Producer of Stranger Things Shawn Levy has a short answer for questions about Eddie’s appearance in season 5 even though there are still many unknowns. The town of Hawkins was attacked by Vecna, a strong being living in the Upside Down with ties to Eleven’s past and plans to end the world, in the most recent season of Netflix’s popular sci-fi horror series. In addition, Winona Ryder’s Joyce and Brett Gelman’s Murray traveled to Russia to save David Harbour’s Hopper from a gulag full of Demogorgons in Stranger Things season 4. Eleven, played by Millie Bobby Brown, also struggled to regain her powers.
A number of new characters, including Eddie Munson played by Joseph Quinn, were added to the cast in Stranger Things season 4, which turned out to be the show’s biggest one yet. When he was identified as the prime suspect in the death of Vecna’s first victim and cooperated with the group to bring him down, the eccentric leader of the Dungeons & Dragons group the Hellfire Club found himself entangled in the most recent Upside Down threat. Eddie would ultimately perish in the Stranger Things season 4 finale, leaving some people inconsolable and others speculating on how he might come back, though the latter group might want to give up.
In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter at this week’s Primetime Emmy Awards, Shawn Levy discussed whether Eddie might return in season 5 of Stranger Things. In a direct reply to the fans’ requests for the character to return, the producer stated that it was “highly unlikely” that Eddie would return to the screen in the show’s final season. See Levy’s comment below:
“Oh boy, a lot of people – a lot of people – can’t even handle the thought of a Season 5 without some excuse for Eddie presence. Highly unlikely. Highly unlikely. But we hear you, world. We know. You’re obsessed with Eddie. So were we.”
Many viewers were already pessimistic about Eddie’s chances of surviving until the end of Stranger Things season 4 before the season even began. The odds seemed to be against Eddie as he became the town outcast and was forced to go into hiding from the Hawkins mob and Vecna due to the show’s trend of killing off beloved supporting characters, starting with Barb in season 1 and continuing with Bob in season 2 and Alexei in season 3. Despite receiving an epic Metallica-themed sequence in the Stranger Things season 4 finale, his decision to give up his life in order to aid Gaten Matarazzo’s Dustin in escaping resulted in the tears of many viewers.
As Levy points out, fans of the show have been vocal about a potential Eddie return for Stranger Things season 5, speculating on everything from his existence as a creation of Dustin’s fantasy to becoming Vecna’s right-hand man. Even though Levy hinted that Eddie’s return was unlikely, the producer’s statement that he and the creative team “were” obsessed with the character seems to be a pretty definitive response to Eddie staying dead. In the interim, viewers can revisit Eddie’s emotional journey by watching Stranger Things season 4 online right now on Netflix.
Source: THR