Atlanta teen part of new gen ‘Stranger Things’ kids Season 5
Note: this interview features spoilers regarding Season 5 of “Stranger Things.”
In 2024, as the final season of “Stranger Things” was shooting in metro Atlanta, Calista Craig joined what the crew nicknamed “The Dirty Dozen.”
The series, which already had an expansive regular cast of 19 for Season 5, brought in a coterie of middle school-age kids who became bad guy Vecna’s next targeted victims.
Calista, now a 14-year-old ninth grader residing in Forsyth County, nabbed a recurring role as Mary, the best friend of Holly Wheeler (Nell Fisher), who was first lured into Vecna’s mind in Episode 2. Mary and her classmates get kidnapped by Vecna and spend much of Season 5 in his physical and mental clutches.
“It’s hard for me to put into words my experience with ‘Stranger Things,’” said Calista in an interview with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution at the Hotel at Avalon in Alpharetta soon after the series finale came out Dec. 31. “It was so special to me, the connections I made. I learned so much.”
She didn’t think Mary would be in more than two or three episodes, but as the Duffer brothers (the show’s creators, Matt and Ross) wrote the final season, her character became more developed.
In the end, Calista appeared as Mary in seven out of eight episodes. Of the younger children, Holly and foul-mouthed Derek (Jake Connelly) are key players who drive the plot. Mary, in a supporting role, is brainwashed into thinking Vecna/Henry “saved” the children when he is actually using them for his own evil intentions.
From April to December 2024, Calista would sometimes have to be out of school for two weeks at a time and could not tell her classmates why.
Calista, whose acting background prior to “Stranger Things” was largely in commercials, wasn’t able to talk about the show until early November when she flew to Los Angeles for a premiere screening of the first episode of Season 5.
“I was in a trailer months earlier and all my friends and family recognized me,” she said. “It was hard to deny my face. But I still couldn’t say anything.”
She spent significant time at the Claremont House in Rome, site of Henry Creel’s creepy home on the show. She also shot in Palmetto for some cave scenes and Cinespace Studios in Atlanta for cave and Creel House interiors.
Calista didn’t mind donning ‘80s-style clothing and big-framed glasses.
“They were pink and super cool,” she said, noting the lenses were removed for certain scenes so there would be no reflections.
Each of the young kids was placed in what was dubbed the “Pain Tree” while Vecna channeled them into his mind.
“It was really cool,” Calista said. “They built each pod individually for our height and size. They then placed a camera close to my face and I had to shudder and shiver like I was in pain.”
Because of Calista’s age, her mom, Kristen Craig, had to be on set at all times. She took time off from teaching elementary school in Forsyth County to be with her daughter and ultimately spent hundreds of hours hanging with other parents in the same boat.
“As a parent, we said this over and over again that this was so special,” Kristen said. “These bonds these kids made over this show, nothing will ever be like this.”
And despite the size and scope of the entire “Stranger Things” operation, encompassing thousands of employees, Kristen said the Duffer brothers ensured the atmosphere for the kids and parents was “casual and overall just chill. Everyone was nice, professional and helpful.”
The series ends where it began: in Mike Wheeler’s basement with a final game of Dungeons & Dragons. Lucas, Max, Mike, Will and Dustin are in effect bidding farewell to their childhood after high school graduation before everyone scatters. After Mike puts away his D&D folder, Holly and three friends, including Mary, scramble downstairs to take over the game.
The final shot shows Mike smiling as he watches them play, realizing that a new generation gets to take over, a passing of the baton of sorts.
The Duffer brothers, over a full year of production, didn’t shoot scenes chronologically but purposely shot that final emotional scene on the last day of production Dec. 17, 2024.
Kristen captured video and photos of a surprise balloon drop and confetti bomb the crew shot off after the final scene wrapped.
“It was such a special day 10 years in the making,” Calista said.
Although Calista didn’t get to spend much time with Millie Bobby Brown on set, Brown invited the kids to her farm in rural Georgia before Thanksgiving of 2024, a month before the series finished filming.
“She loves fostering animals,” Calista said. “She taught us about fostering and told a lot of stories about saving animals. She had all these animals and brought out a wagon of puppies.”
After “Stranger Things,” Calista landed a modest role as a lead character’s best friend in the Nate Bargatze family comedy “The Breadwinner,” also shot in metro Atlanta and set to come out in theaters March 13.
By coincidence, “Stranger Things” peer Birdie Borria (who also wore glasses on the show) plays one of Bargatze’s daughters in the movie.
“We got to work together again!” Calista said. “One of my scenes is in the trailer.” (For reasons unexplained, she waxes Bargatze’s character’s nostrils.)
If you watch
“Stranger Things,” available on Netflix
About the Author
Rodney Ho writes about entertainment for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution including TV, radio, film, comedy and all things in between. A native New Yorker, he has covered education at The Virginian-Pilot, small business for The Wall Street Journal and a host of beats at the AJC over 20-plus years. He loves tennis, pop culture & seeing live events.
