Linda Hamilton contemplated retiring from acting before an invitation to visit Hawkins appeared on her doorstep.

The Terminator star told The Hollywood Reporter that she considered throwing in the towel before learning that she’d landed an undisclosed role in the upcoming fifth and final season of Stranger Things.

“I literally felt like I was an actress getting my first meaningful part [with Stranger Things],” Hamilton said. “It’s funny, how it recycles. It’s not that I felt forgotten, but I was actually talking about retirement, not because there isn’t enough to do, but just I’m tired of being tough. My hip was hurting for a couple of years and I was like, 'I’m just so tired of being tough, and I just want to be able to make plans and make sure I can be there,' because actors never, ever can be there when they say they’re going to be there.”

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The actress said she’d “complained to my agent” about the pain that she felt while preparing for season 3 of Resident Alien. “I was like, ‘Dude, I don’t even know if I’m going to get there. I hurt,’” she recalled with a laugh. “And he’s like, ‘Oh, you don’t mean that.’”

That is, naturally, when an opportunity came knocking. “When I said retirement, cut to two weeks or so later, Stranger Things called him and said, ‘Is Linda Hamilton available from June to June?’ And he went, ‘Yes.’” Adding, “He didn’t even ask me.”

Even if she had bid farewell to her acting career, Hamilton noted that she still would’ve “come out of retirement” just for Stranger Things. She added, “And I think that’s going to give me another 15 minutes with a new audience, which is cool.”

However, her casting did come with one major caveat. Hamilton, who is a longtime fan of the Netflix supernatural series, previously admitted that joining the world of Stranger Things did end up spoiling some of its magic for her.

“When you really buy into something, you don’t see yourself in it," she explained to Us Weekly. "So I think, in a way, it kind of ruined the show for me. I never watch [a project] once I’m in something. It would just completely take me out of the reality of it to see myself in there. So I won’t be watching [season 5].”

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