What the "Stranger Things" Cast Think About the Show's Fifth and Final Season

While "Stranger Things" season five filming is still on hold due to the SAG-AFTRA strike, there's plenty of information about the upcoming installment to tide fans over. In an Aug. 17 interview on the podcast "Happy Sad Confused" (conducted prior to the actors' strike), David Harbour revealed that he knows how the show will end — and it seems that he's expecting it to be quite a tearjerker.

"Yeah, before this strike, we were sent scripts. They're terrific, as per usual," said Harbour, who plays Jim Hopper on the show. "They continue to outdo themselves, these currently on-strike writers called the Duffer brothers. Yeah, and it's a hell of an undertaking too. I mean, the set pieces and the things in the scripts that we saw are bigger than anything we've done in the past."

Harbour noted that the cataclysmic nature of season four's ending means that season five will start with high stakes. "After where season four ended — when you watch us on that hill looking at the ash and the smoke and fires — we're going to start somewhere after that," he noted. "So you've got to imagine the world is a different place."

He also shared that the final season will resolve the main characters' storylines in major ways. "It'll take a while to shoot, which will be tough since we can't get started yet, but it is what it is," he said. "I'm excited to go back. I'm excited to wrap it up in a bold, amazing way. I'm excited to really swing with this character, because you know they're going to pay off these OG characters — Eleven, Hopper, Joyce, Will, Mike — they're going to pay them off in big ways because they've lived with you for the past eight years." He also shared that while he hasn't read any scripts for the finale yet, he knows roughly how things are going to go. "Like, I know where we net out, and it's very, very moving," he said. "That is the term I will use."

In an Aug. 7 interview with Variety, "Stranger Things" cocreator Ross Duffer revealed that Will's (Noah Schnapp) emotional journey would be at the heart of the final season. "Will really takes center stage again in 5," he said. "This emotional arc for him is what we feel is going to hopefully tie the whole series together. Will is used to being the young one, the introverted one, the one that's being protected. So part of his journey, it's not just sexuality — it's Will coming into his own as a young man."

Back in July 2022, Schnapp confirmed Will was gay in an interview with Variety. In January, he came out himself via TikTok — and it sounds like his personal connection to his character has made playing Will all the more resonant. "I think the way I act in Season 5, honestly, might be a little different," Schnapp told Variety. "I will be fully aware of who I am. Knowing all of that about myself and being able to invest that in my character, I'm honestly just excited."

Another hint about what we can expect arrived during Netflix's Tudum event on June 17, where it was announced that Linda Hamilton, of "Terminator" fame, will be joining the series. The news followed confirmation from creators Ross and Matt Duffer that work on the show's final season wouldn't resume until after the WGA voted to end the strike. "Duffers here. Writing does not stop when filming begins. While we're excited to start production with our amazing cast and crew, it is not possible during this strike," the creators wrote on the "Stranger Things" writers' Twitter account on May 6.

Prior to the writers' strike, small bits of intel about "Stranger Things" season five had started trickling in from Hawkins. In March, at the 2023 Middle East Film & Comic Con in Abu Dhabi, Harbour said filming for the final season was originally set to begin in June, Collider reported. Now, it's unclear how delayed that'll be.

In August 2022, the Duffer brothers told IndieWire that the show's final season was unlikely to introduce any major new characters, adding that their goal was to keep season five's focus firmly on the existing cast. "We're doing our best to resist [adding new characters] for Season 5," Matt said. "We're trying not to do that so we can focus on the OG characters, I guess."

The Duffers admitted that it was hard not to expand the world of Hawkins in the final stretch. After all, "Stranger Things" has only become richer thanks to the additions of characters like Max (Sadie Sink), Robin (Maya Hawke), and Eddie (Joseph Quinn). But at this stage, the brothers are all too aware that they have limited screen time available to wrap up the story.

"Whenever we introduce a new character, we want to make sure that they're going to be an integral part of the narrative. . . . But every time we do that, we're nervous," Ross told IndieWire, "because you go, 'We've got a great cast of characters here, and actors, and any moment we're spending with a new character, we're taking time away from one of the other actors.' So we're just very, very careful about who we're introducing." So either Hamilton's character plays a minor role in the series, or the brothers changed their minds.

On Aug. 2, 2022, the show's writers announced that they were working on season five with a tweet that read, "Day 1," above a photo of a whiteboard. And in February of this year, Schnapp revealed he'd received scripts for the first three episodes. So, at the very least, fans may find comfort in knowing that a large chunk of the show's final season was mapped out prior to the strikes.

The season four finale definitely looks toward a final season that will have more chaos, more drama, and more monsters than ever before. As we wait for more updates about the show's ending — plus the live-action and animated spinoffs — take a look at what we know about "Stranger Things" season five so far, including the plot, cast, and why it's the final chapter of the series.