1
Credit: NetflixOne Stranger Things star has confirmed that they will not be reprising their role in the show’s final season.
It’s been eight years since Stranger Things premiered on Netflix in 2016, and yet we’re still waiting on the show’s fifth outing.
Powered by a mix of 1980s nostalgia and supernatural intrigue, it stars Millie Bobby Brown as Eleven, a girl with telekinetic powers, and follows the adventures of kids like Mike (Finn Wolfhard), Dustin (Gaten Matarazzo), and Lucas (Caleb McLaughlin) as they uncover mysteries in the small town of Hawkins, Indiana.
One of the things that has made the show so successful is the strength of its young cast (a cast that isn’t quite so young anymore) compared to its already impressive mature roster. The irreplaceable Winona Ryder stars as Joyce Byers, a frantic mother searching for her missing son, while David Harbour portrays Sheriff Hopper, the town’s unlikely hero.
Stranger Things Shrinks Its Cast List
As the show approaches its final season, one of its adult actors has left the cast list.
Catherine Curtin, who played Claudia Henderson – Dustin’s mother – has confirmed that her time on Stranger Things has come to an abrupt end.
In an interview on the Monday Morning Critic Podcast, Curtin revealed that she was filming Saturday Night (2024), an upcoming movie about the 1975 debut of Saturday Night Live, instead of working on Stranger Things season five. When asked about her potential return, she said, “No, no, I went off and did SNL 1975. I’m not a part of the Stranger Things season five, but I have interacted with a few of those guys.”
She later added: “What I’m told is that it’s kind of amazing and that they work their butts off and that it’s brilliant. And I think it will not disappoint.”
Curtin’s role in the show hasn’t been huge, but her role is still notable for a few comedic moments. Debuting in season two, she hunts for her cat, Mews, who has actually been eaten by Dustin’s secret pet Demogorgon (nicknamed Dart).
She’s since popped up several times for small moments with Dustin, such as picking him up from his summer camp Camp Know Where and watching him escape the Wheeler house with Lucas, Erica (Priah Ferguson), and Max (Sadie Sink).
Season 5 of Stranger Things: What Do We Know?
This is just one detail we’ve heard about the upcoming final season of Stranger Things. As the cast continues to film, the events of the show’s last run remain somewhat of a mystery.
At the end of its fourth season, the gang faced off against Vecna (Jamie Campbell Bower), the show’s newly revealed ‘big bad’ who’d been pulling the strings from the Upside Down for years.
Vecna severely injures Max, leaving her near death, and his plan to open the fourth gate succeeds, causing massive destruction in Hawkins. Though they momentarily defeat Vecna, the damage to the town signals that a greater battle is still ahead as the Upside Down begins to merge with Hawkins.
Considering the high stakes, it’s not a surprise that the fifth season won’t have much opportunity to focus on its side characters. There are also a lot of loose ends to tie up as it is, with more prominent characters such as Steve (Joe Keery), Robin (Maya Hawke), Nancy (Natalia Dyer), and Jonathan (Charlie Heaton) all needing to find their endings.
For now, we don’t have a timeframe for when we’ll get to see these endings. However, with the show set to film until at least the end of 2024, and maybe even into 2025 – and none of the cast even seeing the finale’s script yet – we’d say there’s still a long way to go.
What are you hoping for from the fifth season of Stranger Things?