By WEB DESK: The fifth and final season of the hit Netflix series “Stranger Things” remains on the horizon, promising fans another dive into Upside Down madness. However, the journey to its release has been fraught with delays and high expectations.
Maya Hawke, who portrays Robin Buckley on the show since its third season, recently discussed the progress of Season 5 on the “Podcrushed” podcast. She humorously remarked that the show has been “a little bit cursed,” referencing setbacks due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the recent writers’ and actors’ strikes. Another significant factor contributing to the delay is the ambitious scope of the upcoming season.
“We’re making, basically, eight movies,” Hawke revealed. “The episodes are very long.”
She further explained the intensive creative process, highlighting the dedication of showrunners Matt and Ross Duffer. “They have an amazing team of writers, but they’re very involved,” she said. “They write a lot and they are very intense and serious about the quality of the continued writing, and so it takes a long time to write each season, and a long time to shoot them.”
These sentiments were previously echoed by executive producer and frequent episode director Shawn Levy, who described Season 5 as “as big as any of the biggest movies that we see” in an interview with Total Film.
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The enormity of the episodes was evident in Season 4, where episodes varied in runtime but were all over an hour, with the season finale clocking in at nearly two and a half hours. The entire nine-episode season equated to roughly 13 hours of content.
While the specific length of Season 5 episodes hasn’t been confirmed, Hawke’s comments suggest they will be similarly substantial.
Despite starting production in January after the resolution of the strikes, the team still faces a lengthy filming schedule. Star Millie Bobby Brown indicated in March that nine months of filming remained, pointing to a likely release date in mid-2025.
In the interim, fans can catch Maya Hawke as the voice of Anxiety in “Inside Out 2,” which recently surpassed the $1 billion mark at the box office.
As anticipation builds for the return of “Stranger Things,” the extensive production efforts and high creative standards promise a grand and satisfying conclusion to the beloved series.
