According to ComicBook, Eduardo Franco (Booksmart, American Vandal) will not be returning for season five of Stranger Things. Argyle (Franco) was a fan-favorite character in season four after being close friends with Jonathan Byers portrayed by Charlie Heaton (The New Mutants, Marrowbone).
According to ComicBook, the news comes from an interview with the Steve Varley Show when questioned about not appearing in a cast photo of a table read shared earlier this month.
“I appreciate that. It’s nice to hear that there’s some sort of concern, you know what I mean? But yeah, I never got a phone call, so yeah, I think that’s it,” Franco said.
According to ComicBook, the simple answer for Franco’s character no longer being apart of the series is due to the character being from California and having no other connection to Hawkins, Indiana besides the Byers. With his character arc being around the transportation of the crew back to Indiana, it is suspected that his character’s journey within the main Stranger Things series has been completed at the conclusion of the fourth season. With a time jump from season four to season five, it wouldn’t be too unrealistic to think Argyle would leave after seeing the situation of Hawkins.
“This season – it’s like Season 1 on steroids,” Matt Duffer told The Guardian. “It’s the biggest it’s ever been in terms of scale, but it has been really fun, because everyone’s back together in Hawkins: the boys and Eleven interacting more in line with how it was in season one. And, yes, there may be spinoffs, but the story of Eleven and Dustin and Lucas and Hopper, their stories are done here.”
According to ComicBook, there are no further updates on the final season of Stranger Things at this time.