Gaten Matarazzo Steps Out of the Upside Down

“I’m excited to see it. I haven’t seen anything yet.”

Calling in from New York, where he is both developing a new project and hunting for a new apartment, Gaten Matarazzo is awaiting—like the rest of the world—the release of the final season of Stranger Things. The generation-defining sci-fi series premiered in 2016, catapulting Matarazzo, then fourteen, into the limelight. Since then, he has played the sweet, sunny Dustin Henderson over the course of five seasons, starred in the Broadway productions of Dear Evan Hansen and Sweeney Todd, shot a college drug-trip comedy—and grown up.

“I thought it would feel different, but it feels just like it always has,” he says of processing the ending of Stranger Things. “I think it will feel different after everything dies down, because that’s usually when we start prep for the next one. When the rollercoaster doesn’t go for another loop—that’s when it will fully sink in.”

In a more-is-more streaming era, Stranger Things was audaciously patient: the fifth installment comes over three years after its predecessor and more than six years after season three. The passage of time became an unexpected secret weapon. If the hostile thrills of the Upside Down gave the series its pomp, the coming-of-age of its young protagonists gave it its heart. “The show is a very honest depiction of how people grow up, of how kids handle change. Part of it is just what everyone goes through. And, you know, the rest of it is inter-dimensional riffs ripping through space-time,” Matarazzo reflects with a smile. “People show up for the Demagorgons, for what’s happening in Hawkins, but they stay for the characters they’ve grown to love.”

The extended timeline has at times confused audiences looking for more continuity, but, for the show’s creators, it was always the point. “People often say, ‘They look way older than fourteen.’ It’s because we are, and so are the characters. The whole thing is we’re not kids anymore,” Matarazzo, now twenty-three, points out. “I think it’s poetic to wrap things up with us playing the ages that Steve, Nancy, and Jonathan [characters played by Joe Keery, Natalia Dyer, and Charlie Heaton, respectively] were when the show started. I like that we’ve set the last season on the verge of adulthood.”

Dustin, the character Matarazzo has spent the last decade inhabiting, is part of the friend group at the center of the plot. He is earnest and loyal, endearingly innocent, and the source of much of the series’ humor.

The depth that creators Matt and Ross Duffer have written into Dustin is, in the actor’s eyes, a testament to their commitment and trust. “It’s very easy for a character like Dustin to become just a support system for more plot-driven pieces. That’s usually what characters like that are there for,” he notes matter-of-factly. “They get good laughs, they have fun, and then it’s like, ‘Let’s move on and finish the story.’”

Dustin, however, escaped that fate. “They never let that happen. Every season they wrote, I always felt like Dustin was contributing to what was happening. It’s been an amazing honor getting to challenge myself because they gave me the space to do it. They really didn’t have to.”

In return, Matarazzo gives a soulful performance that honors Dustin’s ability for comic relief without ever letting it overshadow the emotional truth of his storylines, from his unlikely friendship with older cool-guy Steve to his long-distance relationship with Suzie from Camp Know Where that inspires skepticism from his peers.

Yet the actor never took the opportunity to step up for granted. “Anytime I read it, I was like, ‘I don’t know why you let me do all this,’” he says, sincerely. “I don’t know how what I brought before this season led you to write this.’ And when I did ask, they were just like, ‘We thought it would work.’”

One of Stranger Things’s biggest cultural coups has proven to be its lightning-in-a-bottle casting. Initially headlined by Winona Ryder and David Harbour, it now boasts a full ensemble of stars, having become a springboard for a dozen young actors making waves.

The chemistry between them all—evident both onscreen and during promotional tours—has been instrumental to the series’ success. “We care about each other, and I think that comes across,” explains Matarazzo. “We all owe a lot to this show and have developed such a love for it that everybody involved handles it with a lot of care.”

The breaks between seasons have allowed cast members to pursue other interests and flourish, each in their own ways. “Everybody’s been working so hard and doing so well. It’s such an eclectic group of people, and there’s such deep love. It’s exciting to see my friends go do what they love and then get to talk to them about their experiences. I love them very much. I miss them already.”

Over the course of our conversation, it becomes clear that Matarazzo is not only quick to compliment those he admires—he is, refreshingly and charmingly, happy to gush. On the topic of his co-stars, he continues: “I don’t think Joe [Keery] knows how much I actually listen to his music. I think he’d be disturbed if he did. Now he does.”

And: “When we lived together filming season five, Finn [Wolfhard] was pitching a movie he shot, writing his album, and prepping for a theater release simultaneously. It’s one thing to have a bucketload of talent, as he does, but to also have that drive and work ethic is so admirable.”

Before Stranger Things, however, there was Broadway. Matarazzo made his debut at just nine years old in the original production of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert and has since taken on roles in Les Misérables and the aforementioned Evan Hansen and Sweeney Todd.

