Millie Bobby Brown Hints at Eleven’s “Funeral” Before Stranger Things Final Season, Surprising Fans

Millie Bobby Brown has revealed that she quietly mourned the end of Stranger Things long before fans saw the final season, saying she wore black throughout the season 5 press tour as part of what felt to her like a funeral for Eleven. In a recent appearance on Not Gonna Lie with Kylie Kelce, Brown spoke candidly about the emotional weight of saying goodbye to the character she began playing at age 12 and the series that shaped much of her childhood. She described the experience as a kind of grief, explaining that she knew the end was coming but could not talk about it publicly while promoting the final episodes.

Brown said the hardest part was carrying that secret while everyone around her was reacting to the show’s conclusion only after it became public. According to her, the full emotional impact hit once fans and the rest of the world learned the series was ending, because she then felt surrounded by everyone else’s grief as well as her own. She said the combination of secrecy and emotional attachment created “multiple layers of grief,” making the goodbye feel heavier than the end of a job.

After filming wrapped, Brown immediately reached out to her Stranger Things castmates, including Finn Wolfhard, Noah Schnapp, Gaten Matarazzo, Caleb McLaughlin and Sadie Sink, because she feared that their close relationships might fade once the show was over. She said she repeatedly called her co-stars to ask whether they would still be part of her life, underscoring how deeply the cast bond had formed over nearly a decade of working together. For Brown and her castmates, Stranger Things was not just a series but a formative part of growing up.

The actor also reflected on the way fans have responded to the ending, particularly the continuing belief among some viewers that Eleven is still alive. Brown said she used to be recognized by fans asking if she was Eleven from Stranger Things, but now she often hears people tell her they believe the character survived. Rather than treating this as simple speculation, Brown described it as touching and emotional, suggesting that the audience’s hope has become part of the legacy of the show.

The comments add new context to Brown’s all-black wardrobe during the press tour, which many fans may have seen as a style choice at the time. In hindsight, it appears to have been a quiet signal of the emotional farewell she was already living through. Stranger Things, which premiered in 2016, ran for five seasons and became one of Netflix’s defining series, with its central young cast spending nearly a decade together. Brown’s remarks highlight just how personal that ending was for the actors who grew up with it.

All five seasons of Stranger Things are currently available to stream on Netflix. Brown also noted that Enola Holmes 3 is scheduled to arrive on the platform on July 1.