'Stranger Things' Pauses Production on Fifth and Final Season Due to Writer's Strike

Production on the fifth and final season of Stranger Things has been postponed amid the ongoing writer's strike, PEOPLE can confirm.

The Duffer Brothers — who serve as creators, executive producers and showrunners of the hit Netflix series — first announced the delay on Twitter Saturday.

"Writing does not stop when filming begins," Matt Duffer and Ross Duffer wrote on the official Twitter account for the Stranger Things writers. "While we're excited to start production with our amazing cast and crew, it is not possible during this strike. We hope a fair deal is reached soon so we can all get back to work. Until then — over and out. #wgastrong."

Thousands of screenwriters went on strike this week after six weeks of negotiations for a new film and scripted TV contract came to a stalemate.

The existing contract between the Writers Guild of America (WGA) and Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) — which includes Netflix, Amazon, Apple, Disney, Warner Bros. Discovery, NBC Universal, Paramount and Sony — officially expired at midnight Pacific time on May 2, kicking off the walkout.

Writers have been seeking a major overhaul in compensation for streaming residuals, as well as higher pay overall, greater protections and a solution to the increase of "mini-rooms" in which a small group of writers pen multiple scripts for a show's potential first season prior to production beginning.

As Deadline noted, both the WGA and the AMPTP agree that despite a content boom in recent years, writers are bringing in less money overall. Ideas on how to fix the problem, unfortunately, is where the conflict originates.

"WGA proposals would gain writers approximately $429 million per year; AMPTP's offer is approximately $86 million per year, 48% of which is from the minimums increase," the guild said, according to the outlet.

The last writer's strike started in November 2007 and lasted 100 days, ending on Feb. 12, 2008. It led to devastating blows throughout the industry and the loss of billions of dollars. Ripple effects were felt in all areas, including departments like hair and makeup, costumes, sets, catering and other crafts.

As for the impact of this year's strike, it was was felt immediately with production on daily late-night shows including The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, Jimmy Kimmel Live!, The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, Late Night with Seth Meyers and The Daily Show shutting down immediately.

Other weekly shows, like HBO's Real Time With Bill Maher and Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, has also been sidelined. Daytime talk shows, including The View, have been forging ahead — though have warned that their format will look different without its writers.

Meanwhile, Saturday Night Live wrapped its season early. The show was supposed to return May 6 with an episode hosted by Pete Davidson with musical guest Lil Uzi Vert. Kieran Culkin had been booked as host on May 13, while Jennifer Coolidge was to close the season out with the May 20 episode.

Producers for the 2023 MTV Movie & TV Awards — which was initially set to be hosted by Drew Barrymore on May 7 before she bowed out following the strike — announced on Friday they would be shifting away from a live ceremony, in hopes to produce "a memorable night full of exclusive sneak peeks, irreverent categories our audience has come to expect, and countless moments that will both surprise and delight as we honor the best of film and TV over the past year."

Stranger Things premiered on Netflix in July 2016 and quickly became the streaming service's biggest hit. The show stars Winona Ryder, David Harbour, Finn Wolfhard, Millie Bobby Brown, Gaten Matarazzo, Caleb McLaughlin, Natalia Dyer, Charlie Heaton, Noah Schnapp, Sadie Sink, Joe Keery, and Maya Hawke.

In February 2022, the Duffer Brothers revealed the series would be wrapping with season 5 while teasing the "supersized" season 4. "Seven years ago, we planned out the complete story arc for Stranger Things. At the time, we predicted the story would last four to five seasons," they wrote at the time. "It proved too large to tell in four, but — as you'll soon see for yourselves — we are now hurling toward our finale."

The two have since teased the show's emotional endgame in previous interviews, with Ross Duffer telling The Wrap in May 2022 that some Netflix executives actually teared up when they announced their plans.

"We do have an outline for season 5 and we pitched it to Netflix and they really responded well to it," he said. "I mean, it was hard. It's the end of the story. I saw executives crying who I've never seen cry before and it was wild."

Though Netflix hasn't revealed the official plotline for season 5 yet, it will likely follow the Hawkins kids as they try to defeat the evil Vecna (Jamie Campbell Bower) once and for all.

Harbour previously told Variety that he knows how the series ends and "it's quite moving and quite beautiful."

Other show stars have said they're prepared for the show to come to an end, albeit it bittersweet. "I'm definitely ready to wrap up," Brown, 19, told Seventeen in March. I" feel like there's a lot of the story that's been told now. It's been in our lives for a very long time. But I'm very ready to say goodbye to this chapter of my life, and open new ones up."

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"There's an excitement there," Matarazzo, 20, added on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, when asked about filming the final season. "You always want to wrap it up and you want to see how these characters are going to finally develop one last time, and how they're going to finish their journeys."

"But also, there's a deep fear that's been like — not only has it been amazing, but it's been, like, pretty great job security."