Linda Hamilton Joining Cast Of 'Stranger Things 5' In Mystery Role

"The Terminator" franchise star Linda Hamilton is officially joining the cast of "Stranger Things" for the show's upcoming fifth and final season. Streaming service Netflix announced the news at the Tudum: A Global Fan Event over the weekend.

Arnold Schwarzenegger, star of Netflix's "FUBAR" and Hamilton's long-time co-star of "Terminator," made the announcement himself during the fan event. While Hamilton was not in person at the event in Brazil, she did appear in an announcement video that debuted at the event to reveal the casting news (see below):

https://youtu.be/rjdtGw_SJ2Y

Netflix has not yet announced Hamilton's role for the upcoming season. Hamilton is the first major casting announcement for any new key players for the upcoming fifth and final season of "Stranger Things." Appearing in the video at the fan event, Hamilton stated, "Good to see you, Arnold. Let’s get dinner soon, and everyone else, I’ll see you in Hawkins…"

Hamilton also stated that she's a major fan of "Stranger Things" before she was cast for the series. She stated, "I don’t know how to be a fangirl and an actress at the same time. I’m gonna work on that."

https://twitter.com/netflix/status/1670198387331809280?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1670198387331809280%7Ctwgr%5E6a65df0b61906f7f81cc9ed17de0873ce8976fc7%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.harpersbazaar.com%2Fculture%2Ffilm-tv%2Fa33674067%2Fstranger-things-season-5-news-cast-spoilers-date%2F

The first episode of "Stranger Things 5" will be titled "The Crawl." Fans will have to wait to see and learn more about the new season. As previously reported by The Blast, series creators the Duffer brothers confirmed last month that production on Season 5 was put on pause due to the ongoing dispute between the Writers Guild of America (WGA) and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP).

The creators wrote at the time, "Duffers here. Writing does not stop when filming begins. While we’re excited to start production with our amazing cast and crew, it is not possible during this strike. We hope a fair deal is reached soon so we can all get back to work. Until then -- over and out." As of now, the strike is still ongoing and currently in its second month.

Additionally, the AMPTP has until June 30 to reach a new contract with the acting union, SAG-AFTRA. Otherwise, the entertainment industry might be facing another labor strike. Members of the union overwhelmingly voted in favor of a strike authorization, meaning if a new deal is not reached by the deadline, SAG-AFTRA's National Board can call for a labor strike as early as July 1, which is less than two weeks from now. If SAG-AFTRA declares its own labor strike against the AMPTP, that could cause an industry-wide shutdown on many scripted and acted productions, some of which have already been halted and delayed to the WGA strike, "Stranger Things 5" included.

In addition to "Stranger Things 5," the Duffers are also working on a new animated series spinoff of the show that was announced earlier this year. They will executive produce the new spinoff under their Upside Down Pictures banner with Shawn Levy and Dan Cohen with 21 Laps and Eric Robles with Flying Back Productions. The Duffers have an overall deal with Netflix that was signed before the WGA strike.

"Stranger Things" stars Winona Ryder, David Harbour, Millie Bobby Brown, Finn Wolfhard, Gaten Matarazzo, Caleb McLaughlin, Natalia Dyer, and Sadie Sink. Season 5 will debut on Netflix later on. The first four seasons are currently available to stream on Netflix.