Stranger Things season 5 cast: the actors of the last season, newcomers and returns

The Season 5 cast: the 1983 group

The six children from the first episode are between twenty and twenty-three at filming, in 2024. That is the reason for the eighteen-month jump: the season is set in fall 1987, and the show owns that its teenagers have grown.

The older ones, and the adults

Jamie Campbell Bower, revealed in 2022, is this time there from the first episode, in the 1983 prologue. Winona Ryder and David Harbour, the only adults from the original cast, hold the epilogue.

The newcomers

Four faces join the show for its ending. Linda Hamilton, Terminator's Sarah Connor, plays Dr. Kay, the army scientist who locks down the town and hunts Eleven. Nell Fisher takes over Holly Wheeler, played until then by twins Anniston and Tinsley Price, because the character carries whole scenes. Jake Connelly plays Derek Turnbow, Holly's classmate, and Alex Breaux Lieutenant Akers, Dr. Kay's enforcer.

The returns

Linnea Berthelsen returns as Kali, Eight, eight years after her only appearance in 1984, with a real role this time. Amybeth McNulty is back as Vickie, in a relationship with Robin. Randy Havens is back as Mr. Clarke, the science teacher, recruited by Murray. Eduardo Franco makes a brief appearance as Argyle, long enough to drop the group in town before going home, to California.

The absentees

Joseph Quinn is not in the credits: Eddie died in 1986, and the show does not bring him back, except through the jacket Dustin wears and the speech dedicated to him. Matthew Modine is not there either, Brenner having died in Nevada; his notebooks, though, are everywhere. Dacre Montgomery and Sean Astin belong to memory, like Bob and Billy.

How the newcomers were picked

Linda Hamilton was announced in June 2023, at the platform's annual event. She had contacted the Duffers by video call; they described the "shape" of her character, without telling her the story. Dr. Kay, heading the unit nicknamed the "wolf pack" tasked with capturing Eleven, is the first major new face of the season.

Nell Fisher, Jake Connelly and Alex Breaux joined the cast in July 2024, without their roles being revealed. Matt Duffer had spotted Nell Fisher in the trailer for Evil Dead Rise, because she reminded him of Sadie Sink as a child. She ended up getting Holly, a role held until then by twins Anniston and Tinsley Price. Jake Connelly is Derek Turnbow, Alex Breaux Lieutenant Akers.

A touching detail: the role of Mrs. Harris, Holly's teacher, was written for Hope Hynes Love, who was the Duffer brothers' drama teacher in high school.

The returns, and what they bring

Linnea Berthelsen's return as Kali is the most important. The Duffers had considered bringing her back every season since the second, without wanting to “put her in just to put her in.” They found the right moment here: Kali has, according to them, “a big impact on Eleven's path,” who does not have much family or many people able to understand her.

Amybeth McNulty returns as Vickie, which a set photo confirmed as early as January 2024. Randy Havens is back as Mr. Clarke, the science teacher, who has a real role in the final plan. Eduardo Franco, on the other hand, said from the start of filming that Argyle would not be back.

The shoot was organized so that each actor's last day matched their last scene, despite the calendar constraints. The goodbyes therefore happened in the order of the story.

The main cast at a glance

Each one's last day

Filming started on January 8, 2024 and wrapped on December 20, 2024, after 237 days on set. The creators organized the schedule so that each actor's last day coincided with their last scene in the story, which was not a given on a production of that size. Joe Keery spoke of a certain fatigue after a full year of shooting, for material he judges “incredible.”

Some, like Nell Fisher, had already filmed scenes of the finale even before the group table-read of the script on September 8, 2024, the first time the whole cast discovered the ending together. The very last shot filmed, on December 20, showed no actor: a lunch box.

Two actors had scheduling constraints outside the show. David Harbour had to film the movie Thunderbolts in parallel in Atlanta; Winona Ryder had obtained, from her arrival in 2015, the possibility of stepping away for a Beetlejuice sequel. The 2023 strikes shifted both projects, and neither of the two arrangements finally posed a problem.

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