Stranger Things star Millie Bobby Brown has clarified comments she previously made about wanting her character Eleven to die in season 5.
Speaking to Total Film, Brown walked back on what she originally said about Eleven during Stranger Things season 4's press tour. Back in May, multiple outlets covered comments made by Brown, which suggested that she'd like the show's co-creators – the Duffer brothers – to kill their darlings in the wildly popular Netflix show. Now, though, Brown has admitted that she was simply joking, but journalists took her quotes as verbatim and ran with them.
"I say things like this, but then I also said I want her to die," she said when Total Film asked if she wanted Eleven and Mike to get a happy ending post-season 5. "I really don’t know. And also, it’s not my choice.
"I say all these things really just under my breath, and then people take them and print them. And I’m like, no, no, no – I said that as a joke, that I wanted her to get married and work at a Target. That was a joke. But it’s maybe not a joke?"
Day 1 pic.twitter.com/9m44RkJnc3August 2, 2022
Little is known about the plot for Stranger Things season 5, but the show's writing team has teased bits and pieces about the show's final installment. In early August, the writers' room confirmed that work had begun on plotting out the fifth season's character arcs and main story beats, with work completed on that in mid-September. We also know that season 5 will have much shorter episodes than its predecessor. It's rumored that filming will begin in early 2023.
Those teases aside, we don't know anything about Stranger Things 5. For her part, Brown knows very little, too – or so she claimed to Total Film. Asked if she could provide an update on how the series will end, Brown said: "[I'll] probably [find out] when I’m filming, I won’t even know how it ends. I know as much as you know. I really, really am clueless. And, also, they don’t want to tell me. I’ve got a huge mouth."
Stranger Things season 5 will mark the end of the franchise's main narrative, but there are spin-offs in the works. The Duffer brothers' recently announced Upside Down Pictures production company will develop a stage play based on the show, while a couple of TV spin-off show ideas are also thought to be in the works. Just don't expect Brown to feature in any of these Netflix projects, though.
"I’m just so focused on Enola [Holmes 2]," Brown replied when asked if she'd be involved in future projects. "Stranger Things – we saw it, we love it, we have big hearts. But let's make more Enolas. Let’s put that on Netflix. But other than that, I’d love to see another bald-headed 10-year-old get given that opportunity. I would help her navigate it."
Analysis: who is most likely to die in Stranger Things 5?
Full spoilers for Stranger Things seasons 1 to 4 follow. You've been warned.
Obviously we've no idea who will live and die in Stranger Things' final season. However, we've speculated in our Stranger Things 5 hub, which you can read above, that there'll be a few characters who are safe from the chopping block.
For starters, we think Joyce Byers, Will Byers, and Jim Hopper are safe. This trio have been through enough trauma since Stranger Things season 1. In Hopper's case, that trauma precedes the first season, what with his daughter dying of cancer. Additionally, it was Will's kidnapping in the show's premiere that kicked events into gear, and his mom Joyce has had to deal with the fallout from that ever since. Hopefully, then, these three characters will survive the season 5 finale.
Meanwhile, we believe Eleven and Mike will live to fight another day. Again, Eleven has been through enough in her young life, so it would be surprising to see her killed off. Given the trauma she's endured, it would be shocking if Mike was bumped off, too, so we think he'll be safe.
Max could die – and we'd be slightly surprised if she comes around from her coma after the events of the Stranger Things 4 finale. That said, like the quintet named above, she's gone through a lot, so maybe the Duffer brothers will be sympathetic to her and allow her to survive in whatever guise that might be.
In our opinion, everyone else is fair game. The Duffers could bait and switch us and keep Steve alive post-season 5. You know, after he was supposed to die in season 1. Given the fans' love for Steve, though, he's been retained throughout the rest of the show.
All of the other main characters, though, could feasibly be killed off. Each one's death would hit hard for multiple reasons, such as whether they've been around since the series premiere, or if they've become a firm fan favorite. As Joseph Quinn's Eddie proved, however, you can be utterly adored by Stranger Things' fanbase and still not live to see another morning. Nobody, then, is truly safe ahead of the show's final season.
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