Caleb McLaughlin Teases Final 'Stranger Things' Season (Exclusive)

The star gave ET a small hint of what's to come in the upcoming season of the beloved Netflix series.

Caleb McLaughlin can't tell fans any specific details about the final season of Stranger Things, but he can give a little hint. The actor spoke with ET's Nischelle Turner at the red carpet premiere of The Book of Clarence, where he teased what fans could look forward to in the fifth and final season of the sci-fi/horror drama. 

The Duffer Brothers' series became an instant hit when it first debuted with season 1 in the summer of 2016. Set in the 1980s, the series follows a group of local Indiana kids, now high school teenagers, who have had to deal with various otherworldly creatures after a secret government agency created a portal to an alternate dimension known as the Upside Down. 

"I always try to think of a clever way of giving you [something]," he joked as he played coy when asked what is coming up after season 4's crushing finale. "Well, this is the last and final season. You'll get a lot of information."

McLaughlin added that he wasn't sure that fans would get much "resolution" in the show's final installment, but he emphasized that they'll be provided with "a lot of information that you haven't had from the last couple of seasons."

Stranger Things was set to begin production following the end of the two-part fourth season. However, it was delayed due to the SAG-AFTRA strike.

In November, David Harbour revealed that the cast and crew got the call that production would resume, 10 minutes after it was announced that the 118-day strike had ended. "I mean, we got to film that last season of Stranger Things, don’t we? I got to be down there, like, in a couple of days. We got to get going -- we're late," he said to Variety during BoxLunch Gala.

"They literally called me, I think it was 10 minutes after the SAG thing on Twitter," he added. "The first AD [Assistant Director] is like, 'So, get the flight for you on Monday, right? We'll be acting in Atlanta.'"

On Monday, the cast showed fans that they were indeed back to work when the show announced on social media that production had officially resumed. 

"🚨THIS IS A CODE RED🚨 STRANGER THINGS 5 production has officially begun!!!," the post read alongside a black-and-white picture of the cast, including McLaughlin, Harbour, Millie Bobby Brown, Gaten Matarazzo, Finn Wolfhard, Noah Schnapp, Sadie Sink and more. Behind the cast and crew was a red illuminated number five sign. 

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The fourth season of Stranger Things dropped on Netflix in two parts in May and July 2022 and the show's creators, the Duffer Brothers, confirmed in August 2022 they were in the early stages of writing the fifth season.

The franchise also announced the addition of Terminator star Linda Hamilton for season 5. The role marks Hamilton's latest turn on TV, following recent recurring roles on Claws and Resident Alien.  

Given how reference-heavy and nostalgia-filled Stranger Things is, it's likely the series will return to the Terminator franchise in some way after it made notable homages to the film franchise in season 3, with Andrey Ivchenko appearing as the Russian Terminator, Grigori. It could also take advantage of Hamilton's connection to the Children of the Corn slasher franchise adapted from a short story written by Stephen King, whose work has been heavily featured throughout the first four seasons. 

While details about the upcoming season are under wraps, in September 2022, Harbour teased that he knew "a little bit about where it's headed, and it's really exciting," joking that it might be another "15 years before anyone gets to see it."

Meanwhile, McLaughlin is celebrating his latest project, the Jeymes Samuel-directed Book of Clarence.

The film stars Lakeith Stanfield as the streetwise but down-on-his-luck title character, who is just a regular guy living in Jerusalem in 33 AD and struggling to find a better life for his family while fighting to free himself of debt. When he crosses paths with the one-and-only Jesus Christ himself, he decides to forgo devoting himself to the higher cause of the rising Messiah and His apostles. Instead, Clarence risks everything to carve his own path to a divine life by becoming a messiah himself. 

The film features a star-studded cast, including McLaughlin, Omar Sy, Anna Diop, RJ Cyler, David Oyelowo, Micheal Ward, Alfre Woodard, Teyana Taylor, Eric Kofi-Abrefa and Marianne Jean-Baptiste, with James McAvoy and Benedict Cumberbatch.

The Book of Clarence opens in theaters nationwide on Jan 12. 

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