The filming for Stranger Things’ fifth and final season would have already begun a long time ago if not for the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes. Although the WGA strike has ended, the SAG-AFTRA members are still awaiting similar news as officials with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers have moved away from negotiations for some time.
Despite that, the producer of Stranger Things, Shawn Levy, states that while directors wait for the actors’ strike to end, the Duffer Brothers are considering restarting work on the final season. During an interview with The Wrap, Levy said, “I can say that we are hoping to start filming as soon as possible. We really need the actor's strike resolved first. The Duffers have been hard at work since the writer strike ended."
He also talked about the upcoming Stranger Things: The First Shadow live stage show, saying, "We're busy on a bunch of fronts because we also have our Stranger Things play opening in London imminently. It's fabulous. It's f–king awesome." The First Shadow is set to dive deeper into the younger days of the Wheelers, Hopper, Joyce, and other fan-favorite characters when they used to be the same age as Lucas, Mike, Dustin, and Will. While discussing the show, the Deadpool 3 director said:
"It has exceeded all our expectations. We're very excited to share that with the world. We are raring to go - our cast, our crew. Everyone not only needs to get back to work because we have many hundreds of crew members who have not been able to make a living since the strikes began, but we will be shooting very shortly after the actor's strike ends."
Millie Bobby Brown Says Goodbye To Eleven In Stranger Things Season 5
The Stranger Things writing team started scripting back last year in August, with the Episode 1 title revealed to be The Crawl just two months later. The principal photography was to kick off in May 2023, but the project was delayed because of the Writers Guild of America strike. The WGA and AMPTP finally ended the strike by reaching a deal on September 25.
In a statement, the WGA negotiating team said, "We have reached a tentative agreement on a new 2023 MBA (Minimum Basic Agreement), which is to say an agreement in principle on all deal points, subject to drafting the final contract language." Unfortunately, Stranger Things Season 5 is going to be the last time we see Millie Bobby Brown play the role of Eleven, but the actress claims that it couldn’t have ended at a better time since she has a huge list of other personal and professional priorities she wants to take on.
She said, "Stranger Things takes up a lot of time to film, and it's preventing me from creating stories that I'm passionate about. So I'm ready to say, 'Thank you, and goodbye.'" Brown has been playing the role of Eleven in Stranger Things since 2016 and has experienced a huge rise to fame after she was cast. She was also part of the Emmy nominations in 2017 and 2018 for her amazing performances in the science fiction show.
