With the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes resolved, all eyes are on when one of TV’s biggest hits will resume production.
Stranger Things was renewed for Season 5 in February 2022, so it faced a long pre-production process before the strikes.
David Harbour previously teased that the fifth and final season would be “terrific.”
Now, the actor is opening up about getting the show back into production soon so that episodes are ready for fans soon.
Harbour spoke with People and revealed that he’s “thrilled” to return and finish up the series as Jim Hopper.
“I mean, I don’t know if we’ll be shooting next week, but yeah, as soon as possible,” he affirmed before teasing that he heard about returning to work soon after the strike was revealed to be ending.
“They literally called me, I think it was 10 minutes after the SAG thing on Twitter,” he explained.
“The first AD [assistant director] is like, ‘So, get the flight for you on Monday, right? We’ll be acting in Atlanta.'”
Bringing such a big series to a close comes with its fair share of hurdles, but Harbour is ready to get going.
“I’m thrilled with that. I’m ready to work,” he said.
“I mean, there are other people that maybe aren’t, but I am thrilled.”
Related: Stranger Things Season 5: Everything We Know
The actor also spoke about what he did during the strike while he wasn’t working.
“I mean, you have to ask my wife [Lily Allen], because I’ve been sitting on the couch depressed as hell. It’s been bad,” he dished.
“I mean, it’s like what happened to me in the same way in COVID where you think to yourself like, ‘Oh, now I kind of have all this time,’ and then you just check your Google alerts every five minutes and are just neurotically insecure.
“So, I did nothing. I mean, I maybe read half a book, watched a bunch of TV, and then now, I’m super excited to be back,” he added.
Stranger Things was renewed for Season 5 almost two years ago, with fans being left in the lurch about when new episodes would hit the air.
Knowing this story is ending is bittersweet because it’s one of those shows that came out of nowhere and provided lightning in a bottle.
Harbour opened up in August about the initial scripts for the final season.
“They’re terrific, as per usual,” the actor said on the Happy Sad Confused podcast.
“They continue to outdo themselves, these currently-on-strike writers called the Duffer Brothers.”
The actor went on to say that everything the series has set up will be bigger as it plays out on-screen.
“The set pieces and the things in the scripts that we saw are bigger than anything we’ve done in the past.”
“After where season 4 ended — when you watch us on that hill looking at the ash and the smoke and fires — we’re going to start somewhere after that,” the Gran Turismo star shared.
“So you’ve got to imagine the world is a different place.”
Despite production finally getting underway, there’s still no telling when the show could return.
Stranger Things Season 5 will probably be filming for at least a year, which would take us to the end of 2024.
The series also has extensive VFX, so it’s hard to believe the hit drama will be back before mid-2025.
We may be surprised, and Netflix might air a split season with a more extended hiatus in the middle, but we’ll have to wait and see what happens.
What are your thoughts on the show getting into production?
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Paul Dailly is the Associate Editor for TV Fanatic. Follow him on X.