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Linda Hamilton was ready to retire before she was offered Stranger Things.
The 69-year-old actress admitted she was ready to call time on her career due to problems with her hip but shea and her agent were very excited when The Duffer Brothers expressed their interest in casting her as the mysterious Dr. Kay in the fifth and final season of the Netflix series.
She told Entertainment Weekly: “That doesn’t happen often enough. They came to my agent.
“I was thinking very much of retirement around that time ’cause my hip. I was limping. Unless you want a character that’s limping… I just said, ‘I can’t do my best work or be sure that I’m gonna be fit for work every day. I gotta stop.’
“And cut to — Stranger Things calls him three months later. There’s been no further discussion about retirement. We’ve left it on the table.
“They said, ‘Is Linda Hamilton available from June to June?’ And he went, ‘Yes!’ — without even asking, because that’s how excited we were and he was.”
Because of her physical issues, Linda had to work hard to be “mobile and ready” but thinks her stunt days are now firmly behind her.
She said: “A whole calendar year of trying to stay ahead of the curve in terms of when they might need me and what the demands were going to be physically. We call it PT, but really I went to the gym three times a week to stay mobile and ready.
“It was also very necessary. I’m just older.
“I’m thinking those might be my last stunt rehearsals — I think I might be done with that.
“I could actually say I’m done with that and see what happens.
“But I worked really hard just to stay fit and ready and able. And now, what a relief that I got through it. And she didn’t limp, the character!”
Despite considering retirement, the Terminator star is working more than ever, releasing a movie called Osiris earlier this year and also has movies Trust Me, I’m a Doctor and Resident Alien on the way, as well as her stint on Stranger Things.
And while her hectic schedule has left her “really tired”, Linda adores her career more than ever.
She said: “I’ve hardly ever worked back-to-back. I haven’t worked this much since I started to talk about retirement. Now, I’m working all the time.
“I don’t have an assistant, and I don’t have a manager, and I don’t have a publicist. I really live my life my way.
“So you do it, and then you look like s*** most of the time because you’ve done it all and you’re really tired.
“It’s a funny world ’cause I’m working more than ever and have absolutely no help. I’ve got children that live nearby and a friend that comes in and stays with the dogs, and I just go do what I love.
“I actually love acting more than I ever have. It’s hard being a young actress, single mother, career woman to create the time to do the work, but also to give time to your children. So I find that I can luxuriate and just sit with a script for a day and get so fired up. I really get to sit and learn lines so that I go in off book and ready.”
