Basking in the success of Stranger Things’ fourth season, creators Matt and Ross Duffer made a vow while writing the script for the series’ final entry. According to Deadline, the Duffer brothers have decided to center the fifth season’s narrative around their existing characters and not add any new friends to the Hawkins mix. The decision was detailed in an interview with IndieWire.

“Whenever we introduce a new character, we want to make sure that they’re going to be an integral part of the narrative,” Ross Duffer said via Deadline. “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.”

The fourth season of Stranger Things, which two parts premiered this past May and July, introduced several new characters within its four intertwining narratives. Jamie Campbell Bower (Sweeny Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street) portrayed the Upside Down nemesis, Vecna; Eduardo Franco (The Package) played pothead Argyle; and, Joseph Quinn (Game of Thrones) played fan-favorite Eddie Munson. Along with these major additions, the season also saw new minor characters in the Russia storyline, in Hawkins itself, and in the military’s chase for Millie Bobbie Brown’s (Enola Holmes) Eleven. While the super-sized season broke streaming records with fans, a common critique was how the number of characters across multiple plot lines seemed to slow story progression and dampen suspense in certain moments.

A criticism of the series as a whole had always been the introduction of a new character, only for them to be killed off by the season’s end. Season four saw the unfortunate fate of Quinn’s Munson as he faced his fears in the final battle. The same narrative trope occurred in seasons two and three. Sean Astin’s (Rudy) Bob was killed off rescuing Will in the second season. And the third season saw Billy, played by Dacre Montgomery (Power Rangers), sacrificed to save Hawkins from the Mind Flayer.

“I just like shaking it up, so we shake it up by changing the plot or adding in a new monster,” Matt Duffer stated according to Deadline. “We’re doing our best to resist [adding new characters] for Season 5. We’re trying not to do that so we can focus on the OG characters, I guess.”

With season five set for a 2024 premiere date, the next chapter in the Stranger Things saga will be at the 2022 Emmy Awards where the show received a nomination for Outstanding Drama Series.

All four seasons of Stranger Things can be streamed exclusively on Netflix.

Photo credit: Ray Flotat