Linnea Berthelsen reveals when she found out about Kali’s return

Linnea Berthelsen interpreta Kalialso known as 008, the “sister” of Eleven who, like her, is a victim of the experiments of Dottor Brenner in Stranger Things. The fifth season is coming to an end: after Volume 1 and Volume 2, starting from 1 January 2026 the final episode of is also available on the platform Stranger Things. Meanwhile, the interpreter of Kali told more about her return, how initially not even the Duffer brothers had offered clear details on the role she would play later and how she tried to dive back into Kali’s mind after a long time.

Stranger Things: Linnea Berthelsen reveals how she came back from Kali, from cutting her hair to “starting from scratch”

Linnea Berthelsen she had no idea what the future held for her when she was chosen to play 008 in the second season of Stranger Things. The character appeared briefly to support Eleven during her rebellious escape, introducing herself as Kali. At the time, the actress recalls that the Duffer brothers had already made her aware of Kali’s possible return, but without revealing the complete plan. “We had already talked about bringing her back, but there wasn’t a narrative or thematic reason to do it,” he explained Matt Duffer a Entertainment Weekly. “She had achieved her goal in season two, but it still felt like a loose end, as if Eleven had simply abandoned her. What had happened to her?” In the meantime, Linnea Berthelsen dedicated herself to other projects and a few years ago she was contacted by the Duffers for a big revelation: Kali was supposed to be in the fifth and final season. The actress recalled that moment: “I was going to do something else when they called me three years ago for season 5. I think I was never mentally interested in coming back and doing something, but it was really nice to see that they had something they wanted to do with the character and we went from there.”

Via Zoom, they discussed the details of bringing Kali back into the game, immediately mentioning her role as a laboratory rat for the Dr. Kaythen mentioning the casting of Linda Hamilton and also the haircut scene, shown through a flashback when Kali tells Eleven what she saw at that military base. Thinking about it haircutthe actress confessed: “I think for logistical reasons it’s my first shot of the entire season. It was my first day of principal photography. We had to shoot it in one take. I did it with [il regista dell’episodio 5] Frank Darabont. I didn’t do it with Matt and Ross, so I also had to do it with someone I didn’t know. I love the work [di Darabont]. I love working with him, but there were all these logistics and requests like, ‘Is this something you’d like to do?’” That haircut represents something else in her eyes: “It basically takes her back into captivity, back to everything she fears most. It’s something we didn’t even have to deal with in season two. It’s very different.”

Kali is different this season, she’s facing something beyond her capabilities and it shows drastic plan which she proposes to Eleven to stop Brenner, Kay and all those like them interested in their abilities: “I started from scratch with this character, given the circumstances that he’s going through. It’s a change of gear. He’s a completely different person. What happens to people when they go through something quite traumatic and different causes you to change. So I think I allowed myself to say: ‘Season 2, that personality, whatever happened is there, but I’m going to start over and do the preparation from the beginning to see what comes out in natural way’. What remained with the character was that caution, that way of seeing the world, the distrust.”