Wellington visual effects company Wētā FX has won an Emmy Award for its work on the final season of Netflix’s hit show Stranger Things. The award was announced at a ceremony in Los Angeles on 5 September 2026.
Wētā FX is based in Wellington, with more studios in Vancouver, Canada, and Melbourne, Australia. More than 450 people from the company worked on the show’s fifth and final season.
The team created more than 1,185 visual effects shots across the season’s eight episodes. Their work included digitally making one character look younger, redesigning the scary villain Vecna, building the spooky “Abyss” world, and bringing the giant Mind Flayer monster to life for the final battle.
Martin Hill, Wētā FX’s senior visual effects supervisor, accepted the award. “I’m delighted for all our immensely talented Wētā FX Stranger Things team to be awarded this honour,” he said.
Matt Aitken, the company’s head of visual effects, also celebrated the win. “We are all so proud of our Stranger Things crew, so congratulations to everyone on this wonderful achievement,” he said.
Wētā FX has now won eight Academy Awards and 18 Academy Sci-Tech Awards over the past three decades, doing effects work for huge movies and TV shows. It’s another proud moment for the Wellington-based team.
SMART Prep | Quick Question 
