Stranger Things showrunners explain confusing proposal scene in season five’s new Christmas drop

In one particular scene from the three-episode drop, Nancy Wheeler and Jonathan Byers, a fan-favorite couple, shared a tense and emotional moment in a dramatic, near-death scene.

In the scene, Jonathan — portrayed by Charlie Heaton — pulls out an engagement ring in front of Nancy, who is played by Natalia Dyer. 

The moment initially seemed like a proposal, however, the show’s co-creators clarified that the couple are not engaged and explained their intent with the scene.

Off-screen, the actors who play Nancy and Jonathan are still a couple in real life, but their on-screen characters ended up breaking up during the romantic ‘un-proposal’ scene, the showrunners explained. 

Nancy and Jonathan have been dating since season two, but when they’re stuck in a near-death moment and convinced this is the last chance to say their last words to each other, they let it all out. 

The pair are trapped inside the Hawkins lab in the Upside Down when a toxic, poisonous substance begins melting everything in the room. 

It’s then Nancy tells Jonathan that she hates The Clash. Then, he confesses that he doesn’t like to read her articles and finally admits that he never applied to Emerson. 

At that moment, he pulls out an engagement ring from his pocket and extends a proposal-like offer. 

‘I figure that I have screwed up enough with you that it’d be nice to get something right for once, in the end. Nancy Wheeler, will you not marry me?’ 

She accepts his ‘un-proposal’ before telling him she loves him and they kiss. After they part, they see the substance had hardened around them and realize they’re still alive.

The Duffer brothers Ross and Matt reveal Nancy and Jonathan’s fate in an interview with People published on Thursday. 

‘That’s a breakup,’ Matt told the outlet as he clarified the intent of the scene. ‘They are broken up.’ 

Matt said that he and Ross wrote that scene after having known for ‘a while’ that the couple were going to break up. 

‘It’s hard to recall when exactly that idea came, but I think us — and the writers — all felt that Nancy needed to end up on her own and be independent and have an opportunity to find herself,’ he said. 

Matt continued: ‘I mean, how many people wind up with their girlfriend or boyfriend that they met in high school?’ 

He also noted that the couple ‘have a little bit more of a complicated relationship than normal high schoolers.’ 

Because of what they’ve gone through, Ross said they were due to split up because they have a ‘trauma bond.’ 

The Duffer brothers also linked their tense scene to major plot points in the new volume release as they discussed writing the final episodes in an interview with the Los Angeles Times.

They explained that in the second part of the last season, they were trying to ‘get our characters in a place where they all felt confident in themselves.’

‘We wanted to get people, before they go into this final battle, having dealt with their internal fears and doubts,’ Ross said.

‘It was a challenging idea. We’ve been building to it, but to get it across in five-ish minutes, it’s a complicated thing. It’s not just a soap opera where it’s shipping and who’s going to end up with who. 

Ross said: ‘I’ve been through experiences similar to this, when you’re with someone for a very long time, you grow so close and you go through so many things together, and it reaches a point where you go, “Well, how could someone else understand?” But at the same time, is that suffocating to your own self-growth? 

‘So when we were talking about Nancy and Jonathan, and where do they go from here, it felt like for Nancy to really grow,’ he continued.

‘And for Jonathan,’ Matt chimed in. ‘They both felt the same way, they just weren’t expressing it. Especially when you’re young, you have trouble understanding or expressing those feelings.

‘We wanted to put them in a life-or-death situation where it’s their last opportunity to confess,’ he added.

Stranger Things’ season five, both volumes one and two, are now streaming on Netflix. 

The two-hour series finale — fittingly called ‘The Rightside Up’ — will premiere in select theaters and on Netflix on December 31.