As the long-awaited release of Stranger Things Season 5 approaches, creators Matt Duffer and Ross Duffer are bursting some fans’ bubbles regarding the return of fan-favorite character Eddie Munson.
Played by Season 4 breakout Joseph Quinn, whose time on the show as the short-lived heavy metal rocker and Hellfire Club leader catapulted him into franchise entries like The Fantastic Four: First Steps and high-profile projects such as Sam Mendes’ quartet of Beatles films, the Duffer Brothers maintained the character is beyond even the Upside Down.
“I love that Joe Quinn is toying with people! But no, he’s dead,” Matt Duffer told Empire in a new interview. “Joe is so busy anyway, that everyone should know he’s not coming back. He’s shot like five movies since! When the hell has he got time to come and shoot Stranger Things? No, sadly, RIP. He’s fully under that ground.”
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In Season 4, Eddie played a key role in distracting Vecna’s (Jamie Campbell Bower) Demobats as the rest of the gang launched an attack on the Upside Down stronghold of Creel House. Unfortunately, however, he perished as a result. And though in most worlds being dead would be an automatic guarantee of not returning on screen, Dacre Montgomery briefly reprised his role as Billy in ghost form last season.
Elsewhere in the interview, the Duffers also shed light on a new character: Linda Hamilton as Dr. Kay, playing against the heroine type as a government agent who’s tracking down Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown).
“She’s hyper-intelligent and intimidating,” Matt Duffer teased of Dr. Kay. “She’s a scientist but if she needs to, she can get into a fight and shoot a gun.”
Volume 1 of the three-part final season will drop Nov. 26. Find out the runtimes for each episode here. Earlier this year, Ross Duffer teased that the final outing would offer a cinematic farewell.
In addition to Brown, Hamilton and Bower, the Stranger Things Season 5 cast includes Winona Ryder, David Harbour, Finn Wolfhard, Gaten Matarazzo, Caleb McLaughlin, Noah Schnapp, Sadie Sink, Natalia Dyer, Charlie Heaton, Joe Keery, Maya Hawke, Priah Ferguson, Brett Gelman, Cara Buono, Amybeth McNulty, Nell Fisher, Jake Connelly and Alex Breaux.