TV

The NeverEnding Story moment in Stranger Things 3 almost didn't happen

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Published on July 9, 2019 09:00AM EDT

Warning: This article contains spoilers for the Stranger Things season 3 finale, “The Battle of Starcourt.”

Get ready to take some new meetings with agents, Falkor.

One of the most crowd-pleasing moments of Stranger Things season 3 occurs in the final episode, when Dustin (Gaten Matarazzo) is pressed by his girlfriend, Suzie (Gabriella Pizzolo), to serenade her. The couple’s song? The theme song to The NeverEnding Story.

The 1984 fantasy film, about a boy reading a fairy tale involving the aforementioned luckdragon, has garnered cult status over the years and features a delightfully synthy theme song by Giorgio Moroder. It’s sung by the lead singer of Kajagoogoo, Christopher “Limahl” Hamill, and Beth Anderson.

Stranger Things creators Matt and Ross Duffer felt that Suzie’s reveal needed a dramatic beat and had wanted Materazzo, who’s sung on Broadway, to show off his musical chops. “We went through all the various songs they could sing,” Matt tells EW. “At one point they were going to sing the Ent song from Lord of the Rings. Then we were like, ‘Oh, well, Amazon is making Lord of the Rings, that’s probably not going to go over well with Netflix.’ Then we came up, I think it was Curtis, our writer, who came up with I think a better idea, which was The NeverEnding Story theme song.” Adds Ross, “Certainly filming that sequence, that was some of the most fun we had on this season. It was just so great.”