Casting Terminator star Linda Hamilton guarantees your project will evoke the sci-fi legacy she carries with her—not to mention an undeniable amount of ass-kicking cool. We’ve seen it recently in more comedic realms, including Resident Alien and Solar Opposites, but her appearance in Stranger Things is especially exciting, tapping into those retro genre vibes much like the show did when it cast Aliens star Paul Reiser.
So far, we haven’t known much about who Hamilton will be playing in Stranger Things season five, but a new article in Empire has lifted the lid just a bit. While Reiser’s Dr. Owens ended up helping the Hawkins kids, despite his potentially sticky ties to the sinister Hawkins Lab, it sounds like Hamilton’s Dr. Kay is going to be purely antagonistic.
According to Stranger Things creators Matt and Ross Duffer, Dr. Kay is a government agent (uh-oh) who wants to capture Millie Bobbie Brown’s psychically weaponized Eleven (uh-oh!).
“She’s hyper-intelligent and intimidating,” Matt Duffer said to Empire.
Plus, this is Sarah Connor we’re talking about, so, as Duffer added, “She’s a scientist but if she needs to, she can get into a fight and shoot a gun.”
So far the only image of Hamilton that’s been released, aside from a brief trailer glimpse, is one of her wielding a firearm with a helmet of ’80s hair that looks ready to withstand any storm or incoming rush of demodogs.
In 2024, io9 spoke to Hamilton about her role in Resident Alien and also asked her about being cast in Stranger Things. She was a huge fan even before she joined, as it turns out.
“I really felt like, [is] there a place for me in that show? Having watched it for four seasons and loving it so much—I thought, I don’t belong there. That’s their world,” Hamilton said. “It’s really interesting [to] try to insert yourself in a story that you know very well. It was a little odd for me; I felt a little bit of the imposter syndrome there. But we’re making it work. I’m delighted and having a wonderful time on that show.”
She added, “They’ve created a good place for me. And I’m going to run with it.”
Stranger Things season five drops its first batch of episodes November 26 on Netflix.
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