The Stranger Things characters are not getting any older — which is a problem for the show as the cast prepares to once again play teenagers in the final season.
Executive producer Shawn Levy weighed in on how the increased “passage of time” between seasons creates an issue when filming the show.
“We’ve already watched the cast of our show grow up in the public eye, and between 12 and 22, every human being changes profoundly,” Levy, 55, told Variety on Monday, October 23. “That being said, our hair and makeup and wardrobe department are pretty exceptional, using costumes and wigs and makeup.”
The director noted that setting the show in the past has helped. “The ’80s are also our friends in returning these young adult actors to their iconic Hawkins characters,” Levy added. “So we’re going to use all the tools available to us. And I know our cast is as eager to get back to work as the rest of us.”
Viewers were introduced to the residents of Hawkins, Indiana, when Stranger Things debuted in 2016. The series focuses on a fictional town where a series of supernatural events cause mystery and mayhem. After appearing on the show, the main cast including Millie Bobby Brown, Finn Wolfhard, Noah Schnapp, Gaten Matarazzo, Caleb McLaughlin, Natalia Dyer, Charlie Heaton and Joe Keery quickly became household names.
An onscreen issue, however, is the lack of time jumps between seasons. As a result, many of the characters have remained teenagers while the actors who bring them to life aged significantly as they entered their 20s and 30s. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, filming was previously shut down and pushed the season 4 release to 2022.
The final season has also faced challenges amid the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes. With the actors’ union still waiting for the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) to offer them a fair deal, production on season 5 likely won’t start until 2024. This would push the release date for the final episodes possibly into 2025.
Meanwhile, the cast has already started to discuss their thoughts on saying goodbye to Stranger Things. Keery, 31, who plays Steve Harrington, previously admitted it would be difficult to film the last season.
“I owe my whole career to being on that show and all the opportunities that I had since are because of that show,” he told WWD in August. “So it’s very convoluted. There’s a sense of relief, there’s a sense of sadness. I guess my goal is to just really soak it up as much as I can while we’re doing it, and not take any of it for granted because it’s been an amazing ride with such great people. And then once it’s done, move forward and try to just hold on to the joy that we had when we were making it.”
Brown, 19, for her part, is more excited to move on from the show which helped skyrocket her to fame.
“When you’re ready, you’re like, ‘All right, let’s do this. Let’s tackle this last senior year. Let’s get out of here,’” she told Glamour on October 16. “Stranger Things takes up a lot of time to film and it’s preventing me from creating stories that I’m passionate about. So I’m ready to say, ‘Thank you, and goodbye,’” she continued.
The actress isn’t worried about saying goodbye to her costars though. “When it ends, I’m going to be able to still see these people,” Brown noted.
