After watching the first episode of the record-breaking fourth season of Stranger Things, I nearly pitched an article to my editor with the headline, “Stranger Things Has A Toy Story Problem.” The gist of the post would have been with every season and movie, Stranger Things and Toy Story, respectively, add new characters, leading to diminished screen time for our old favorites. I enjoyed Ducky and Bunny in Toy Story 4, but not as much as I love Rex, who barely factored into the (still very good) film. The reason I never pitched the piece, however, is because by episode two of the Netflix series, I was obsessed with Eddie, Chrissy (even if she didn’t make it past the premiere), Argyle, Enzo, and most of the new characters. Except Jason. Jason deserved what he got.
It must be tempting for creators Matt and Ross Duffer to try and find another Eddie for the fifth and final season of Stranger Things (Metallica would enjoy that), but in an interview with IndieWire, the brothers vowed to keep the focus on the original cast. “We’re doing our best to resist [adding new characters] for season five. We’re trying not to do that so we can focus on the OG characters, I guess,” Ross said.
Matt also discussed the process behind adding a new character:
“Whenever we introduce a new character, we want to make sure that they’re going to be an integral part of the narrative. So that’s something with Eddie this season, where we go, ‘Well, we need a character here for this storyline to really work, and to give it the engine that is needed.’ But every time we do that, we’re nervous, because you go, ‘We’ve got a great cast of characters here, and actors, and any moment we’re spending with a new character, we’re taking time away from one of the other actors.’ So we’re just very, very careful about who we’re introducing. And then specifically in the casting process, it took a very long time to find Joe Quinn, and you just go through so many edits, because you know that we can’t add someone that’s going to just take away from our characters if they’re not terrific.”
Stranger Things season five is expected to premiere, well, there’s no expected premiere date yet. But hopefully it comes quicker than the three years between seasons three and four.
(Via IndieWire)