Stranger Things casts Terminator’s Linda Hamilton for final season
Netflix announced at Tudum, its global fan event, that Linda Hamilton will join the cast of Stranger Things
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With Hawkins, Indiana descending into a dystopian, Upside Down hellscape, which ’80s movie icon would you most want on your side? Sarah freakin’ Connor, of course. Terminator star Linda Hamilton has officially been cast in the final season of Stranger Things, Netflix announced on Thursday during its Tudum global fan event.
Five seasons in, Stranger Things’ ’80s nostalgia schtick is no secret to anyone. The show is set in, inspired by, and drawing heavily from 1980s pop culture celebrates the decade in just about every facet of the production, from the costuming to the music choices to the casting. Hamilton joins a long list of ’80s icons to appear on the juggernaut series, including star Winona Ryder (Heathers), Sean Astin (The Goonies), Cary Elwes (The Princess Bride), Paul Reiser (Aliens), Matthew Modine (Full Metal Jacket), and Robert Englund (Nightmare On Elm Street).
Netflix had to tease something to keep people excited about Stranger Things, because the finale isn’t coming any time soon. Already notorious for long gaps of time between seasons (for which the global pandemic is only partially to blame), the fan-favorite series faces another major delay due to the ongoing writers strike. The fifth season scripts are reportedly finished, but series co-creators and co-showrunners Matt Duffer and Ross Duffer released a statement saying they wouldn’t be moving forward until a deal is reached.
“Writing does not stop when filming begins,” they wrote on Twitter in May. “While we’re excited to start production with our amazing cast and crew, it is not possible during this strike. We hope a fair deal is reached soon so we can all get back to work. Until then—over and out. #wgastrong.”
Stranger Things is one of many shows put on indefinite pause until the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers comes back to the table to negotiate. Netflix is a key part of that coalition, particularly because the streaming business model that has completely reshaped writers’ jobs was pioneered by that company. And if the Screen Actors Guild also ends up on strike, well, that’ll throw another wrench into the proceedings.
So until the issues are resolved, there’ll be no Stranger Things spin-offs and no Linda Hamilton, so fans will just have to content themselves to imagine what her involvement will be like. Of course, Sarah Connor didn’t level up until the ’90s, but wouldn’t it be great to see Hamilton in badass mode fighting demogorgons? Let’s get the writers their fair deal ASAP!
19 Comments
Based on the way they subverted expectations with Burke, Carter J, I’m intrigued.
Having not seen the show, I’m going to assume he played his Mad About You character.
Actually it was his character from My Two Dads for the 80’s theme of Stranger Things.
Why has that show basically been forgotten while things like Friends (which I enjoyed less) seems still popular?
You say that like Friends wasn’t more popular than Mad About You back then too.
Because Paul Reiser was gross. I thought I had more but that’s it. That’s why.
I guess that’s just your personal opinion of him? I thought maybe there were some scandals that would make him “gross” on a more objective level, but I’m not finding any.
They dud a revival series a few years ago and no one cared. Like many other must see TV sitcoms of the 90s.
Yes it is my entirely subjective opinion of Reiser. I guess if the only criteria you can level against someone is that they haven’t been accused of sexual impropriety or whatever, then appreciate away.
Terminator 1, 2, 4 (voice only) and 6 (unfortunately) actor.
Nah, Linda Hamilton’s the best thing about 6.
The whole of 6 was unfortunate.
Unfortunate that it was the 6th movie and that we had to suffer through the three before it.
I genuinely thought this show had ended.
That’s fine, I genuinely thought they had already done this before. Then I realized she was in Resident Alien and I thought about how much more I enjoyed that show’s last season compared to Stranger Things’s.
I thought the same thing! And Resident Alien is delightful.
“…which ’80s movie icon would you most want on your side?”
As noted, the kick-ass (i.e., “iconic”) Sarah Connor didn’t really emerge until T2 which came out in the 90’s. The 80’s Sarah Connor wasn’t yet what she would become — so, you wanna talk female 80’s icon, you go with Ellen Ripley.
Sarah Connor literally terminates the Terminator in the first movie, and gives it a kiss off line. That’s plenty kick-ass for me.
Yes, Matthew Modine known as a pop icon for his performance in the notably John Hughes-esque film Full Metal Jacket.