
MILLIE BOBBY BROWN was 11 when she began playing the icon known as Eleven.
By the time she shot her final scenes as her fierce, loyal, and telekinetic character on Stranger Things this past December, she was 20, newly married, and living on a farm in Georgia. Some days she bottle-fed a baby goat in her trailer.
Many days she brought her foster dogs to work, which the cast and crew lovingly welcomed.
There was also a lot of Wicked-"I'm a big musical girl," Brown says-which the show's creators recall a little less tenderly.
"She asked us to play 'Defying Gravity' while she was hovering midair in a harness so she could pretend to fly like Elphaba," says Matt Duffer, who created the show with his brother, Ross. "Not just because she loves the song, but because she knows it drives us a little crazy." But the bosses forgave her fast. "As soon as the camera rollsbarely a second before-that silliness vanishes and she just...transforms into Eleven."
This story is from the {{IssueName}} edition of {{MagazineName}}.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the {{IssueName}} edition of {{MagazineName}}.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In

NYPD CONFIDENTIAL
Along with a contingent of detectives and undercover operatives, the NYPD's counterterror czar, Rebecca Weiner, defends New York City and the nation against enemies foreign and domestic. ADAM CIRALSKY reports from inside the country's most elite local law enforcement agency

VIBE CHECK
WITH 2024 IN THE REARVIEW, HIGH-RANKING DEMOCRATS ARE FINALLY ARRIVING AT THE HARD TRUTH THAT THEIR PARTY IS UNWELL. \"DISARRAY\" DOESN'T QUITE COVER IT. AS FOR WHAT THEY'RE DOING ABOUT IT-AND WHETHER THEY CAN EVER WREST THE COUNTRY BACK FROM TRUMP AND TRUMPISMIT DEPENDS ON WHOM YOU ASK

WHERE DEI Went to D-I-E
Many people of color in Hollywood suspected it was mostly window dressing—and they’ve been proven right

Masks OFF
He spent his teen years concealing his sexuality. Now BENITO SKINNER IS mining that awkward time for art

Gastronomic IMMUNITY
Washington, DC's ascendant dining scene prepares to seat a second Trump administration

THOROUGHLY MODERN MILLIE
AS THE SENSATIONAL HIT SERIES THAT LAUNCHED HER CAREER COMES TO AN END, MILLIE BOBBY BROWN HAS A PLAN TO SUSTAIN THE MOMENTUMALL WHILE SAYING NO AS MUCH AS SHE NEEDS TO AND LIVING ON A FARM IN GEORGIA. WHY NOT? STRANGER THINGS HAVE HAPPENED

SECOND ACT
SMASH, THE SHORT-LIVED 2012 TV SERIES, DEVELOPED A DEDICATED CULT FOLLOWING. NOW, STEVEN SPIELBERG AND COMPANY HAVE RESURRECTED IT FOR BROADWAY. MICHAEL RIEDEL TELLS THE BACKSTORY OF THE ORIGINAL SHOW AND THE NEW PRODUCTION, REVEALING THE MAD RHAPSODIES OF MAKING A MUSICAL

No WONDER
RUPERT EVERETT reveals what’s behind his new collection of short stories, a meditation on rejection

Cinema VERITÉ
At Art Basel Paris, Miu Miu reaffirms its support of women in film

A KILLER VIEW
When an heiress to the L.L. Bean fortune noticed that a grove of majestic oaks on her coastal Maine property had died, she cast her suspicions on her neighbors uphill, summer residents who wanted a better view of Camden Harbor. The legal fight that ensued became a town drama that roils to this day