Terminator star Linda Hamilton has joined Netflix's Stranger Things 5 for the hit series' final season as a new villain, as the Hawkins gang rally together to take down Vecna and the Upside Down once and for all.
Dr Kay is a new antagonist for Stranger Things 5, a military scientist hellbent on finding Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown) at quite literally any cost, including the lives of many others. Linda Hamilton was top of the show creators the Duffer Brothers' list after growing up watching her play badass Sarah O'Connor in the Terminator movies in the 1980s, incidentally the decade where Stranger Things is set. Some could argue it was a perfect match.
“The idea always was to find an actor who is iconic, someone we grew up watching,” Matt Duffer told Netflix's Tudum. "And Linda falls into that category, obviously, as did previous guest stars Sean Astin and Paul Reiser. The idea of working with an actor who we grew up loving was really exciting for us. You never know if they’re going to say yes. Luckily we found out that Linda was a fan of the show and had seen all four seasons, which is very surreal. She jumped on board immediately and enthusiastically.”
The Duffers even built the character of Dr Kay around Linda after she was cast. “Before we cast her, we weren’t quite sure who Dr. Kay was yet. We knew that she was in the military. We knew we wanted her to be very different from Brenner,” Ross Duffer said. “But once Linda came in, we molded the character around her. We leaned away from the traditional scientist and gave her more of a military edge. She can fight, she can use a gun, and she doesn’t hesitate to do so. You don’t want to piss her off.”
Describing her initial reluctance to join the cast due to her own love of Stranger Things, Linda told Netflix's Tudum: “When they called, I was like, ‘No, I’m a fan of that show. I can’t be in that show.’ So it was a stunning turn of events, and I was thrilled, absolutely thrilled,” she says. “It’s the first show I’ve ever done where I’m a fan and an actor, so what a delight.”
So who exactly is Dr Kay? According to Linda herself, she is "the lead scientist in the military, and she’s a bit of a mystery.
“Her work is very specific to her, and I’m playing her as if people don’t matter,” Linda has said. “Science is what matters, and she’s very much trying to stop the drama that’s unfolding and thinks she’s doing the right thing for Hawkins. She’s so determined that nothing really gets in her way, and that’s where it gets a little bit more interesting for the character and for the audience.”
We think it's fair to say she's pretty ruthless in her demeanour and her mission, which is searching for Eleven, after she was blamed back in Stranger Things 4 for Vecna's brutal murders.
“Her sole interest and focus is finding Eleven,” Linda says. “So everything else, all the loss of life and all of the cataclysmic stuff that is happening around her, does not shake her from her mission. And her relationship with all of her subordinates is not pretty. She is very much the master of the game and treats them like they’re insignificant unless they can bring her what she wants.”
A key draw for Linda when it came to joining the cast of Stranger Things – aside from her own fandom – was Eleven herself, Millie Bobby Brown. “I immediately was enthralled with Millie Bobby Brown and her talent as such a young actress,” she said. "I was fascinated with her work as a fellow actor. I also just loved the entire cast and whole world that this show invented.
“It reminded me of E.T. and sweet relationship movies from that era. Of course, it also has global appeal that’s cross-generational with the younger kids, and you’re drawn in by the real relationships they form. That, coupled with the incredible special effects, pulled me in.”
