Stranger Things season 5 is being filmed on the UofC campus

By Francesca Schoettler, July 16 2023—

Riley Blake, a second-year political science major, was on campus last week and ran into not one but two of the cast members from the hit Netflix science-fiction horror drama, Stranger Things. 

Blake told the Gauntlet that they spotted Caleb McLaughlin and Gaten Matarazzo downstairs in MacEwan Hall grabbing a drink from Jugo Juice. After stopping to take a picture, Blake asked what the purpose of their visit was and neither McLaughlin nor Matarazzo had an answer to give her. Blake wondered if that was because they legally couldn’t say. Nothing was confirmed in that chance meeting but since the event with Blake, several other students have chimed in to suggest that the Stranger Things cast might be filming a special feature on the UofC campus. 

Filming for the final season of the Netflix drama was put on hold in May because of a large-scale writers’ strike. The Writers Guild of America (WGA) went on strike on May 2 demanding higher pay while negotiating contracts with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP). Most reality TV, sports, news and interview shows have not been impacted by the strike as they do not have WGA-written scripts. Unfortunately, this is not the case for a number of US-based scripted television shows and movies, including Stranger Things. The Duffer brothers Matt and Ross, the co-creators of Stranger Things, tweeted a statement in early May concerning the strike. 

They stated that the fifth and final season had been put on hold indefinitely. The last WGA-related strike of 2007-08 lasted three months and eight days so by modeling the previous strike to its current one it has been theorized that writers would start work again in early August. Be that as it may, there is no knowing how long the strike will last. 

The McLaughlin and Matarazzo sighting has created a divide within the Stranger Things fandom called the Strangers, as half of its fans are convinced that this is enough evidence to suggest that filming has finally continued for the show. Others are skeptical of Blake’s encounter, voicing their opinion that this sighting has only left them with more questions.  Does this mean that the WGA strike has ended? Can this suggest that filming is underway for the final season? Will fan-favourite Barb finally make her comeback? And perhaps most importantly, what does this mean for the series’ potential release date?

This article is part of our humour section.