The Stranger Things Cast Will Make Enough Money To Buy The Upside Down In Season 5
The characters of "Stranger Things" have been through a lot. For starters, there's that whole "one of my best friends disappeared into the woods one night and now no one knows where he is" thing that kicked everything off in season 1. From there, though, things have just kind of snowballed. It turns out that living in Hawkins, Indiana is as eventful as building your home in a guaranteed flood zone, only with decidedly more demogorgons and you know, cracks in the fabric of time and space that lead to another, more hellish version of your world.
And even though Will, Mike, Lucas, Dustin, and their friends definitely do not get paid enough to deal with all the near-death experiences that they consistently seem to find themselves in, the actors who play them absolutely do. In fact, the most recent salaries for the cast of the show are enough to make anyone's mind flay for real.
Cost of living in Hawkins, Indiana
Unless you've been living in the upside down for the last six years, you know that "Stranger Things" is kind of a big deal. It's one of Netflix's most-watched shows, and its popularity no doubt helped the stars of the series in cashing out much bigger paydays for the upcoming final season. In a recent article on Puck News, the results of salary negotiations were revealed (a process that sounded fairly complex due in large part to a specific California Law that allowed lawyers to re-negotiate their clients' contracts), and the numbers are mind-boggling.
According to Puck News, the salaries were arranged in tiers with the most prominent actors (I.E. Winona Ryder and David Harbour) placed in the highest category. Tier 1 sees Ryder and Harbour bringing in a whopping $9.5 million for the whole season, while tier 2 is set to pay the show's arguably most important actors — Finn Wolfhard, Gaten Matarazzo, Caleb McLaughlin, Noah Schnapp, and Sadie Sink — a staggering $7 million. Sink, who plays fan-favorite Max Mayfield, reportedly made a strong argument for why she should be included amongst the tier 2 actors despite her character first being introduced in season 2. Tier 3 of the pay scale consists of the show's other heavy hitters — Joe Keery, Natalia Dyer, Charlie Heaton, and Maya Hawke — and they are set to make only slightly less than their tier 2 comrades at $6 million for the season. Tier 4 is the tier for everyone else involved, who Puck News reports will make "much less."
The missing number
Glaringly absent from any of the tiers is Millie Bobby Brown who was not part of the salary negotiations for season 5. This is because Brown has her own deal with Netflix that keeps her comfortable. She reportedly made $10 million alone to star in the "Enola Holmes" sequel, and she will also be in the Netflix-released 2024 sci-fi flick, "The Electric State."
Puck News is quick to point out that while the individual salaries of each cast member are not that ludicrous for a show as insanely popular as "Stranger Things," because there are so many series regulars in the Upside Down, those numbers start to add up pretty quickly making season 5 a "pretty pricey season of TV." It should also be noted that the salaries for each actor are for 10 episodes even though the show's last season will only consist of eight, a move that seeks to bring down the on-paper cost that each actor is making per episode so that the company has an easier time negotiating payments for other shows (sneaky). The extra money is also meant to make up for the longer episodes in season 4 and possibly season 5.
Indie Wire states that other major TV shows like "Game of Thrones" and "Friends" saw the main actors making similar, if not bigger, salaries for their work on these major shows. Still, it's pretty impressive to see just how much it costs to populate Hawkins, Indiana. Though, I personally feel that Noah Schnapp can't be paid enough to sport one of the most frightening haircuts to ever grace our TV screens.