difficult and scary to transition into because not only is it of a totally different vibe, but he is coming in as a new cast member to an already established cast. Industry is about the financial world in Britain and is very cut-throat, focusing on, as Charlie says, “the worst in humanity” versus Stranger Things which is about “people coming together [and] the best of humanity.”
Check out the full interview below, and make sure to catch Charlie coaching Jimmy on the sideways run at the 8:30 mark!
