The last time “Stranger Things” fans saw Maya Hawke‘s Robin, she was making peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for displaced Hawkins, Ind. townspeople alongside Vickie (Amybeth McNulty). Robin spent a lot of “Stranger Things 4” crushing on Vickie, a clarinetist who plays with her in the Hawkins High marching band. A lot of fans felt that PB&J scene opened the door for Robin and Vickie to become girlfriends in the upcoming fifth and final season of “Stranger Things.” Not so fast.
During a recent interview with Yahoo Entertainment while on the press tour for Wes Anderson’s “Asteroid City,” Hawke said she has mixed feelings about Robin having a girlfriend in “Stranger Things 5.” Production on the show’s final season was supposed to kick off this summer but has been indefinitely put on hold amid the ongoing writers strike. Hawke said she has no idea what series creators Matt and Ross Duffer have planned for Robin in the final episodes.
“I don’t know. I feel mixed about it,” Hawke said when asked if she’s excited for Robin to have an on-camera girlfriend. “I feel that it’s both a great thing, but I also love characters where their love life is not the center of their existence. That friendship with Steve is so special. And friendships have been carrying me through my life. I think they’re really important and they deserve their airtime.”
Robin’s friendship with Steve Harrington (Joe Keery) has been the backbone of Hawke’s time on “Stranger Things,” and it appears she doesn’t want that to change much in the show’s final season. The actor toldRolling Stone last year that she would more than open to Robin being killed off in the final episodes.
“Well, it’s the last season, so people are probably going to die,” Hawke said. “I would love to die and get my hero’s moment. I’d love to die with honor, as any actor would. But I love the way that the Duffer Brothers love their actors. The reason that they write so beautifully for me and for everyone else is because they fall in love with their actors and their characters, and they don’t want to kill them. I think that’s a beautiful quality that they have, and I wouldn’t wish it away.
The Duffer Bros. told the“Happy Sad Confused” podcastafter the “Stranger Things 4” finale aired that they stood by their decision not to kill off series regulars. The duo addressed cast member Millie Bobby Brown, who said the show should embrace the “Game of Thrones” playbook and kill off characters.
“We’ve explored all options in the writing room,” Matt Duffer said. “Just as a complete hypothetical, if you kill Mike, it’s like… That’s depressing… We aren’t ‘Game of Thrones.’ This is Hawkins, it’s not Westeros. The show becomes not ‘Stranger Things’ anymore, because you do have to treat it realistically, right?”
Hawke later admitted that “Stranger Things” definitely has “too many characters.” The series is aiming to start production on Season 5 later this year, but it’s dependent on the writers strike being resolved.
