Stranger Things Has a Plan for Addressing the Passage of Time Among Its Cast

Stranger Things—which premiered in the summer of 2016, and last dropped new episodes on Netflix in July 2022—will end its blockbuster run with a fifth season that’s not coming anytime soon. Over the years, we’ve seen the young cast grow up in real time, something the team behind the series has obviously taken into consideration.

But with the SAG-AFTRA strike continuing, fans have begun to wonder if maybe the final season will be even more delayed, simply because the cast will have physically aged out of whatever storyline Stranger Things has planned. Even the youngest among the core cast—Millie Bobby Brown and Noah Schnapp, who were tweens when the first season aired—will be well past high-school graduation age by the time season five is projected to arrive.

Speaking with Variety, Stranger Things executive producer and director Shawn Levy admitted “this passage of time is definitely not helping,” but he sounded optimistic about the show’s ability to rise to the challenge without doing tons of rewrites. “Our hair and makeup and wardrobe department are pretty exceptional, using costumes and wigs and makeup,” he said. “The ’80s are also our friends in returning these young adult actors to their iconic Hawkins characters. So we’re going to use all the all the tools available to us. And I know our cast is as eager to get back to work as the rest of us.”

Stranger Things is one of Netflix’s big-ticket properties, and while Levy was hesitant to comment on the show’s role in the ongoing strike talks, he did say he thinks everyone at the streamer “is hungry to make the next season.” However, he added, “None of that can happen unless there is a fair and equitable deal made. I’m saying a small prayer that I will already be back at work once this piece runs.”

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