'Stranger Things' final season to start filming in January

As per Variety, a US-based media outlet, production on the fifth and final season of the juggernaut Netflix series is currently set to begin in early January, according to multiple sources, though the start date is still subject to change. Filming was postponed for over seven months due to the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes.

The entire cast of the series will be returning for the final season, including Noah Schnapp, Winona Ryder, David Harbour, Millie Bobby Brown, Finn Wolfhard, Gates Matarazzo, Caleb McLaughlin, Sadie Sink, Natalia Dyer, Charlie Heaton, Joe Keery, Maya Hawke and Priah Ferguson.

Apart from them, 'Terminator' star Linda Hamilton is joining the cast for Season 5, and 'Prey' and '10 Cloverfield Lane' director Dan Trachtenberg will be helming at least one episode, alongside regular directors the Duffers and Shawn Levy, who is also executive producing, as per Variety.

In September, Levy said that Season 5 of 'Stranger Things' will be "major, major cinematic storytelling" and "as big as any of the biggest movies that we see."

There is virtually no chance that Season 5 of the show will debut earlier than 2025, but 'Stranger Things: The First Shadow' -- a stage play set in Hawkins, Indiana in 1959 that tracks the origins of several major characters from the show -- debuts in the Phoenix Theater in London's West End on December 14. The script is written by 'Stranger Things' writer and co-executive producer Kate Trefry, based on an original story by the Duffers, Jack Thorne and Trefry, reported Variety. (ANI)