Posted in: Netflix, Preview, Stranger Things, TV | Tagged: netflix, preview, stranger things, stranger things 5

Stranger Things 5: Shawn Levy on Concerns About Cast Getting Older

Stranger Things 5 Director & EP Shawn Levy on if he has any concerns about the cast getting older heading into filming the final season.

Between his Netflix limited series All The Light We Cannot See and his upcoming work on these two little "indie franchises" that you may have heard of called "Deadpool" and "Star Wars," Shawn Levy's filmmaking "dance card" is pretty full right now. But all of that pales in comparison to the upcoming fifth & final season of Matt Duffer & Ross Duffer's Stranger Things. Before the WGA strike and still-ongoing SAG-AFTRA strike, filming of the global phenomenon's final run was already expected to have gotten underway. Now, the timetable is beginning to look more like a 2024 start – which raises the question about the cast and if they might end up looking too old to play their respective characters. And it's a question that Levy addressed during an interview with Variety while promoting his limited series. "We've already watched the cast of our show grow up in the public eye, and between 12 and 22, every human being changes profoundly. This passage of time is definitely not helping," Levy revealed. But that doesn't mean that the team doesn't have some production tricks up its sleeves. Levy added, "That being said, our hair and makeup and wardrobe department are pretty exceptional, using costumes and wigs and makeup. The '80s are also our friends in returning these young adult actors to their iconic Hawkins characters. So we're going to use all the tools available to us. And I know our cast is as eager to get back to work as the rest of us."

Matt & Ross Duffer, Shawn Levy Discuss Stranger Things 5

Ross on Having "Quite a Bit More" of the "Overall Plan" & "Backstory" to Reveal: "I remember season one, we were just amazed that Netflix was letting us do this at all, but season two was when we really, with the writers, we developed an overall plan and a backstory for all of this and make sure that, with the Upside Down, everything about what it was." Though the fourth season offered quite a few answers, Ross says "we do have quite a bit more to get in. But just as important as the supernatural, we have so many characters now – most who are still living – and it's important to wrap up those arcs. A lot of these characters have been growing since season one, so it's a balancing act between giving them time to complete their character arcs and also tying up loose ends and doing our final reveals."

Matt on Making Netflix Execs Cry During 2-Hour Final Season Pitch Meeting: "We did get our executives to cry, which I felt was a good sign that these executives were crying. The only other times I've seen them cry were like budget meetings [crowd laughs]."

Season 5 Does Right by "The Lifeblood of 'Stranger Things'" – Levy: "As a witness and having been in that two-hour pitch room and having read this first script – I'm paralyzed with fear that I'll spoil anything, but I will say the thing about these Duffer Brothers is that even though the show has gotten so famous and the characters have gotten so iconic, and there's so much about the '80s and the supernatural and the genre, it's about these people, it's about these characters. Season five is already so clearly taking care of these stories of the characters because that's always been the lifeblood of 'Stranger Things.'"

Season 5 Will Be "A Culmination" of Previous Seasons' Pop Culture Themes/References – Ross: The final season will be "a culmination of all of the seasons, so it's sort of got a little bit from each, whereas before each season was so distinctly – three, this is our big summer blockbuster season with our big monster; four was the psychological horror. I think that what we're trying to do is go back to the beginning a little bit in the tone of [season] one, but scale-wise, it's more in line with what [season] four is. Hopefully, it's got a little bit of everything."

Enjoyed this? Please share on social media!

Stay up-to-date and support the site by following Bleeding Cool on Google News today!