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Netflix Cast Has Seen ‘Stranger Things’
After a worldwide search that featured thousands of young actors, Deadline is reporting that Netflix has locked the young ensemble cast for “Stranger Things,” its upcoming supernatural period drama series written and directed by young genre filmmakers Matt Duffer and Ross Duffer (“Wayward Pines”) and executive produced by Shawn Levy.
The series, which will be titled “Stranger Things,” has cast Finn Wolfhard, Millie Brown, Gaten Matarazzo, Caleb McLaughlin, Noah Schnapp, Natalia Dyer and Charlie Heaton, who will join adult leads Winona Ryder and David Harbour.
The eight-episode series, previously known as “Montauk,” will debut in 2016.
“Described as a love letter to the ’80s classics that captivated a generation, ‘Stranger Things’ is set in 1980 Montauk, Long Island, where a young boy vanishes into thin air. As friends, family and local police search for answers, they are drawn into an extraordinary mystery involving top-secret government experiments, terrifying supernatural forces and one very strange little girl.”
-Finn Wolfhard co-stars as Mike, a bullied 12-year-old who becomes an unlikely hero in the quest to save his best friend.
-Millie Brown portrays a mysterious character that Mike meets in the woods, who possesses strange abilities.
-Gaten Matarazzo is Dustin, a 12-year-old who marches to the beat of his own drum and whose sense of humor helps defuse tense situations in the series.
-Caleb McLaughlin stars as Lucas, an opinionated friend of Mike’s, who possesses a fierceness and courage the other boys lack.
-Noah Schnapp portrays Will, a small and sensitive boy who doesn’t fit into the 1980’s definition of normal. He vanishes into thin air.
-Natalia Dyer portrays Nancy, Mike’s teenage, older sister.
-Charlie Heaton portrays Jonathan, Will’s older teenage brother.
-Ryder plays Joyce, a working class single mother reeling from the disappearance of her 12-year-old son, and Harbour plays the town’s chief of police.
The Duffer Brothers are writing, directing and co-showrunning the series, and will serve as executive producers along with co-showrunner Karl Gajdusek and Shawn Levy and Dan Cohen via their 21 Laps entertainment banner.
Sam Neill, the New Zealand actor best known for his role in 1993’s Jurassic Park, has passed away this week at 78 years old. In a statement shared on Neill’s Instagram page this morning, the actor’s family said that his passing was “sudden and unexpected.”
Neill had been diagnosed with a rare blood cancer in 2022, but stated the following year that he was in remission. The family notes that he “remained cancer free” at the time of his passing.
The family statement reads, “It is with immense sadness that the whānau of Sam Neill share the news of his passing on Monday 13th July, in Sydney Australia. Sam was surrounded by family and passed with the dignity that has characterised his whole life. The loss was sudden and unexpected but blessed by the fact that Sam remained cancer free.
“They would like to express their deepest gratitude to the staff at St Vincent’s Private Hospital for their incredible care. More details will be shared later, but for now, on behalf of the family, we ask that you respect their privacy as they navigate this immeasurable loss.”
In addition to his iconic role as Dr. Alan Grant in the original Jurassic Park and the sequels Jurassic Park III and Jurassic World: Dominion, Sam Neill left an indelible mark on the horror genre with memorable roles in Andrzej Żuławski’s Possession, The Omen: The Final Conflict, John Carpenter’s In the Mouth of Madness, and sci-fi horror favorite Event Horizon.
Sam Neill’s vast resume in film and television began in the early 1970s and also includes the films Sleeping Dogs, Enigma, The Good Wife, A Cry in the Dark, Dead Calm, The Hunt for Red October, Memoirs of an Invisible Man, Hostage, The Jungle Book, Snow White: A Tale of Terror, The Horse Whisperer, Bicentennial Man, Daybreakers, Escape Plan, and Thor: Ragnarok.
Sam Neill is survived by his four children and eight grandchildren.
Steven Spielberg said in a statement to Variety, “I owe a debt of gratitude to Roger Donaldson, Gilliam Armstrong, Graham Baker and Phillip Noyce for casting Sam Neill in the roles in which he was so brilliant that brought him to my attention and led to his playing Dr. Alan Grant in Jurassic Park. Sam was exceptionally collaborative. It was a stretch for him to play a character who acted as though children were messy and smelly because this was the opposite of the loving father he was to his children. I adored making all the Jurassic movies with him.”
Spielberg adds, “Along with Laura Dern and Jeff Goldblum, we will always have our Jurassic family and Sam will never be forgotten by us or his many millions of fans around the world.”
Sam Neill in ‘Event Horizon’
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