Linda Hamilton has said that she was about to retire when her agent said yes to a role on Stranger Things.
The 69-year-old actor, best known for her leading role in James Cameron’s sci-fi classic The Terminator, is joining the cast of the hit Netflix series for its forthcoming final season.
Speaking to The Telegraph, Hamilton revealed that she told her agent she was going to retire after experiencing hip problems while filming the comedy-drama series Resident Alien.
““The last conversation that I had had with my agent was pretty much like, ‘Dude, I think I’ve got to retire,’” she recalled. “My hip had been hurting for two years, and I wasn’t doing well – I said, ‘I gotta deal with my health, and I just don’t think that I can do this any more.’
“Then he called and said that Stranger Things had asked if I was available, and without even asking me, he just said, ‘Yep’. We have had a good laugh or two about that.”
Fortunately, Hamilton was a big fan of the series, and was keen to take the role.
After agreeing to the role, she took a virtual meeting with Stranger Things’ showrunners, brothers Matt and Ross Duffer.
Due to a scheduling mix-up, Hamilton was absent from the Zoom call, and began receiving a string of “Where are you?” messages.
“[The Duffer brothers] are lovely fellows, generous, kind,” she said. “I do believe that there is another type of producer, who would have said, ‘F*** her. She’s 20 minutes late.’ But they were just chill.”
Stranger Things focuses on the supernatural goings-on in the small US town of Hawkings, Indiana in the 1980s.
Hamilton joins an ensemble cast that includes Millie Bobby Brown, Sadie Sink, Winona Ryder and David Harbour.
Her character, Dr Kay, is the head scientist in the military division that has set up in the town.
“Hawkins is under quarantine,” Hamilton said. “Dr Kay’s got her own very private agenda, whereas almost everybody in the town and in the military is trying to bring down the evil.
“She’s got some deeper personal desires, which keeps it interesting. And she’s ruthless, which was fun.”
The first half of Stranger Things season five debuts on Netflix in the UK on 27 November, with two further batches of episodes arriving on Boxing Day and New Year’s Day 2026.
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