For fans watching the explosive finale of Stranger Things Season 3, the Starcourt Mall is the unforgettable battleground where Eleven fought the Mind Flayer and Hopper seemingly met his end. While the show is set in the fictional town of Hawkins, Indiana, the real location for this massive set is a mostly vacant mall in Duluth, Georgia.
Why Starcourt Mall Was More Than Just a Backdrop
Starcourt Mall was the central hub of Season 3, which premiered on July 4, 2019. It was the place where Steve Harrington and Robin Buckley worked at Scoops Ahoy, where Eleven and Max enjoyed their freedom, and where the kids found adventure. However, the mall’s bright and colorful exterior hid a dark secret—a Russian lab operating beneath it, working to reopen a gate to the Upside Down. The food court ultimately became the arena for the season’s final, terrifying conflict, known as the “Battle of Starcourt.”
The location manager for Stranger Things, Tony Holley, explained the challenge of finding the right place to film. The production team originally hoped to find a completely closed-down shopping mall. However, because Atlanta is a growing city, no fully abandoned malls were available. Instead, they found their location in the Gwinnett Place Mall, which was about 70% shut down at the time. The team took over an entire wing of the mall to create their set.
“We have taken over two storeys of a mall in Gwinnett County,” Holley said. “The mall’s been slowly closing, so we took over a whole wing that was perfect for us architecturally. We completely gutted it and restored all the facades and interiors of the stores, as well as the food court and its fountains. It’s epic.”
Production designer Chris Trujillo added that the wing they used was ideal for their needs. The team worked for about eight weeks to transform the space, gutting it and building classic 80s storefronts like The Gap and RadioShack to achieve the perfect period look.
The Fate of the Real-Life Starcourt Mall
The Gwinnett Place Mall, which opened in 1984, was once a booming retail center. Its use as the set for the hit Netflix show, however, did not reverse its fortunes. The mall remains largely vacant today. In a significant turn of events, Gwinnett County purchased approximately 39 acres of the mall property in 2021 for its Urban Redevelopment program. The future of the site is now in the hands of county planners, marking the end of an era for the location that briefly became known around the world as Starcourt Mall.
How the Show’s Stunt Team Brought the Battle to Life
Creating the thrilling Battle of Starcourt required a massive effort from the show’s stunt and effects teams. Stunt coordinator Hiro Koda led the work, prioritizing safety while making the action look real.
Many of the stunts were done with practical effects instead of relying only on computer graphics. For instance, the scene where Eleven uses her powers to fling a car across the mall atrium was a real, coordinated car crash performed by the stunt team. Conversely, the barbell that Billy throws in the sauna scene was actually a fake one made of rubber for safety, and the fireworks the kids used against the Mind Flayer were non-explosive props that were enhanced with visual effects in post-production.
“For the monsters, we use stunt performers in green suits to interact with cast,” Koda explained, noting that the Duffers and director Shawn Levy created a specific vibe on set with music to help everyone believe the person in the green suit was a terrifying monster.
One of the most complex sequences to film was the brutal hand-to-hand fight between Chief Hopper and the Russian assassin Grigori. This intense mirror-room brawl took four and a half days to shoot, requiring careful planning to avoid capturing camera crews in the reflections.
Other Key Filming Locations in Georgia
While Gwinnett Place Mall served as Starcourt, the world of Hawkins, Indiana, was built across various towns in Georgia. The downtown area of Hawkins was filmed primarily in Jackson, Georgia. Key locations included the street that became Hawkins Public Library and the alley where Steve and Jonathan had their fight in Season 1.
The homes of the Wheeler, Sinclair, and Henderson families are all located on the same street, Piney Wood Lane in East Point. The Byers’ house is in Fayetteville, and the Creel House from Season 4 is a Victorian mansion in Rome, Georgia. Both the Hawkins Middle School and High School were filmed at the same building, the former Patrick Henry High School in Stockbridge.
Also Read: Stranger Things Final Season: Where Every Character Stands Before the End