Asked about the famously grueling demands of Broadway, he beams: “People ask this all the time, but I love the schedule. I love being home. I love being in New York. I love knowing when my day off is.” He approaches the work and the discipline theater requires with an athlete’s mindset. “You become very aware physically. I take better care of myself because you have to be in good physical condition to do it properly. I drink a lot more water. I eat a lot better. It doesn’t just happen. You have to be one-hundred-percent committed to make it work, or it won’t.”

“You can’t half-ass a single thing when you walk into a rehearsal space for a Broadway production,” he continues, passionately. “It’s the height of musical theater in the world. That is, weirdly enough, a pressure that I love. I absolutely love it.”

His reverence for musical theater and its culture runs deep. “I am very honored to have been allowed to do musicals like Sweeney Todd or Dear Evan Hansen—musicals that are so loved and taken seriously by the people that are in love with them,” he says with signature, and very genuine, humility. “I don’t know why they let me. I’m very happy to have been there.”

In particular, being a part of Sweeney Todd—which he considers to be “one of the top three pieces of the greatest musical theater composer to ever live [Stephen Sondheim],” adding, cheekily, “I don’t think many people will argue with me on that”—has had a transformative impact on him, and he hopes to have done the part of Mrs. Lovett’s helper Tobias justice. “When you do a revival, it’s so important to understand the history that comes with it. There’s a responsibility there. You have to rise to the occasion. You have to make it your own, but you have to go about it with respect.”

As Tobias, he performed one of Sondheim’s most beloved duets, “Not While I’m Around,” with Annaleigh Ashford, whom he says is “one of my favorite people I’ve ever worked with. I would have been lost at sea if it wasn’t for her.” The song’s legacy may be intimidating (Barbra Streisand, Patti LuPone, Neil Patrick Harris, and Josh Groban are just a few of its past interpreters), but he approached it with clear-eyed professionalism: “I’m an actor before I’m a singer. I’ve trained vocally. I hold my own,” he explains, “but I’m aware it’s a song that has been sung by experts. I can’t pretend to be on their vocal level. I need to remember that I’m here because of certain strengths I bring, and I have to use those.”

The scene “never got not scary,” he says, “but I loved doing it every single night. Sometimes it did not sound very good, but some of my favorite times doing it were on those nights—because I found something else. I realized that there’s so much more to give than just a pretty sound, and that taught me a lot.” It’s clear Matarazzo looks forward to returning to the stage—and the possibility of his experience being overshadowed by the sheer scale of Stranger Things does not faze him. “I’ve always gone back on stage with the mentality of having something to prove. When I jumped back in [after starting Stranger Things], there was a scoff, an eyeroll. ‘What has this actor done to be in this space?’ Rather than letting that discourage me, I was just like, ‘I’ll show you.’”

Outside of acting, Matarazzo is also a keen philanthropist. Born with cleidocranial dysplasia (CCD), an extremely rare genetic condition affecting the development of his bones and teeth, he now works closely with CCD Smiles, a nonprofit dedicated to raising awareness and increasing access to treatment for others who are affected, and which he has chosen as the recipient for proceeds from direct sales of this issue.

One of the challenges of conditions as rare as CCD (it is estimated to affect one in a million individuals) is the lack of infrastructure and knowledge, even in medical environments. “What I would like to see is enough literacy about the condition among those who are going to be treating patients with cleidocranial dysplasia,” Matarazzo says. Up until now, knowledge has been shared on an informal, ad hoc basis: “It’s basically been, ‘Let’s find some doctors who have seen one, two, maybe three cases of it and get some advice from them.’” (At which point he shouts out Dr. Nah of the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, where he has been treated his whole life.)

Matarazzo and CCD Smiles have partnered with Johns Hopkins to address this need. Together, they are developing a standardized care plan aimed at medical professionals detailing what to expect and what to do when treating a patient with CCD. “This means we’re going to have a blueprint so that medical professionals who have never seen this condition and don’t want to start any procedures that could be harmful or regressive can understand the standards of care. ‘What should I do? How can I make it easier on these families?’” The plan is expected to roll out early next year.

Following the conclusion of Stranger Things, Matarazzo will make a sharp left into the world of college movies. Helmed by the comedy duo BriTANIcK, the as-yet-untitled project will follow two undergrads who accidentally take a homemade drug and embark on a delirious quest. “I was enamored with the script from the start. It’s so vastly different [from anything I’ve done before]. It’s a swing and a half,” he says of his foray into comedy. “It’s very fast-paced, really nuts, and I’m so excited.”

And, for good measure, one last tribute: “And I’ve never met somebody quite as special as [co-star] Sean Giambrone. I will say this in every interview, and I hope he sees it. I’m going to hype that boy up like nobody’s business. I love that guy.”

Gaten has selected CCD Smiles, which offers support and resources for individuals with cleidocranial dysplasia, as the recipient of proceeds from direct sales of CERO 10.⁠ Preorder your copy to see this story and many more in print here.