Cara Buono reacts to 'Stranger Things' Karen's action sequence

Cara Buono looked back on her reaction when she first got the script of Stranger Things season five, and how she felt after learning her character, Karen Wheeler, has a pivotal role in it.

Karen Wheeler is an oblivious mother who is mostly drunk, resulting in Buono never expecting that her character would attack a Demogorgon with a broken wine bottle to defend her daughter, Holly Wheeler.

“It was so satisfying to finally see Karen get her big hero moment,” Buono said on Tudum. “I was laughing reading it, but also kind of emotional, because it felt like everything had been building up to this.”

The Gladiator actress added, “I was so surprised when I read the script and saw that Karen takes her wine bottle and cracks it against the counter. I thought, ‘This is a beautiful full-circle moment.’”

Buono said that, since the last 10 years, she has been joking about “Karen and her wine, and now it actually comes in handy. I remember thinking, ‘Wow, she just goes into full mama-bear mode.’”

“She’s never really known what’s going on, but the moment danger comes to her house, she doesn’t hesitate. She just fights back,” Buono added.

Elsewhere in the interview, The Sopranos star opened up about her feelings on coming back to set for the last time, calling it “a deeply emotional experience.”

“It’s like coming home to a place where these incredible memories have been made for almost a decade,” Buono shared.

Apart from her, the fifth and final season will see Gaten Matarazzo, Caleb McLaughlin, Millie Bobby Brown, Finn Wolfhard, Noah Schnapp, Sadie Sink, and more in their reprised roles.