Warning: Spoilers Ahead for Season 4 of Stranger Things!
The ending of season 4 of the Netflix hit series Stranger Things left us off at a great cliffhanger: Eddie Munson, one of the most iconic characters from the show, sacrificed himself to the bats, Hopper, and the Byers return to Hawkins, and the looming threat is occurring in Hawkins after an “earthquake” tears down the town. However, production halted because of the Sag-AFTRA strike and writing just resumed at the beginning of October due to the agreement between the AMPTP (Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers) and WGA (Writer’s Guild of America) at the end of September. Many fans are worried about how delayed the sci-fi series may be.
The SAG-AFTRA strike started in the summer, right before the premiere of this year’s most anticipated movies: Barbie and Oppenheimer. Due to this, it halted production in countless TV shows and movies, including Stranger Things, because of the AMPTP not following Sag-Aftra standards, such as not paying most actors streaming residuals, “proud” claims from companies such as Netflix and Universal to use AI copies from background actors to avoid paying them, and not following union rules. As part of the strike, not only can actors not act, but they can’t promote their shows or movies. For example, the red carpet premiere for Barbie was pushed forward as Hollywood anticipated Sag-Aftra striking alongside the WGA -who was also striking for similar reasons.
In the case of Stranger Things, fans learned the hard way that this show takes ages to film and produce, with season three and four having a gap of three years. It also didn’t help that the Coronavirus paused filming for the majority of 2020. Now that we are about to enter 2024, almost 2 years since season 4 came out, fans and critics alike are curious about when the show will come out. Many theories online claim the last season could be released as early as 2025 but as late as 2026.
In an interview with Variety, actress Millie Bobby Brown explains that she is ready to move on from the show as it has been in her life since she was 11 years old and wants to work on new projects. With the show’s infinite delay as of now, most fans theorize that the actors just want to move on with their lives to book other projects.
I have been a fan of the show since it came out, even meeting Sadie Sink -who plays Max Mayfield- but even with the story’s lore, I am ready for this show to be done. However, if I have to wait years for the show to come out so the actors can get better pay and treatment, then so be it.