AfterStranger Thingspremiered onNetflixalmost ten years ago, nothing would be the same for its young cast. Little did they know that they would always be associated with the horror fantasy adventure pitched by the Duffer Brothers and which touched the nerve of ’80s culture fans who saw in the show an answer to their pleas. The show’s impact is unquestionable, and while some are still riding the wave of success fueled by the show, others, likeDacre Montgomerypreferred to step aside. The actor, famous forplaying the antagonist Billy Hargrove, the bad boy of Hawkins, went on a long hiatus after being featured as a major character in Seasons 2 and 3 (with a brief guest appearance in Season 4). The reason? He really didn’t like the commercial direction his career was taking.
The 30-year-old Australian actor, also famous for his roles inPower RangersandElvis, is currently promoting his latest movie,Went Up the Hill. He spoke toPeoplemagazine about the project, saying that it’s “exactly the thing I want to be doing.” He says, “Now I kind of feel like I’m in a really, really good space with a couple of great movies coming up that fit the bill in terms of where I wanted to be.”
Of course, with a role as iconic as that of villain Billy Hargrove, the subject ofStranger Thingsdoesn’t take long to arrive in the conversation. Nevertheless, as much as he feels thankful for the opportunity to land sucha big part in the series, he says he just prefers to do stuff away from the commercial spectrum that the Netflix show falls into:
“I think with Stranger Things — as any big show on Netflix — it’s kind of like you lose your anonymity overnight. It was amazing and overwhelming and a combination of many things, and I felt really lucky and really fortunate to have that opportunity.
“I grew up really wanting to work with all tour directors on arthouse films and really explore how far I can push myself in terms of character development and really, really fall in love with stories. And when Stranger Things came out, I felt like I was really being pushed in a commercial direction.
“That sort of stuff takes time to kind of reverse engineer a career that’s going one way into a different direction. It takes time, and I can’t just generate a story, an amazing story [and] an amazing director in front of my eyes.”
Netflix Giant ‘Stranger Things’ Ends in 2025
Stranger Thingsofficially comes to a conclusion this year.Season 5 of the showis set to be released in three volumes later this year. The release schedule for the finale is as follows: Volume 1, consisting of four episodes, will stream on November 26. Volume 2, consisting of three episodes, will stream on Christmas Day. Volume 3 consists of one final episode, and it will stream on New Year’s Eve.
Stranger Things
