Credit: NetflixThe premiere episode of Stranger Things season 5 has a secret cast member, a social media post from series co-creator Ross Duffer revealed, and Netflix fans are hotly debating who it could be.
In a recent Instagram story, Ross Duffer displayed a snippet of the cast list for Stranger Things season 5, episode 1, which has been previously revealed to be titled “The Crawl.” The post was captioned, “See you after the holidays,” and gave a list of the many of the expected character names, but also revealed one blacked-out name that is driving Stranger Things fans crazy trying to figure out who the secret cast member could be.
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As happens with Instagram Stories, the actual Duffer Brothers post is not gone, but enterprising online commentators managed to save the image, which you can see below.
What do you guys think? Could it be Eddie Munson… ? 👀
(via ross duffer’s insta story) pic.twitter.com/zE0Qtwsrg8— kassy IS MEETING JOSEPH QUINN!!!! (@kassy_munson) December 13, 2023
The non-redacted list includes Joyce Byers (Winona Ryder), Jim Hopper (David Harbour), Mike Wheeler (Finn Wolfhard), Nancy Wheeler (Natalia Dyer), Jonathan Byers (Charlie Heaton), Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown), Lucas Sinclair (Caleb McLaughlin), Dustin Henderson (Gaten Matarazzo), Will Byers (Noah Schnapp), Karen Wheeler (Cara Buono), Steve Harrington (Joe Keery), Robin Buckley (Maya Hawke), and Murray Bauman (Brett Gelman).
Right in between former Scoops Ahoy buddies Steve and Robin, however, it appears that someone has blacked out a name, setting off a frenzy of speculation online about who the secret cast member could be.
On Reddit, many Stranger Things are speculating that the redacted name could be the character played by Terminator star Linda Hamilton; presumably, the blackout would be to prevent her character name from being revealed.
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It has also been suggested that it could be “Mad” Max Mayfield ( Sadie Sink), the breakout character who was left near death in the finale of season 4, with Redditor Owl_Resident stating that “This is her spot on previous call sheets, as this character order is apparently always the general way of listing they’ve used in the past.”
Still others have suggested that the secret cast member could be primary series villain Vecna/Henry Creel (Jamie Campbell Bower)
Some are even hopeful that fan-favorite character Eddie Munson could show up, either in a flashback or as some kind of ghost or revenant.
At the moment, all that we know for sure is that the first episode of the final season of Stranger Things will star someone that Ross Duffer really, really wants us to know is there but won’t let us know who yet. We’ll just have to wait and see, though it’s going to take a very, very long time to find out.
Who do you think the secret cast member could be? Give us your best guesses below!