Linnea Berthelsen in Stranger Things: the actress behind Kali, number 008
Actress · Linnea Berthelsen · Seasons 2 and 5
An audition two days after she discovered the show, a role first conceived for a man in his thirties, and two trips under the clippers. In this article: her origins and training, the casting of Kali, the Chicago episode and how it was received, the 2025 return kept secret, then her other roles.
Linnea Berthelsen plays Kali, known as Eight, Eleven's lab sister. A Danish actress born in India, she joined the show in 2017 with Season 2, then came back eight years later for the final season.
The essentials
- Role: Kali Prasad, Eight, subject 008
- Born: July 13, 1993, in India
- Childhood: adopted, raised in Kalundborg, Denmark
- Training: East 15 Acting School, in England, from 2014
- Casting announced: November 7, 2016, for a role still called Roman
- Episodes: Season 2: 1, 7 and 9; Season 5: 4 through 8
- French voice: Céline Legendre-Herda, in Season 2
- Other series: Devs, in 2020, as Jen
Contents
Who is Linnea Berthelsen
Linnea Berthelsen was born on July 13, 1993, in India. Adopted, she grew up in Denmark, in Kalundborg. As a child and then as a teenager, she did a lot of gymnastics and dance there. The urge to act came later: according to the Danish regional channel TV2 Øst, it took hold in 2013, during a workshop she took in New York.
She then went through an acting academy in Copenhagen. In 2014, she left for England to study at East 15 Acting School, in Essex. That same year, she shot her first short film. In 2017, she was living in London.
She shares an origin with her character. The show gives Kali Indian roots: in the Chicago episode, a newspaper clipping tells of a young Indian girl who went missing in London, Kali Prasad. Her gift for illusion is listed among the powers of the lab children.
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1993 Birth
Born on July 13, in India. She grows up in Kalundborg, Denmark.
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2013 New York
A workshop gives her the urge to act.
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2014 East 15
She leaves to study in England and shoots Mirrors, her first short film.
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November 2016 The announcement
On November 7, her arrival in Season 2 is announced, for a role still called Roman.
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October 2017 The Lost Sister
On October 27, Season 2 comes out. Kali carries episode 7 alongside Eleven.
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March 2020 Devs
She plays Jen in Alex Garland's miniseries.
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November 2025 The vault
On November 26, “Sorcerer” reveals her return, which had been kept secret.
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December 2025 The end
On December 31, the final episode kills Kali, shot by Akers, who is holding her hostage.
The 44 mm pin with the number 011, three places after 008.
In the shop44 mm 011 pin12,90 €See the product
The casting: from Roman to Kali
The role was not written for her. At first, the episode was called “The Lost Brother,” and the character was conceived as a man in his thirties who had grown up on the streets. On September 1, 2016, a casting call described the part under the name Roman: a man or a woman, between 30 and 38. Unable to find the right person, the Duffers then opened the role to younger actors.
Linnea Berthelsen auditioned in October 2016. Two days earlier, she had discovered the show with her partner. To prepare, she looked up which films had inspired the first season, and built much of her performance on Star Wars. The character itself was not settled yet: it would be once casting was wrapped up.
On November 7, 2016, her casting was announced at the same time as those of Paul Reiser and Sean Astin, who plays Bob. On November 11, TV2 Øst published the interview she gave the channel by phone from Los Angeles. She was 23. Her role was still called Roman, a young woman scarred by a great loss in childhood. At first, the production had allowed her to talk about it only to her partner and her parents.
In it, she talks about a dream project. At the time of the call, other actors had already started shooting; she had not. Filming ran from November 2016 to June 2017. The Season 2 cast counts her among the seven newcomers of 1984.
Kali in 1984: an opening scene, then “The Lost Sister”
Kali enters the show through a back door. Season 2 opens on her gang on the run, in Pittsburgh, on October 28, 1984: it is the first scene of “MADMAX,” the first episode. You have to wait until the seventh to find out who she is.
In “The Lost Sister,” Eleven goes to Chicago and finds Kali leading four outcasts who hunt down former lab staff. Kali creates illusions; she teaches Eleven to feed her power with her anger. The episode is covered in our recap of “The Lost Sister”: we won't go over it again here.
Kali's face is, first of all, a haircut. In the chair, the actress gave the team free rein: shave it, dye it, give her a mohawk. The reference images showed Cyndi Lauper in her punk years. Her hair, very thick and very black, then fell below her chest; one side was shaved off. Millie Bobby Brown, who had shaved her head for the first season, was sitting next to her and teased her: she would survive it, too.
The purple was harder: bleach, dye it green, bleach again, then dye it purple. The day after her last day of filming, back in Copenhagen, she dyed her hair black again and flipped it over the shaved side, to give nothing away.
The reception: an unloved episode, a divisive character
The season came out on October 27, 2017. The same day, the Season 2 aftershow released its sixth episode, “The New Class,” with Linnea Berthelsen as a guest. Most critics at the time rated episode 7 the weakest of the series: it breaks the season's momentum and introduces unfamiliar characters.
