Warning: This article contains spoilers from the Stranger Things series finale.
Now that Stranger Things is over, cast member Gaten Matarazzo is revealing what happened to his character Dustin Henderson’s girlfriend Suzie Bingham. The third season of the hit Netflix series introduced Suzie, played by Gabriella Pizzolo.
Dustin’s friends were skeptical about whether she actually existed, but she ended up playing a major role in the storyline via radio communications before appearing on-screen in season 4.
During an interview with Business Insider, Matarazzo admitted he hasn’t spoken to the Duffer Brothers about Dustin’s relationship with Suzie, but the actor does have a theory about what went down between the lovebirds. He thinks that Dustin’s “yearlong unhealthy grieving process” resulted in him cutting Suzie out of his life.
While Matarazzo would hope that Dustin broke up with Suzie “nicely,” he thinks the opposite actually happened since “he wasn’t very nice at that point in his life.”
“I didn’t have a conversation with them about it. I think, unfortunately, what can be assumed is that in Dustin’s yearlong unhealthy grieving process — I mean, if he’s cutting out the friends that are day-to-day spending time with him, you can imagine he probably cut out a long-distance relationship. I would like to think he did so nicely. I don’t think he did so nicely, because he wasn’t very nice at that point in his life.”
It’s also possible that Suzie was “sick of his s***” and decided to break up with him, which would be completely understandable and “tremendously fair,” according to Matarazzo, who has imagined a scenario in which she thought to herself, “I don’t have time for any of this.“
“Or maybe she was sick of his s***. Maybe she was just like, ‘I’m not dealing with this.’ And that would be very tremendously fair of her. So I can imagine she was like, ‘I don’t have time for any of this.’ So I like to think she probably broke up with him.”
The Stranger Things series finale showed Dustin delivering a jaw-dropping valedictorian speech at graduation before heading out to begin his higher education. Despite the unresolved relationship storyline with Suzie, Matarazzo hopes that Dustin gets to experience more relationships in college. In fact, the actor strongly believes that his character will be just fine since he’s a “confident guy.”
“He’ll be fine. He’s a confident guy.”
While some fans might be disappointed that not every storyline was resolved and tied up with a metaphorical bow, the truth is that not everything needs to be resolved. Some plot points and character arcs can be open-ended and left for interpretation, with the biggest one being the fate of Eleven.
As for Dustin, his arc throughout the five-season run of Stranger Things has had its share of ups and downs. In Stranger Things season 4, for example, he saw Hellfire Club leader Eddie Munson die during a moment of heroism.
Then in the final season, Dustin was forced to deal with the aftermath of Eddie’s sacrifice and withdrew from his friend group, as noted by Matarazzo when talking about his character’s “yearlong unhealthy grieving process.”
That was an extremely hard time in Dustin’s life, so it wouldn’t be surprising if he drifted away from Suzie. Matarazzo presented two scenarios in which either Dustin broke up with Suzie, or Suzie broke up with Dustin. Both options seem plausible and realistic.
With Vecna and the Upside Down no longer threats, Dustin can now move on and truly begin his new life as a college student. If he can survive the non-stop trauma that he experienced throughout his teenage years, then Dustin will, in the words of Matarazzo, be just fine.
Stranger Things is available to watch on Netflix.
- Release Date
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2016 – 2025-00-00
- Network
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Netflix
- Showrunner
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Matt Duffer, Ross Duffer
