Stranger Things returned to Netflix with season 4 in record fashion, overtaking Obi-Wan Kenobi as the most-watched show during their opening weekend. The science-fiction horror series finds the Hawkins teenagers facing down another threat from the dark parallel world, the Upside-Down. Set six months after the Battle of Starcourt in season 3, the group must take on Vecna, an evil telepathic being who torments his victims with nightmares and seemingly feeds on the guilt stemming from past trauma.
Only months have past between season 3 and 4, yet the characters have seemingly gone through significant growth spurts. Most notably has been Will Byers (Noah Schapp) whose height difference has changed drastically as he now towers over his mother Joyce (Winona Ryder). This is obviously due to the fact that production of Stranger Things season 4 was delayed multiple times partially due to COVID-19 related concerns.
TVLine recently caught up with Ross who shared details on the fifth and final season of Stranger Things. The writer-director explained that there will most likely be a jump in time between in the end of season 4 and the beginning of season 5. According to Ross, this is mostly dictated by how fast the young cast are growing. Read what the series' creator said below.
"I’m sure we will do a time jump. Ideally, we’d have shot [Seasons 4 and 5] back to back, but there was just no feasible way to do that."
Given the Duffer brothers' previous comments about season 4's ending leading directly into Stranger Things season 5, filming the two back-to-back would be logical. However, due to the unforeseen circumstances of shooting around a pandemic, the cast's age and body changes are impossible to explain within the story without a significant jump forward in the narrative's timeline. This would get the character's ages in line with their actor's ages.
One of the few criticisms of Stranger Things season 4 has been the stark visual difference between the characters' ages and their actors'. The contrast can be considered immersion-breaking due to the obvious age disparity. The Walking Dead had this issue as well as the early seasons of the series progressed at a slow pace, but the young Carl Grimes (Chandler Riggs) seemingly grew feet in a very short time in the show. The series later had a significant time jump which placed the actor's age back in line with that of his character. The Duffer brothers' decision to put space between Stranger Things season 4 and season 5 is an apt one as it allows the story to catch up to the actors' ages.
Stranger Things season 4, volume 1 is now streaming on Netflix. Volume 2 premieres on July 1, 2022.
Source: TVLine