Kali divides opinion too. At Vulture, Hillary Kelly gave it three stars out of five and found the scenes where Kali looks back on her childhood overdone. Price Peterson, at Yahoo, on the other hand, liked the scenes between Eleven and Kali, and called the punk gang his favorite thing in the series so far. Caroline Framke, at Vox, praised the idea of giving Eleven someone who understands her trauma.
The episode is also one of the sources of the rumor about a secret episode of the show. The Duffers spoke of a storyline left hanging, which they would like to pick back up, without knowing whether they could. It would take them eight years.
The poster of Hopper vs the Demogorgon, before he finds Kali with Eleven.
In the shopPoster Hopper vs the Demogorgon in Kamchatka24,90 €See the product
The 2025 return, in the final season
According to our Season 5 cast article, the Duffers had considered bringing her back every season, but did not want to add her just for the sake of it. They found the right moment in the final season: Kali was to weigh heavily on Eleven's journey. Millie Bobby Brown points out that Eleven has little family, and few people who understand her the way Kali does. Ross Duffer adds two reasons. Viewers were not supposed to think the storyline had been dropped. And the actress, in his view, had not been well served by Season 2.
This return had to stay secret for the whole shoot, from January 8 to December 20, 2024. For Season 4, a photo of Matthew Modine in a convertible had given away Brenner's return on the very first day of filming. So the Duffers asked her never to arrive in a convertible. She spent months on set; nothing leaked.
On November 26, 2025, “Sorcerer,” the fourth episode, let the secret out. In the military lab in the Upside Down, Eleven and Hopper open Dr. Kay's vault. They thought they would find Henry inside. They find Kali, held by the army, her head shaved. The recap of “Sorcerer” covers the scene. This time, it was the actress who asked the Duffers to have her head shaved on camera.
For the actress, the Kali of 1984 wanted to control everything; the Kali of 1987 has lost everything. Kali appears in the last five episodes. In “Shock Jock,” Kali tells how Dr. Kay used her blood. In “The Bridge,” she tells Eleven that they will have to stay in the Upside Down. On December 31, 2025, in “The Rightside Up,” Akers, who is holding her hostage during the assault on the lab, shoots her: she dies shortly afterward. The recap of the final episode covers what comes next, and Mike's theory about one last illusion.
Her other roles, from short films to Devs
Before Kali, there were mostly short films. In 2014: Mirrors, in which she is Signe; Teenland, in which she plays a patient; and Alma, in the title role. In 2015: Natskygge, in which she has the lead, Aisha, Dyspno and Cape Fear. That same year, she acted in Hybrid, a Danish film.
In 2016, she shot Exitium, a series pilot, as Ezra. After Season 2 came The Desert, in 2019, for one episode, then Devs, in 2020. This eight-episode miniseries, written and directed by Alex Garland, premiered on March 5, 2020. Linnea Berthelsen plays Jen, the colleague and friend of Lily Chan, the heroine played by Sonoya Mizuno, across four episodes.
Jen has no powers, but one of her scenes has a family resemblance to Kali: Lily fakes a breakdown and climbs onto the ledge of a high window; while Kenton, the head of security, talks her down, Jen copies the data from his computer onto a flash drive. Making people look the other way so you can act: in 1984, Kali distracted a convenience store clerk the same way.
Kali dies in 1987, in a lab in the Upside Down. For the actress, the role lasted more than nine years, from the November 2016 announcement to the final episode.
Eleven's hospital gown, to dress up as Kali's sister.
In the shopEleven hospital gown69,90 €See the product
Frequently asked questions
Who plays Kali, known as Eight?
Linnea Berthelsen, a Danish actress born in India on July 13, 1993. She played the role in Season 2, in 2017, then in Season 5, in 2025.
How old was Linnea Berthelsen in Season 2?
23 when her role was announced, in November 2016, and 24 when the season came out, on October 27, 2017.
Where is Linnea Berthelsen from?
She was born in India, was adopted and grew up in Kalundborg, Denmark. She trained in England, at East 15 Acting School, from 2014.
In which episodes does Linnea Berthelsen play Kali?
In Season 2, in the opening of the first episode, “MADMAX,” in the seventh, “The Lost Sister,” then in a memory in the ninth, “The Gate.” In Season 5, from “Sorcerer,” the fourth, to the last.
Was Kali supposed to be a man?
At first, yes: a character named Roman, conceived as a man in his thirties. As early as the September 1, 2016 casting call, the role was open to women, between 30 and 38; unable to find the right person, the Duffers then opened it to younger actors.
Did she really shave her head?
Yes, twice. For Season 2, on one side only, with purple streaks. For Season 5, the whole head, on camera, at her own request.
How does Kali die?
From a bullet fired by Akers, who was holding her hostage during the assault on the lab, in the final episode, “The Rightside Up.”
