Stranger Things introduces new cast members, highlights old favorites in season 5 video

It's already been over two years since the fourth season of Stranger Things wrapped up on Netflix. Production on the fifth and final season got off to a late start last year thanks to the actors and writers strikes that rocked Hollywood, but it's well underway. Earlier this month, co-showrunner Matt Duffer marked the halfway point of filming with a behind-the-scenes Instagram post:

And now, Netflix has done him one better and dropped a whole behind-the-scenes video showing what our favorite crew of ghostbusters are up to on set. You can watch that at the top of this post.

The fourth season of Stranger Things left off with our crew of 1980s heroes shell-shocked as the inter-dimensional being Vecna punched a hole through this reality and the next, resulting in the spooky Upside Down dimension leaking into the quiet town of Hawkins, Indiana. We do indeed see lots of grim sets and special effects in the video, although we also see characters like Dustin (Gaten Matarazzo), Will (Noah Schnapp), Mike (Finn Wolfhard) and Lucas (Caleb McLaughlin) walking through the halls of their high school, so it doesn't look like normal life will stop completely just because Vecna is trying to drag us all into a hell dimension. One thing at a time.

Millie Bobby Brown (Eleven) says that she was 10 years old when she started work on Stranger Things and is now turning 20, which gives us an idea of how long the cast and crew has been at it, and how we've watched several of the stars grow up onscreen. We also get a glimpse of new cast members like '80s icon Linda Hamilton, best known for the Terminator movies, as well as actors like Nell Fisher, Jake Connelley and Alex Breaux. Their roles remain unknown.

The video doesn't come with a release date, nor did we really expect it to. If this marks the halfway point of filming on season 5, they have several months to go, and will probably still be shooting through early 2025. That means that we can hope to see the final episodes in late 2025 at the very earliest. Hopefully the weight will be worth it.

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h/t Deadline