Netflix has announced that the fifth and final season of Stranger Things will feature a fitting addition to the cast: ‘80s sci-fi icon Linda Hamilton.
The announcement came on Saturday evening during the 2023 installment of Netflix’s Tudum event, hosted in Brazil.
Hamilton, who is perhaps best-known for her role as Sarah Connor in the Terminator franchise, had kept a relatively low profile for a few years, until she reprised the role of Connor in 2019’s Terminator: Dark Fate. Since then, she’s begun embracing her status as a legendary sci-fi protagonist.
Stranger Things has even paid homage to Hamilton and the Terminator franchise in the past. A depiction of a Terminator robot was shown in a trailer for the show’s second season, and a character from the third season was inspired by the second Terminator film. There was even a moment from the show’s fourth season that recreated the famous scene where Hamilton shoots the T-1000 robot repeatedly with a shotgun, pushing him back toward a vat of molten steel.
The final season of Stranger Things has been hotly anticipated since the previous season premiered last July. Set to wrap up the show’s beloved run (which kicked off back in 2016), creators the Duffer brothers have said it will primarily focus on established character’s storylines. In January, the show’s large cast — with 20 series regulars — all got pay raises, but production has since been delayed due to the ongoing writers strike. The Duffer brothers have tweeted support for the strike and the WGA. In 2022, Stranger Things was the most-streamed television series of the year.
🚨Breaking News From #TUDUM🚨
Linda Hamilton is joining the cast of Stranger Things 5! pic.twitter.com/qYJMeGS700
— Netflix (@netflix) June 17, 2023