‘Stranger Things’ Star Linda Hamilton Rejects Anti-Aging Obsession: “This Is the Face I’ve Earned”
Linda Hamilton likes the way she looks, thank you very much.
The 69-year-old star — a screen veteran who broke out in Hollywood as a blockbuster action star in the Terminator franchise opposite Arnold Schwarzenegger — is about to have another big moment courtesy of the small screen with a role in Netflix’s global phenomenon Stranger Things. While chatting with AARP’s Movies for Grownups about her new role as Dr. Kay, a government agent on the hunt for Millie Bobby Brown’s Eleven, Hamilton opened up on why she rejects conforming to Hollywood beauty standards.
“I do not spend a moment trying to look younger on any level, ever,” she says. “I have just completely surrendered to the fact that this is the face that I’ve earned. And it tells me so much,” she told the outlet, adding that while she isn’t surgically altering her face, she is focused on taking care of her body. While filming Stranger Things, she hit the gym three times a week. “It was Pilates, it was yoga, a lot of free weights, machines, cables, everything. And I kind of love that: to go in and not have a chest and back day, but just have a ‘what do you need to loosen up and stretch out today.’”
Hamilton at a Stranger Things screening at London’s Odeon Luxe Leicester Square on Nov. 13, 2025.
(Photo by Gareth Cattermole/Getty Images)
She was super-stoked to get the call about Stranger Things, a show that she was a fan of. “I couldn’t wait to tell people. I just couldn’t wait.” She’s more tight-lipped about who Dr. Kay is in the context of this final season, revealing only that she is a head scientist for the military operating inside quarantined Hawkins while continuing the work of Dr. Brenner, played by Matthew Modine.
Meanwhile, when she’s not working, Hamilton is enjoying a quieter life in New Orleans, far from the hustle of Hollywood. “I’ve found a great balance between work and life. I certainly feel like everything is a blessing right now,” she said. “I have one credit card. I literally try to keep my life so that I can do it and not have to find things and worry about things and not be able to track things. So I’m a bit of a minimalist that way.”
The full AARP’s Movies for Grownups interview, in which she also opens up on stunts and what it was like to lose her twin sister, can be found here. Season five of Stranger Things will be released in three parts: Volume 1 on Nov. 26 (consisting of four episodes), Volume 2 on Christmas (three episodes) and The Finale on New Year’s Eve. Find everything we know about Stranger Things‘ final season here.
Hamilton, Matt Duffer, Sadie Sink, Nell Fisher, Dan Cohen, Joe Chrest, Finn Wolfhard, Alex Breaux, Priah Ferguson, Winona Ryder, Natalia Dyer, Brett Gelman, Gaten Matarazzo, Charlie Heaton, Jamie Campbell Bower, Noah Schnapp, Joe Keery, Maya Hawke, Millie Bobby Brown, Amybeth McNulty, Shawn Levy, David Harbour, Ross Duffer and Cara Buono at Netflix’s Stranger Things season 5 world premiere at Hollywood’s TCL Chinese 6 Theatres on Nov. 6, 2025.
(Photo by Charley Gallay/Getty Images for Netflix)
