Warning: Includes MASSIVE SPOILERS for ‘Stranger Things’ Season 5, Part 1!
The over three-year gap between Season 4 and Season 5 of Stranger Things is more than just an annoyance for fans. The aging of the child actors has caused the show to devise ways around it, including a short time jump as well as de-aging and CGI for scenes, like the opening few minutes of Season 5, Part 1.
A normal film schedule might not have required this, but with the kids being 12 in the beginning and now in their 20s after delayed season releases, it’s much harder to hide. A short time jump and puberty explained some discrepancies, but it’s the puzzling CGI version of Will Byers (Noah Schnapp) in a flashback opener that really sheds light on just how much time has passed.
CGI Will Plays a Big Role in ‘Stranger Things’ Season 5
The flashback scene, which serves as the opening of the first episode in Season 5, features Will crouched on the ground in the Upside Down, singing to himself as he shivers in the cold. He jumps up upon hearing a loud noise, which turns out to be a Demogorgon, and his face is clearly visible. As the scene continues, there are several more close-ups of his face. Although this evidently takes place during the first season, it’s clear that this was not pre-filmed back in 2016 when the show premiered.
It doesn’t really look like Will, but it’s clearly Will. It’s confusing because while the face isn’t the same as Schnapp’s in Season 1, it bears an uncanny resemblance to him. There’s something off-putting about it. But the scene is important, providing context for Episode 4’s big reveal, showing Will’s first meeting with Vecna (Jamie Campbell Bower). It lasts an entire five minutes as Will shoots a rifle, runs from the Demogorgon up a tree, then jumps and passes out, only to find himself face to face with Vecna. This isn’t just a quick cameo.
First, it’s worth noting that the weird younger Will isn’t AI. The process involved a younger body double, played by Luke Kokotek, and Schnapp’s actual face. Schnapp made the facial expressions necessary for the scenes, and Kokotek did the same while doing the actual body work. Schnapp’s de-aged face was then digitally mapped onto Kokotek’s. It was the same process used to show a younger Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown) in the Season 4 flashback scenes with her in the lab, interacting with Henry Creel. So, while it’s not Schnapp, he still had to act out the emotions of these scenes as if it were actually him running through the Upside Down to escape a Demogorgon, then forced to connect to the hive mind as Vecna looked on.
Schnapp told Deadline that he found it “a little digital-looking” but admitted that it’s tough to make it look perfect. He thought it “turned out pretty well.” Meanwhile, fans are divided, with some saying he looked like a video game character and others wondering if it was done using AI (it wasn’t). There’s also a group that’s been more forgiving, appreciating the fact that the producers found a way to add lore to the story when using the same actor would have otherwise made it impossible to do so. Nonetheless, this CGI version of Will raises a bigger problem about the gaps between the show’s seasons.
Stranger Things’ Flashback Scene Highlights a Bigger Problem
Whether or not you accept the scene for what it is, the reality is that it sheds light on a bigger issue. The series premiered in 2016, and the kids at the center were around 12 years old, set in 1983. Present day in Season 5 is 1987, following a year and eight-month time jump from the end of Season 4, which would put the kids at 16, and Steve (Joe Keery), Nancy (Natalia Dyer), Jonathan (Charlie Heaton), and Robin (Maya Hawke) in their 20s. Most of the once-child actors, however, are already in their 20s.
It’s not completely out of the realm of possibility that these kids could be 16–17. The actors themselves look quite young. It wouldn’t be the first time older actors play younger characters, either. That has been happening for decades, arguably the most shocking when Gabrielle Carteris was in her 30s playing a high schooler in Beverly Hills, 90210, back in the ’90s.
The issue with Stranger Things is that the kids were in their pubescent years when the show started. As the seasons progressed, their physical changes have been pretty dramatic. But the fictional passage of time wasn’t long enough to suggest it. In sitcoms with kids, like Full House, the kids age with the show almost in real-time, so it’s more believable. But with Stranger Things, the timing has been severely off. There was an almost three-year gap between seasons 3 and 4, for example, when the actors went through growth spurts, even facial features changing dramatically as they aged. Yet in the fictional story, only nine months had gone by.
This Might Have Impacted the Narrative
It’s unclear if the actors’ aging in the passage of time between seasons 4 and 5 impacted the narrative for the final season. The Duffer Brothers have indicated that they had a plan for how the story would end from the beginning. But elements like the year and eight-month lockdown for Hawkins in quarantine may have been written into the story to account for their aging. It’s not a lot of time, but at least it’s a bit more realistic. Kids can go through dramatic physical changes between the ages of 13 and 17.
The aging of the main actors may have influenced the fact that the storyline now involves younger siblings and new child characters as well, like Holly (Nell Fisher) and Derek (Jake Connelly). Adding these two new main characters in crucial roles, along with other kids their age, keeps Stranger Things within the theme that it started, centering around young kids going on dangerous adventures. The older kids are still core to the story, but from a thematic standpoint, they are taking on more parental, protector roles in the same way Steve, Jonathan, and Nancy did in Season 1. This helps the show maintain a Goonies-like feel with young characters being its heart.
This thankfully fits in nicely with the lore of Vecna as well, who reveals in the Season 5, Part 1 finale that he looks for kids because they’re vulnerable, impressionable, easy to control, and, as he puts it, weak in body and mind. It’s consistent with his backstory, too, as he was told this by his own father and treated poorly at Hawkins Lab, used to influence the minds of other kids who came after him. Not only would Will’s friends be past their prime by now in his eyes, but they have also proven themselves too strong-minded for him to use as part of his plan anyway.
The saving grace is that, with the exception of characters like Holly, the same actors have returned to play the same characters, regardless of how much they have aged. With CGI Will in Season 5 and CGI Eleven in Season 4, this was retained even when another body double had to be used to make it possible.
The show deserves credit for finding ways to make it believable despite the release delays. As much as a show that takes time to create could benefit from stopping time so its child actors can remain looking the same, there’s no way to do that. These kids have spent half of their lives with this series, and it shows. The fictional passage of time on the show doesn’t mirror real life, but the story has pivoted to accommodate it. Whether it’s a time jump or a CGI face, they make it work. And fans are grateful for that. Stream Stranger Things on Netflix.