Gaten Matarazzo has revealed startling new details about the living situation he endured while filming the final season of Stranger Things in Atlanta, Georgia.
For the first time, he is openly describing the environment he found himself in, the months of clutter, and the moment he realized the state of his home had crossed a line he could no longer ignore.
The account was shared during his appearance on Jesse Tyler Ferguson’s Dinner’s on Me podcast, recorded in mid-November.
Matarazzo, who joined the show as Dustin Henderson at just 12 years old, explained that he spent nearly a full year living with one of his closest castmates while shooting the last season.
“It was really, really fun. It was great. It was kinda like a college experience or at least similar to it,” he said.
But as time passed, the conditions of their shared home only worsened.
Actor Gaten Matarazzo spoke about the “disgusting” living conditions he had to endure while filming the final season of Stranger Things
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“I would look around like three months after we lived together and like, this place is disgusting. What are we doing?” he recalled.
Matarazzo described how the apartment gradually spiraled into complete disarray, with him and his roommate, long-time castmate Finn Wolfhard, having to face their own lack of hygiene with no one to blame but themselves.
Image credits: Netflix
“Clothes would clutter” and “dishes would pile up,” he said. “It got grosser and grosser. It sure did. The dishes were tough.”
When Ferguson asked who was responsible for the mess, Matarazzo admitted the problem was mutual. They enabled each other, neither one stepping up to maintain any kind of standard.
Image credits: Gerald Matzka/Getty Images
“We got along so well and had been so close for so long that we didn’t really like to hold each other to a standard,” he explained. “So we were kinda just like, ‘Ah, f–k it. Whatever man. We’ll get to it later.’”
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The moment of clarity came when they tried to make social plans during filming breaks. Friends would suggest meeting at their place, unaware of what Matarazzo and Wolfhard were hiding.
“We would plan to go out and somebody would be like, ‘All right, we’ll meet you at yours,’” he said. “And both of us would be like, ‘No. Do not come 10 feet to our home.’”
The actor acknowledged the situation could’ve damaged his relationship with Wolfhard
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Matarazzo acknowledged that the risk of living with a best friend is real.
He realized that enjoying someone’s company is not the same as sharing the same space with them, and that clashing routines can strain even the closest friendships.
If things go wrong, the friendship can fracture under the weight of daily habits and incompatible lifestyles. But in their case, he said, the bond survived intact.
Image credits: BrendaBisbiglia
“When you’re moving in with one of your best friends, you never know if you’re going to live together well,” he said.
“That could ruin friendships. It ruins a dynamic. If you’re mature enough, you can be like, ‘This isn’t working for us, so for the sake of our friendship, we should end this.’ [But] it was great.”
Image credits: Netflix
He added that toward the end of their time living together, they finally “got better” at keeping the home clean. The experience, messy as it was, never damaged the respect or care they had for one another.
Matarazzo reflected on the emotional impact of saying goodbye to the series that saw them grow up
Image credits: Netflix
At the same time, he reflected on the emotional final days of filming. The cast, who had grown up on set, said goodbye to the series with their families present.
“They did let our parents come because they were there from the beginning,” he said. “It was like a graduation.”
“They were all there and they all got close with each other and anytime we’d stay cut and go over, there was always, like, a section for the parents.
The end of production opened the door for the cast to speak openly about the impact of the last episode.
In a separate interview with Collider in November 2025, Matarazzo joined Wolfhard, Sadie Sink, and Caleb McLaughlin to discuss the moment they first read the script.
“I was pretty convinced that [he] wasn’t going to get emotional,” he said, until he reached “one line” that made him “begin choking up a bit.”
Matarazzo placed a hand on his shoulder as he teared up.
“Stereotypical.” Fans were not surprised by the young actors’ lack of cleaning habits
