As filming continues on the fifth a final season of Stranger Things, Netflix has shared a new behind-the-scenes photo featuring two of the show's returning characters, Max (Sadie Sink) and Lucas (Caleb McLaughlin).
Max ended up leaving her first encounter with Vecna unscathed thanks to her friends and a bit of Kate Bush, but she wasn't quite so lucky the second time. Though she did survive, she was left blind, broken, and in a coma.
This image indicates that Lucas has been waiting by her bedside, and if you look closely, he's brought the Bush with him.
While appearing at a panel at Mega Con Orlando, Gaten Matarazzo (Dustin Henderson) was asked what changes, if any, he would make to the show.
“It might sound messed up, but we should kill more people,” Matarazzo responded. “This show would be so much better if the stakes were much higher, like at any moment, any of these kids can kick it. I feel like we’re all too safe.”
Back in 2022, Maya Hawke (Robin Buckley) said something similar in relation to her own character potentially getting a noble send-off in the upcoming fifth and final season.
“I would love to die and get my hero’s moment,” she told Rolling Stone. “I’d love to die with honor, as any actor would. But I love the way that the Duffer Brothers love their actors. The reason that they write so beautifully for me and for everyone else is because they fall in love with their actors and their characters, and they don’t want to kill them. I think that’s a beautiful quality that they have, and I wouldn’t wish it away.”
We don't necessarily want to see any of these guys meet their maker, but nor do we see everyone making it to the end of the final season, so Hawke might just get her wish!
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.
Filming recently resumed after the strikes were resolved, and you can check out a behind-the-scenes photo of the cast below.
In the season 4 finale, Eleven and her friends managed to defeat the evil entity known as Vecna, but at great cost.
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?