Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1545191
34 • THE ARTISAN SUMMER 2026 Mike: Who doesn't want to be part of a team that gets to cross the finish line for the grand finale?!?! Growing up, I would always look forward to the final episode of a show. It's what people talk about at the water cooler. This was that opportunity, and we were both so privileged to be part of it. Global phenomenon is exactly what it was. We watched it for the first time, along with everyone else. It was scary for us to watch! We held hands while watching the episodes, hoping everything we did would come out looking like we had planned. "You're only as good as your last project" is how the saying goes, so there was a lot of stress that eventually turned into a lot of joy. Eryn: One of the things I loved about working on the show is that I already knew that the creative departments were coming straight from the brilliant teams the Duffers put together over the years. Amy Parris was the costume designer, Sarah Hindsgaul and Kat Suhre, hair designer/Department Head Hair, were the basis of these looks in previous seasons. I was so proud of my incredible team—Devin Morales was my Co-Department Head of Make-up, Jessica Gambardella was my third, and Benji Dove was Millie Bobbie Brown's personal make-up artist and also ran background for me. We had up to 25 make-up artists working on units that overlapped; the main unit would start on stage as a split, then at night meet up with the second unit to hand off actor bags and wrap around 2 am, then the second unit would film till 7 am. We did that for six weeks. That was a small part of our year-long journey. We did tons of testing on blood, slime, melting rooms, and prosthetics throughout production, like most shows, ours just went on for a full year with no breaks. Other challenges filming was every conceivable weather front, swinging from 11 degrees to 100 degrees and back again over the course of the year. At one point, basecamp flooded up to the steps of our giant make-up and hair trailers and washed everything into a lake. My job was getting this show to the finish line. I really wanted to make sure everyone—from the cast to the make-up team—was enjoying their time in the trailer during the last season. The cast all started the show when they were very young, and it was important for me to send them off into their careers post-Stranger Things, knowing they would enjoy coming into the make-up trailer and being part of the process of developing their characters. My team was the most important part to me, and it could not have been successful last season without them. I hired everyone from past seasons and brought their collective talents together for a cohesive look in Season 5; it was much grittier and more realistic, and less stylized than other seasons. We had incredible bosses, and everybody felt they were an important part of making the show come together. • Inset: Cara Buono as Karen Wheeler; Below: Mike Mekash touches up Buono Alex Breaux as Akers