{"id":317896,"date":"2025-12-01T06:27:15","date_gmt":"2025-12-01T06:27:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/317896\/"},"modified":"2025-12-01T06:27:15","modified_gmt":"2025-12-01T06:27:15","slug":"so-about-that-surprise-stranger-things-return","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/317896\/","title":{"rendered":"So About That Surprise ‘Stranger Things’ Return…"},"content":{"rendered":"

The first third of\u00a0Stranger Things\u2019\u00a0end<\/a> has come, and there\u2019s a lot to talk about\u2014including the return of a character fans never really expected to see again\u2026<\/p>\n

\"Io9<\/p>\n

And that\u2019d be one Kali Prasad, aka Eight<\/a>. Played by Linnea Berthelsen and introduced in season two in a standalone (and divisive) episode, Kali was another test subject with the power to create mental hallucinations and turn invisible. While seen in flashbacks throughout later seasons, she hadn\u2019t made an appearance since her debut until the Volume One episode \u201cSorcerer,\u201d which ended with Eleven and Hopper finding her in Dr. Kay\u2019s clutches.<\/p>\n

In a discussion with Entertainment Weekly<\/a>, co-creator Matt Duffer said \u201cnone of [this season] would play out the way it would if she wasn\u2019t involved again.\u201d Instead of bringing back supporting characters like Eddie or Barb that fans have speculated could return, Duffer called Kali \u201cthis loose end that we had never really resolved. We\u2019ve talked about bringing her back before, but there was not a narrative or thematic reason to bring her back.\u201d<\/p>\n

Keeping Berthelsen\u2019s return quiet all this time was tough, added co-creator Ross Duffer, but he\u2019s proud they pulled it off. \u201cKudos to security and production and Linnea herself. She\u2019s outside, she\u2019s filming. It was a lot of work to keep this under wraps.\u201d<\/p>\n

For her part, Berthelsen told EW she was \u201cso intrigued to see where they wanted to take Kali\u201d after the Duffers contacted her again. It was important to \u201cmake sure she was in great hands.\u201d For those who weren\u2019t too hot on her initial appearance, she teased viewers will get \u201can insight into who I personally believe Kali has always been\u201d this time around.<\/p>\n

And Kali will be around for the rest of Stranger Things,\u00a0or at least its second volume. Matt Duffer said she\u2019d be all over the next set of episodes and be \u201cvery important\u201d to both Eleven\u2019s story and the larger plot of defeating Vecna.\u00a0We\u2019ll see what she adds to the cast when Stranger Things\u00a0returns with Volume Two on December 25.<\/p>\n

Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel<\/a>, Star Wars<\/a>, and Star Trek<\/a> releases, what\u2019s next for the DC Universe on film and TV<\/a>, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The first third of\u00a0Stranger Things\u2019\u00a0end has come, and there\u2019s a lot to talk about\u2014including the return of a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":317897,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[49,48,75,135387,1316,135388,41882,104661,348],"class_list":["post-317896","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tv","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-entertainment","tag-matt-duffer","tag-netflix","tag-ross-duffer","tag-stranger-things","tag-the-duffer-brothers","tag-tv"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/317896","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=317896"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/317896\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/317897"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=317896"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=317896"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=317896"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}