‘Stranger Things’ halts production on final season amidst writer’s strike

‘Stranger Things’ is the latest show to have its filming schedule put on hold as the Writers Guild of America strike continues until a deal is reached with major studios.

The news was shared by show creators Matt and Ross Duffer in a tweet posted on Saturday from the show’s official writer’s room account, sharing the news that filming for the highly-anticipated fifth and final season of ‘Stranger Things’ will be put on hold indefinitely.

“Duffers here. Writing does not stop when filming begins. While we’re excited to start production with our amazing cast and crew, it is not possible during this strike,” they wrote in the tweet.

“We hope a fair deal is reached soon so we can all get back to work. Until then — over and out. #wgastrong.”

What other shows and programs have been affected by the strike?

The news of the series’ pausing production comes a week into the WGA strike and has resulted in a number of shows going on hiatus in solidarity with the writers.

Late-night shows such as ABC’s ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live’, CBS’ ‘The Late Show’, ‘Comedy Central’s ‘Daily Show’, and NBC’s ‘Tonight’, ‘Late Night’ and ‘Saturday Night Live’ have all gone on an indefinite hiatus.

Also included in this list are HBO’s shows ‘Real Time with Bill Maher’ and ‘This Week Tonight with John Oliver’.

Some networks, such as NBC, will be paying two weeks of salary to staffers, while each of its late-night hosts will reportedly pay a third week out of their own pockets.

“I wouldn’t have a show if it wasn’t for my writers, I support them all the way,” Jimmy Fallon told Variety from the Met Gala red carpet.

Other shows that have been affected include Apple TV’s ‘Loot, the popular daytime soap operas ‘Days of Our Lives’, ‘General Hospital’, and season six of Netflix’s ‘Cobra Kai’.

Season three of ‘Yellowjackets’ has also been shut down, as season two is currently in the midst of airing on HBO. And while the scripts for ‘House of the Dragon’ season two are all completed, there will be no writers available on set to make any sudden changes.

Season two of ‘The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power’ faces a similar issue.

Most recently, the MTV Movie & TV Award show has canceled its live show, with host Drew Barrymore backing out in respect for the strike, along with a number of presenters and guests.

Meanwhile, Paramount CEO Bob Bakish says that viewers won’t notice any changes as they have outsourced much of their work.

“Writers are an essential part of creating content that our audiences enjoy, really across platforms,” Bakish said. “And we hope we can come to a resolution that works for everyone fairly quickly. But it’s also fair to say there’s a pretty big gap today.”

He continued: “So obviously, we’ve been planning for this. We do have many levers to pull and that’ll allow us to manage through this strike, even if it’s for an extended duration. In terms of those levers, we have a lot of so to speak content in the can. So, with the exception of things like late night, consumers really won’t notice anything for a while.”