Stranger Things' Gaten Matarazzo reveals he wanted to be on The Voice — and what song he would've...

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The actor told &34;Voice&34; coach Kelly Clarkson that his dream when he was 9 was to try out for his favorite singing competition show. &34;I was like, 'Oh my

The actor told "Voice" coach Kelly Clarkson that his dream when he was 9 was to try out for his favorite singing competition show. "I was like, 'Oh my gosh, how do I get on?'"

Stranger Things' Gaten Matarazzo reveals he wanted to be on The Voice — and what song he would've auditioned with

The actor told "Voice" coach Kelly Clarkson that his dream when he was 9 was to try out for his favorite singing competition show. "I was like, 'Oh my gosh, how do I get on?'"

By Mekishana Pierre

Mekishana Pierre

Mekishana Pierre is a news writer at **. She has been working at EW since 2025. Her work has previously appeared on *Entertainment Tonight* and Popsugar.

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October 23, 2025 11:39 a.m. ET

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'Stranger Things' star Gaten Matarazzo; Kelly Clarkson on 'The Voice'. Credit:

John Lamparski/Getty; Tyler Golden/NBC

Gaten Matarazzo became a household name thanks to his role as Dustin Henderson on Netflix's *Stranger Things*, but if things had gone another way, the young actor might have made his mark on a completely different show — *The Voice*.

The actor has revealed that he wanted to audition for the reality singing competition show before he booked his role as Dustin but couldn't because he was too young.

Gaten Matarazzo on 'The Kelly Clarkson Show'.

Weiss Eubanks/NBCUniversal

"I remember when that show first came out, I was like, 'Oh my gosh, how do I get on?' when I was, like, 9," Matarazzo said in a new interview for *The Kelly Clarkson Show* that airs Thursday. "I remember, like, waiting for the day."

According to the eligibility requirements for *The Voice*, applicants must be "at least thirteen (13) years of age" to be a participant.

At 9, Matarazzo would have been far too young, but considering the star was already working on Broadway at the time, he probably could have handled his own on the show.

When host and *Voice* coach Kelly Carkson asked him which song he would have auditioned with, Matarazzo revealed his top pick: "Fly Me to the Moon," a 1954 jazz standard written by Bart Howard.

Although Matarazzo said "that's not a good one for [the show]," Clarkson disagreed.

"That's a great one for your resonance, your tone," she replied.

For fans unfamiliar with Matarazzo's angelic pipes, the actor showed them off during the action-packed finale of *Stranger Things *season 3, "The Battle of Starcourt."

In it, Hopper (David Harbour) and Joyce (Winona Ryder) are desperately trying to crack a code to access keys inside a safe that will aid in defeating the monstrous Mind Flayer, but the only way to get the code is to enlist the help of Dustin's Utah-based girlfriend, Suzie (Gabriella Pizzolo), a secret math wiz.

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Suzie knows the answer to a math equation that will unlock the safe's code, but she will only share the information if her "Dusty-Bun" sings their favorite song, "The NeverEnding Story," the power ballad theme for the 1984 fantasy epic of the same name. Our hero complies, serenading Suzie (and his anxious friends) with the sweetest rendition of Limahl's synth-pop jam.

It's an unforgettable moment in the series and a testament to Matarazzo's Broadway-honed vocals.

Gaten Matarazzo on 'Stranger Things'.

Courtesy of Netflix

Matarazzo has come a long way since that show-stopping performance in season 3, which filmed in 2018. The fifth and final season of *Stranger Things* arrives in November, and takes place more than a year after the events of season 4.

At a Netflix event in January, creators Matt and Ross Duffer revealed that they'd amassed "over 650 hours of footage" for the new installment, calling it their "biggest and most ambitious" outing yet.

"Season 5 will be big and epic. There's no time for a ramp-up," said Matt. "It's going to be intense from beginning to end."

"It's also going to feel familiar," Ross added. "This season is the biggest it's ever been in scale, but everyone's back together in Hawkins, interacting the same way they were in season 1."

The jury's out if fans will get another musical moment to rival Dustin delivering his version of "The NeverEnding Story."

***Get your daily dose of entertainment news, celebrity updates, and what to watch with our EW Dispatch newsletter.***

Watch Matarazzo's appearance on *The Kelly Clarkson Show* above.

*Stranger Things *season 5 will be released in three separate chunks. Volume 1 will arrive Nov. 26 on Netflix and consist of the first four episodes; Volume 2, consisting of the next three episodes, will arrive on Christmas Day; and the finale will drop on Netflix — and in select theaters — on Dec. 31.**

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