It’s a line we’ve become all too familiar with in the last three months. Coronavirus has caused disruption to just about every industry on the planet, but few have been more severely hampered than film and TV. The list of productions affected is vast. Some like Batwoman “only” had their final episodes cut, some like Doctor Who managed to complete filming in time – its season 12 Christmas episode will have post-production completed remotely – and others found themselves much earlier in the production process when the pandemic hit.
Stranger Things season 4 was right in the middle of filming at the time, according to star Gaten Matarazzo. The actor provided an update on the show’s current status while attending a panel for GalaxyCon Live, saying the following:
We were in the middle of filming [Season] 4 and then they said, ‘Nope!’ They said two-week break, and we’ve been gone for three months.
Matarazzo then went on to describe how he’s been coping with pandemic-imposed downtime, stating:
When it comes to being a part of the show in general, it has me being away from home for a very long time. Due to the pandemic I’ve been home for quite a bit and getting to relax here. I’ve been kind of getting antsy trying to get back into work, just because we’ve been [away] for a very long time. We’re usually in Atlanta filming for seven, eight months, and so it takes a while, it’s more than half the year where I’m away.
Like I said, it’s a regrettably familiar story. As long as it’s deemed not safe to do so, there’ll be no new filming for any TV series or movie, however big the name is. It brings to mind the extraordinary, unprecedented shunting of release dates Marvel had to green-light in response. The backlog coronavirus has caused will take years to work through.
That said, assuaging the doom and gloom fans will no doubt be feeling, a delay is likely all it’ll be for Stranger Things. Smaller names face a more uncertain future, but a brand this established will be getting straight back to filming once the pandemic is under control. Delays are very annoying, but they aren’t the end of the world.
Got any thoughts of your own? Leave a comment below. Not to be morbid, but at the very least, half of Stranger Things season 4 is in the can.