Enough time has passed since the Stranger Things Season 4 Volume 2 ending without many hard details about Season 5 that fans haven't had a ton to go on for speculating. We don't know all the details about who Vecna is or if we'll see a Demogorgon again or even the year that it will be set with any certainty. Now, however, we have a first peek at Noah Schnapp's new look as Will for the final season, complete with a haircut that has been a long time coming. Plus, costume designer Amy Parris spoke with CinemaBlend about hiding "little hints" in the outfits of the cast.
Will's New Look
Will went through hell and back more than once in the first four seasons of Stranger Things, and his haircut wasn't exactly on the top of the list of his problems when he has also dealt with issues like being kidnapped by the show's first Demogorgon and possessed by the Mind Flayer. Still, his haircut would definitely be on that list of problems, because... well, it was pretty bad.
In honor of Will's birthday on March 22, the Stranger Things Instagram account posted a photo of Schnapp that's the first good look at Will in Season 5... and also pokes fun at his hair. Take a look:
Will definitely looks more grown up in this Stranger Things Season 5 image, which could lend more credence to the theory (based on evidence from co-creator Ross Duffer) that the final season will take place in 1989, which would be a time jump of about three and a half years. Then again, this may just be a case of the hair and makeup team doing the best they can to age down 19-year-old Noah Schnapp, who is considerably older than his character was at the end of Season 4.
While we can only wait and find out, keep on reading for what the show's costume designer told us about hiding Easter egg hints in the cast costumes!
Hidden Clues In Costumes
Stranger Things has included some absolutely iconic costumes over the years, notably including Eleven's pink dress in Season 1, Steve and Robin's Scoops Ahoy uniforms in Season 2, Hopper's Hawaiian shirt in Season 3, and the Hellfire Club shirts in Season 4. Those are the obvious classics, but not everything notable about the characters' outfits is obvious, based on what costume designer Amy Parris told me when we spoke at SCAD TVfest in Atlanta in February.
In addition to explaining the challenges of aging down the young actors, Parris shared what she has frequently been asked about when it comes to her work on Stranger Things:
A lot of Easter egg questions. They wanted to know a lot about hints that the audience might miss in shows.
Amy Parris has plenty of experience across shows in addition to Stranger Things, including Yellowjackets and Insatiable. As it turns out, she does get to include hints in her costume choices for Stranger Things, as she explained:
Yeah, I have a lot of creative freedom with the Duffer brothers, who are the showrunners and the creators. They give me a lot of freedom. It's super collaborative, which is great. So I can come up with little hints or little details that I might show them or might not even tell them about and wait to see if anybody picks up on it. It's kind of fun.
Fans shouldn't necessarily revisit the first four seasons of Stranger Things via Netflix subscription to start analyzing all the outfits for Easter eggs that give away the show's endgame, and there may be no deeper story to any of what Will is wearing in the above photo. But there are "little hints or little details" to be found in the show that even Matt and Ross Duffer might not know about. Parris, who joined the sci-fi hit starting in Season 3, went on to share her experiences in enhancing the world of the show via costumes:
It is [fun], because it's a super casual show, but there's like an art to still doing the casual right. It's not just throwing on a sweatshirt and jeans. It's really specific to the time period and the silhouette. I was born in '83, so I was very young in the '80s, but to see stuff on set that matches my childhood, like the plates that my mom had and the screen door that our house had. To get to incorporate my version of the '80s into the costumes... is such a challenge but it's so fun, I would do it forever.
Unfortunately, "forever" isn't an option when it comes to Stranger Things. The smash hit series will end with the upcoming fifth and final season. A spinoff was ordered back in April 2023, but this will be an animated show if/when it makes it to series on Netflix. The streamer hasn't yet released any footage for Season 5, and a premiere date may be a ways off, but hopefully Stranger Things sticks the landing once it returns one last time.
