Credit: Netflix You may think you’re impatient for Stranger Things Season 5 to get here already, but you’ve got nothing on the stars of the hit Netflix series.
Stranger Things is one of the most popular and speculated-about TV shows in the world, which is pretty impressive for a series that hasn’t had a new episode in over two years. However, the Netflix supernatural drama managed to grab onto the zeitgeist in a way that few elements of pop culture do, turning its fusion of Spielbergian melodrama, Stephen King horror, and doom-laden synths into a generational event.
It also helped that from the very beginning, the Duffer Brothers have had a canny eye for casting young actors to launch into Hollywood. Season 1 centered on Finn Wolfhard, Caleb McLaughlin, Noah Schnapp, Gaten Matarazzo, and Millie Bobby Brown, but also included breakouts like Joey Keery and Natalia Dyer.
Subsequent seasons have seen the ascendancy of Sadie Sink, Dacre Montgomery, Jamie Campbell Bower, Eduardo Franco, Joseph Quinn, and Maya Hawke, so it is entirely possible that the final batch of episodes will include a new roster of young stars.
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However, that will hinge on Stranger Things Season 5 actually getting made. Even by the standards of current Hollywood, the final season of the show is taking a long time to get made, which can be partly blamed on the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes of 2023.
It also might have to do with the Duffer Brothers insisting on each episode of Season 5 being movie length, the increasingly busy schedules of Millie Bobby Brown and Finn Wolfhard, or just the immense pressure of closing out one of the most-discussed TV series of the last decade in a satisfying way.
Regardless, the fact that Stranger Things‘ final season does not even have a release date as of yet is frustrating numerous fans.
It turns out it is starting to rankle even the stars of the show. TMZ recently spoke with Gaten Matarazzo, who plays Hawkins teen/Neverending Story aficionado Dustin Henderson, who confirmed that there was a push to get the final episodes done before actors had aged out of being able to realistically play their roles, saying, “That’s the hope, yeah.”
This is not the first time that Gaten Matarazzo has pointed out that he has been playing a teen on the show well into his 20s. In an episode of The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, he said, “I mean, it’s something that’s so important to all of us and has just been essential to the growth that I’ve had over all of my teenage years into my 20s. It’s the defining aspect of the past 10 years of my life, practically the past decade.”
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At the time, he also told Fallon that there was some anxiety about the show ending, saying:
“Of course it is. There’s kind of an excitement there, ’cause you always want to wrap it up and see how these characters are going to finally develop one last time, and how they’re going to finish their journeys. But also there’s like a deep fear. Not only has it been amazing, but it’s been pretty great job security for a while. Back to freelance.”
“I’d love to see a good launchpad for growth and I’d love to see these characters thrive and move on from the trauma they’ve endured over the past few years.”
It sounds like the Season 5 production schedule is starting to be a drag, though. Gaten Matarazzo told TMZ, “Well, we do want to get it out as quickly as we can, you know what I mean? It’s just a big season. So, it’s taken a bit to shoot, and there are a little bit of delays to the pandemic, and both of the strikes, but we’re going full force right now, which is pretty great.”
The actor is not the only one who seems ready to be done with Stranger Things, with Millie Bobby Brown publicly expressing her desire for the show to end and likening it to “graduating high school” and moving on with your life. Duffer Brothers, if your stars are ready for something to end, you might want to pick up the pace.
Why is it taking so long to release Season 5 of Stranger Things? Tell us your theories!