The creators of Stranger Things have said "meaningful" comments from fans suggest the series will have a "great legacy".
The hit Netflix show, made by Matt and Ross Duffer, is returning to TV screens and will have its fifth and final series aired in three parts, beginning with volume one on Thursday.
Ross told the PA news agency: "I think that the most meaningful thing is when fans come up and they go, ‘You know, I was struggling at this time because of this and the show helped me get through that’.
"That means the most to us because we were nerdy outsiders growing up, and especially for us, high school was really hard for us to get through.
"Entertainment and movies and stuff did help us survive that.
"So if this show can help people, if they see themselves in these characters, and they see them overcoming these obstacles and conflicts as these kids are growing up, if that helps them through life in any way, even a small way, then that’s a great legacy to have."
The first series of the supernatural coming-of-age drama followed a psychokinetic girl named Eleven, played by Millie Bobby Brown, as she escaped from a laboratory in Hawkins and made friends with a group of young boys who embarked on a mission to find their friend Will Byers (Noah Schnapp) after he became lost in an alternative reality called the Upside Down.
Brown, who was 12 when the series launched, thanked the Duffer brothers in a post to Instagram ahead of the launch of volume one.
The 21-year-old said: "This show has given me so much, but most importantly, the most meaningful story to tell, El’s.
"Thank you to the Duffers for taking a chance on everything you shouldn’t have wanted, a British girl, with a huge family, a lot of energy, a strong point of view, but a heart that would work tirelessly for the character you built.
"Enjoy volume 1 folks. See you on the right side up."
Series four saw psychokinetic villain Vecna tear a rift through the town of Hawkins and infiltrate the mind of Max Mayfield, played by Sadie Sink, causing her to go into a coma.
In series five Vecna has disappeared and the US government has placed the town under military quarantine and intensified its hunt to find Eleven.
Winona Ryder, David Harbour, Finn Wolfhard, Charlie Heaton, Joe Keery, Natalia Dyer and Maya Hawke are among the stars of Stranger Things.
The show started in 2016 and the franchise has since expanded into a play, titled Stranger Things: The First Shadow, as well as an upcoming animated spin-off, Stranger Things: Tales From ’85.
Stranger Things volume two arrives on St Stephen's Day and the finale is on New Year’s Day.
Source: Press Association
