Historically, the town of Jackson, Ga. stood in for Hawkins, Ind.—or at least its quaint Main Street. But after the villainous Vecna opened up gates to a treacherous parallel universe called the Upside Down in Stranger Things’ fourth season, Hawkins was left in ruins. For the fifth and final season, the production team needed to build a decimated version of Hawkins. And, to make it even more complicated, they need to keep it that way for all eight episodes. So they rebuilt the street on a set in Atlanta.

The day that I visit the set for a TIME cover story on the final season of Stranger Things , which reportedly cost almost half a billion dollars , that street is in shambles. The showrunners, Matt and Ross Duffer, are filming a major battle scene. Hawkins is under military quarant

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