Maya Hawke, one of the breakout stars of the Netflix mega-hit Stranger Things, says that the perpetually delayed season 5 of the series is “heartbreaking” and that it is her job to make things easier for the cast members who were there first.
Stranger Things premiered on Netflix in 2016 and almost immediately became an enormous incubator of young Hollywood talent. In addition to the core quartet of stars (Millie Bobby Brown, Finn Wolfhard, Caleb McLaughlin, and Gaten Matarazzo), the first season alone immensely boosted the careers of Natalia Dyer, Charlie Heaton, and Joe Keery.
Along the way, it also managed to revive the careers of veteran actors like Winona Ryder and David Harbour, in addition to Paul Reiser, Sean Astin, and Matthew Modine.
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In the three seasons that followed, the Duffer Brothers show has produced yet more stars, including Sadie Sink, Dacre Montgomery, Joseph Quinn, Jamie Campbell Bower, and Maya Hawke.
Although Hawke has admitted to the advantage she has had in Hollywood as one of her generation’s premiere nepo babies (being the daughter of Ethan Hawke and Uma Thurman), it is undeniable that she was given enormous visibility by her Stranger Things role as Hawkins, Indiana native Robin Buckley.
Maya Hawke was first introduced as Robin Buckley in Stranger Things season 3 as a mall coworker of former high school dreamboat Steve Harrington (Joe Keery). The pairing quickly became a fan favorite because of the chemistry between the two actors, although early suggestions that the two would become a romantic couple proved to be a bait-and-switch.
Since then, Maya Hawke has been established as a core member of Hawkins’ finest (mostly) junior-aged brigade of supernatural defenders. She will reprise her role in Stranger Things season 5, which concludes the incredibly popular streaming show. That is, if it ever hits Netflix, as the season has been in development since 2022 and has no scheduled release date.
Stranger Things season 5 has been delayed numerous times, at least once due to the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes of 2023; but, given that it is unlikely to premiere before 2025 at the earliest and cast members are saying they still don’t have scripts for the episodes, there seems to be more going on.
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However, Maya Hawke told Entertainment Tonight (while at the premiere of Inside Out 2) that even being this close to the end of the series was crushing. She said, “It’s already starting to be heartbreaking. I mean, it’s the end of a really long journey. Longer for some of my castmates, even than me. It’s really sentimental.”
She continued, commenting on her role as a relatively late addition to the cast:
“As a late addition cast member, I feel like it’s my job to facilitate their feelings and just be grateful and excited to have been part of it all. We shoot for a long time, so it’s reinvigorating [to bring] the joy and finding it everyday and making it new. It’s a really fun thing to do. “
We’re all heartbroken about the final season, Maya Hawke, but some of us need to watch it first.
Why do you think Stranger Things season 5 has been delayed so often? Tell us in the comments below!
