According to Deadline, Stranger Things executive producer Shawn Levy (Free Guy, All the Light We Cannot See) said the fifth and final season of the Netflix series would not be taking any extreme measures to de-age the cast. Deadline reports that Levy recently stated that the producers would do what they can to make the aging of the cast less noticeable.
This was clarified in an interview with Deadline; Levy explains he was not referring to digitally de-aging with artificial intelligence.
“No,” Levy said when asked about the use of AI to make de-age the actors, Deadline reports. “I kind of was surprised that one sentence I said around this topic traveled so widely. The bottom line is, we know what we’re doing on this show. Our cast is brilliant. And these characters that the Duffers have created are so vivid. I’m not worried about everyone suiting back up and bringing them to life.”
“The thing that people just need to remember is, we who make the show are fans of the show, too,” he continued, according to Deadline. “And you better believe we want to stick the landing.”
Production on season five of Stranger Things has been paused since May due to the SAG-AFTRA strike. According to Deadline, Levy says the team is very excited to get the series running again.
“I have seen so many calendars on every production, and each one of them gets ripped up, because we’re all guessing at when our industry will resume production. So, I just am going to find a way to give all of these projects that means so much to me, all of myself. I’m not going to half ass any of it,” said Levy, Deadline reports.
Stranger Things debuted on Netflix on July 15, 2016. The series stars Millie Bobby Brown (Enola Holmes, Godzilla vs. Kong), Finn Wolfhard (It, Ghostbusters: Afterlife),Caleb McLaughlin (Shooting Stars, Concrete Cowboy), Noah Schnapp (Hubie Halloween, The Tutor), Gaten Matarazzo (Honor Society, Prank Encounters), and Sadie Sink (The Whale, Fear Street Part One: 1994).