Stranger Things Star Comments on Possible Season 5 Return

Stranger Things first premiered back in 2016, and over the course of the show’s four seasons, fans have met many wonderful characters. The second season saw the debut of Paul Reiser as Dr. Sam Owens who replaced Dr. Brenner as Director of Operations at Hawkins Lab and began looking after Will Byers after his traumatic stint in the Upside Down. Reiser made appearances in the third and fourth seasons of Stranger Things, but it’s currently unclear what his future holds. The horror series is set to have a fifth and final season and Reiser recently spoke with E! News about returning. 

“I literally don’t know,” Reiser said when asked about being in the fifth season. “The Stranger Things writers’ room tweeted out, ‘Hey, everybody, send us your thoughts for next season. What would you like to see?’ And I wrote in, ‘Can Dr. Owens live? Would that be possible?’”

“When I first met [the Duffer Brothers] four years ago, I said, ‘Am I a good guy or a bad guy?’” Reiser recalled. “They go, ‘We don’t know.’ And I went, ‘You don’t know or you just don’t want to tell me?’ They go, ‘No, we don’t know.’ And so they don’t tell me.” He added of a potential final appearance, “I’d appreciate it if Dr. Owens comes in, in like a superhero cape, and saves the day.”

Stranger Things 4 starred Winona Ryder (Joyce Byers), David Harbour (Jim Hopper), Millie Bobby Brown (Eleven/Jane), Finn Wolfhard (Mike Wheeler), Gaten Matarazzo (Dustin Henderson), Caleb McLaughlin (Lucas Sinclair), Noah Schnapp (Will Byers), Sadie Sink (Max Mayfield), Natalia Dyer (Nancy Wheeler), Charlie Heaton (Jonathan Byers), Joe Keery (Steve Harrington), Maya Hawke (Robin Buckley), Priah Ferguson (Erica Sinclair), Brett Gelman (Murray), Matthew Modine (Dr. Brenner), Robert Englund (Victor Creel), and Jamie Campbell Bower (Vecna/Henry/One). 

There have been talks of some Stranger Things spin-off shows down the line. Recently, Harbour spoke to GQ about Hopper and suggested which actor could play the younger version of him. 

“At this point, I think Hopper is a character that can exist independent of me,” Harbour said. “If they wanna go back in time, forward in time… I’d love to see another actor play Hopper and see what they can bring to it.” The actor later followed up with the outlet via email and suggested Euphoria star Jacob Elordi as a younger version of the character, noting, “He could pull off being as handsome as I was at 20.”

Would you like to see Reiser return to Stranger Things? Tell us in the comments!