Despite being added to the cast in a key role, Linda Hamilton won't be tuning in for the fifth and final season of Stranger Things - but not because she had a bad experience working on the show.
While speaking to USA Today about joining the final season of the mega-popular Netflix series (her character has yet to be disclosed), the Terminator icon revealed that she was always a big fan, but "ruined" the show for herself by appearing in it.
“I’ve watched every season with relish. I just love it,” she tells the site. “So it’s kind of, like, imposter syndrome where I don’t [feel that I] fit in there. That’s a whole world set in the ’80s.”
“When you really buy into something, you don’t see yourself in it," she added. "So I think in a way, it kind of ruined the show for me. I never watch [a project], once I’m in something. It would just completely take me out of the reality of it to see myself in there. So I won’t be watching [Season 5].”
Season 5 is still shrouded in secrecy, and we probably won't get an idea of what to expect until the first trailer lands. Hamilton was asked about her character and if she could share any details about the plot, but remained tight-lipped.
“I Zoomed [creators] Ross and Matt Duffer, and they gave me the shape of the character, but not of the story. Because they have to be very careful with their story. So I still don’t know how it ends,” she said. “And it takes a lot of discipline to not know where it’s going to go. But that’s to protect it from all of the people that want to know.”
Season 5 of Stranger Things is expected to consist of eight episodes, with the first confirmed to be titled "The Crawl". No premiere date has been announced, but the show was set to return to our screens early next year prior to the delay. It may still arrive before the end of next year, but there's a slim chance it won't be ready until 2026.
In the season 4 finale, Eleven and her friends managed to defeat the evil entity known as Vecna, but at great cost. Eddie was killed (there's been some speculation that he might return, but we're not buying it), and Max was left blind, broken and in a coma.
Vecna - who was ultimately revealed to be the deranged Henry Creel - was vanquished, but It was only a temporary victory, as the concluding moments of the episode confirmed that dark forces in the Upside-down are amassing for what will almost certainly be a massive final battle.
Are you up to date with Stranger Things? If so, what do you hope to see from this final season?