Linda Hamilton discusses working on Stranger Things season 5, the last season of the Netflix series, for a full year
After being delayed several months by the writers’ strike and the actors’ strike, season 5 of the hit Netflix series Stranger Things (which is also the last season of the show) finally went into production at the start of 2024 with a twelve-month shooting schedule, wrapping at the end of December. We’ve heard that series creators the Duffer Brothers have been working hard to get the season ready for release by the end of the year – and now we know exactly when the premiere date is. Last month, Netflix announced that Stranger Things season 5 will be released in three parts, with volume one on November 26, 2025, volume two on Christmas Day, 2025, and the series finale on New Year’s Eve. New to the cast for Stranger Things season 5 are Linda Hamilton (The Terminator), Nell Fisher (Evil Dead Rise), newcomer Jake Connelly, and Alex Breaux (Joe Pickett) – and during an interview with Coming Soon, Hamilton discussed what it was like to work on the season for a full year.
Stranger Things has the following synopsis: A love letter to the ‘80s classic genre films that captivated a generation, Stranger Things is a thrilling drama set in the seemingly normal Midwestern town of Hawkins, Indiana. After a boy vanishes into thin air, his close-knit group of friends and family search for answers and are pulled into a high-stakes and deadly series of events. Beneath the surface of their ordinary town lurks an extraordinary supernatural mystery, along with top-secret government experiments and a dangerous gateway that connects our world to a powerful yet sinister realm. Friendships will be tested and lives will be altered as what they discover will change Hawkins and possibly the world — forever.
Asked if working on Stranger Things season 5 felt like working on a movie, due to the high production value and very long episodes, Hamilton answered, “Well, because it was a very long haul. We took a year to shoot eight episodes, so I’ve never been on a project for a year. Six months is the biggest. Terminator, Dante’s Peak, things like that used to be six-month shoots, and hardly anybody does that anymore. But to carry on for a year, and because scheduling was huge and it changed all the time just because the production and weather and this and that. So it was being in a state of readiness to race to Atlanta for an entire year at any given moment. So that was really interesting. Like ready to pounce, to just nail the character in the way that she deserved. They started with all my big scenes, my first week in. I mean, I was there getting ready before that, but my first week of shooting was like huge. I looked at what they were on the schedule, and I was like, ‘No way are we doing that. I haven’t even spoken words from the character yet.’ They don’t start with Episode 1. We’re heavy into Episode 2, and then I realized that every single day they shoot, it’s that huge. Do you know what I mean? I was like, well, ‘This has to be a partial ’cause there’s no way they’re going for this entire stunts, special effects, big acting, lots of character stuff.’ And that’s my first day, because every day that they shoot, they have big scenes like that.“
Stranger Things is produced by Monkey Massacre Productions and 21 Laps Entertainment. Series creators The Duffer Brothers serve as executive producers alongside Shawn Levy and Dan Cohen of 21 Laps Entertainment, Iain Paterson, and Curtis Gwinn.
10 Cloverfield Lane and Prey director Dan Trachtenberg directed an episode of the final season while working on his two new Predator movies. The Shawshank Redemption director Frank Darabont ended an 11-year break from directing to take the helm of an episode.
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