Matt Duffer is sharing a sweet memory about Finn Wolfhard‘s early days on the Stranger Things set.

Members of the cast and crew gathered at The Paley Museum in New York City on Thursday, Dec. 18, to celebrate the Netflix hit’s fifth and final season. During a panel conversation at the event, Matt, 41 — who created the series with twin brother Ross Duffer — spoke about what he loved most about filming season 5.

“I loved bringing in the younger guys,” he said of the child actors who appeared in the show this season. “These kids were … especially [this one boy] — he was following Finn around like a puppy dog. He thought Finn was the coolest.”

Matt described it as a “full-circle” moment.

“That’s exactly how Finn was with Joe [Keery] back in the day,” he continued. “I mean, Finn followed Joe around like a little puppy dog. It was so cute.”

“And then Joe would follow me around,” Wolfhard, 22, chimed in of Keery, 33.

Wolfhard, who plays Mike Wheeler in the series, opened up about working with the child actors and feeling protective of them.

“I got to kind of weirdly do what these guys did in the first season, which is kind of protect … It almost felt like I was protecting like a younger version of myself or that we were, this season, protecting versions of our younger selves,” he explained. “And that was really fun.”

“And also just hilarious because those kids are so funny,” he added. “They’re all Gen Alpha, and I don’t know any…”

During the conversation, Wolfhard also reflected on how the show — particularly all the years spent working with the cast — has changed his life.

“I mean, I wouldn’t know anything without these guys. My life is spent with these people, and I learned about what I wanted to do in my life, and I got to experience it all with these people,” he said. “Honestly, when you think about it, I don’t mean for it to sound sad, but [my life is] kind of nothing without these people.”

Wolfhard previously spoke to PEOPLE about his mixed feelings over the end of Stranger Things.

“I was so happy with my character’s ending,” he said in an exclusive interview in April. “I was satisfied, but I was also very confused and sad, but also very happy.”

“I felt like I was in a dream or something. None of it felt real. I don’t know, it felt perfect,” he continued.

Wolfhard said he experienced what he described as “an emotional hangover” after filming his very last scene for the final season.

“But it ended really well, and I just have such positive things to say about everyone,” he recalled, adding, “The cast all stayed for the last day, we were all there together. It was really great to be around each other.”

Vol. 1 of Stranger Things season 5 is now streaming on Netflix. Vol. 2 drops Dec. 25 with three episodes, and the finale drops Dec. 31 at 8 p.m. ET.