Netflix's Stranger Things is one of the few teen dramas in high school that features an ensemble of actual teenage actors to portray their characters. However, as the show has gone on since premiering back in 2016, the actors have grown up, and one of the stars just confirmed that this was a road bump for the directors of the series.
Actor Noah Schnapp, who is now 17 years old, has been playing the character of Will Byers since the Stranger Things debut, and a lot has changed over the past six years. Schnapp recently told Flaunt Magazine, that he hit puberty before his character on the show was supposed to, and this led to some issues behind the scenes.
The Stranger Things star stated, "It was the peak time of change, and puberty and growing up and just everything was changing with all of us, and the directors were just not loving it.” To deal with this, Schnapp recalls a producer instructing him to speak in a higher pitch during scenes and to “slouch a little bit,” to help keep the illusion of him being younger. Schnapp also went on to tell Flaunt this didn’t come very easy, recalling his response to the producer being “I don't know what to tell you. My voice is dropping. I don't sound young anymore.”
With the entire group of young actors - including Schnapp himself, Millie Bobby Brown, Finn Wolfhard, Caleb McLaughlin, and Gaten Matarazzo - all grown up now, Stranger Things showrunners The Duffer Brothers have confirmed that the fifth and final season of the show will include a time jump, which will help combat the actors getting older before the audience's eyes. As Schnapp recalls the behind-the-scenes hardships of growing up on the screen, he also gushed over it, calling it an “archive” of his professional work during his youth. He also went on to say how ecstatic he is to be able to one day show how he grew and evolved on screen. This is similar to the other young actors on the show who all grew up on the Stranger Things set, with Schnapp being only 10 years old during the first season.
Although time jumps are commonly looked down upon, The Duffer Brothers' choice to fast-forward the town of Hawkins a few years has the potential to work in their favor. It could mean they can produce more mature storylines in Stranger Things season 5 to match with the actors maturing as well.
Stranger Things seasons 1-4 are now available on Netflix.
Source: Flaunt