AI won’t be used to de-age Stranger Things cast in final season

Actors have aged out of their characters’ looks before, often to the point of distraction— especially on television — but those behind Stranger Things are hoping to avoid this. Thankfully, the show won’t utilize artificial intelligence to de-age their stars, as Millie Bobby Brown, Finn Wolfhard, Noah Schnapps, Gaten Matarazzo, and Caleb McLaughlin will all be in their 20s when the fifth and final season of Stranger Things airs.

Instead, executive producer Shawn Levy said they would take a different approach for Stranger Things’ final season, even clarifying remarks he made previously on the topic. In fact, he isn’t worried at all about any issues with age. “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.”

Both the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes put a major halt on production of the fifth and final season of Stranger Things, giving the show yet another steep hill to run up: How will the Hawkins crew look when the show returns considering we can assume the action will take place almost immediately after the events of the season four finale, which saw the Upside Down looming over the small town? This may not be a big deal for the likes of Winona Ryder and David Harbour, but when it comes to the aforementioned “teens” of Hawkins, those behind the camera are going to have to get quite clever.

Digitally de-aging characters has grown exponentially over the past few years, with the most notable case of late being that of Harrison Ford in Dial of Destiny, with the star marveling over the technology. But there have been far more examples of bad de-aging even from major studios (we’re looking at you and cringing, Captain Jack Sparrow), so ditching AI is definitely assuring news for the final season of Stranger Things.

What do you think is the best approach to hiding young actors who have aged between seasons? Do you trust the Stranger Things team to be successful in this for the fifth and final season? Let us know below!