Stranger Things star Maya Hawke has revealed that she was “really scared” of filming season four – and no, it wasn’t because of demogorgon’s or the Upside Down looking a little too real.
In a new interview with The Hollywood Reporter, the actor – whose character Robin Buckley debuted during the third season of the show – described how nerve-wracking it was to film the hit Netflix sci-fi series during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Everyone was working so hard to be so protected, to wear masks, to protect each other, to quarantine, and to do checks,” she said to the publication.
“All of that was fantastic, but it’s a really public work. You’re on set, and you need to get fluid out of your face.”
You have to sob, yell, and spit, and no matter what you do, you can’t do it while wearing a mask. You can’t say an 80s storey when wearing a mask on tape. I was very concerned about my quarantining, making sure I was healthy, and conducting my tests, among other things.
“But I was unconcerned about my own safety. I was simply terrified of being on set, doing a scene involving crying, and making a piece of my spit fly. I was terrified that I had picked up the wrong item at the grocery store… and that I had some particle in me.”
Hawke, who is the daughter of Uma Thurman and Ethan Hawke, went on to say that she has now received the coronavirus vaccine and that, although she is always cautious when socialising, she isn’t as worried.
“It wasn’t until then that I felt completely at ease,” she said.
Netflix was forced to delay production in the US due to COVID-19, after wrapping shooting in Lithuania in February 2020 – which will likely concentrate on David Harbour’s Jim Hopper following the season three cliffhanger.
Hawke, Gaten Matarazzo (Dustin Henderson), Natalia Dyer (Nancy Wheeler), Sadie Sink (Max Mayfield), Joe Keery (Steve Harrington), and newcomer Levon Thurman-Hawke have all been seen on location after the filming resumed in Georgia in September 2020.
Seasons 1-3 of Stranger Things are now available on Netflix.
