‘Stranger Things’ Season 5 is ‘basically 8 movies,’ star Maya Hawke says

nypost.com:

“Stranger Things” Season 5 is set to deliver an ambitious experience, spanning eight “very long” episodes, according to Maya Hawke, who plays Robin on the Netflix show.Hawke gave insight into the show’s production for the final season on the June 27 episode of the “Podcrushed” podcast.“We’re making basically eight movies,” Hawke, 25, explained. “The episodes are very long.”The “Inside Out 2” actress said the episodes will take a full year to shoot.

When “Podcrushed” co-host Penn Badgely remarked that a year is a long time to film a TV show, Hawke flatly affirmed, “Yes it is — that’s true.”Hawke’s confirmation of “movie”-like episodes counters what showrunners Matt and Ross Duffer said on the “Happy Sad Confused” podcast two years ago.

At the time, the brothers said they “don’t expect” Season 5’s episodes to be as long, except for the last episode.“It’s going to be moving fast,” Matt said on the July 2022 episode. “Characters are already going to be in action, they’re already going to have a goal and a drive, and I think that’s going to carve out at least a couple hours and make this season feel really different.”Clearly, things have changed.“Stranger Things” producer Shawn Levy, who directed one of the episodes in the fifth season, told Total Film magazine: “There’s no way to be contiguous with Season 4, and not, frankly, expand scale and depth.”Originally slated to begin production in May 2023, Season 5 faced many delays due to unforeseen circumstances and finally started production in January.“The show is cursed,” said Hawke. “The pandemic happened right as we were starting the Season 4, the strike happened right as we were starting this season.”There will be a three-year gap between Seasons 4 and 5, which is the same.