'Stranger Things' child star to earn ten times less than her male co-stars for Season Three

2017 was a big year for female empowerment, but, even in our post-Weinstein-Spacey-Whoever-Is-Next 2018, it's evident that we still have a way to go. Yes, we haven't bagged ourselves a female President - and cases of sexual harassment and assault still aren't taken as seriously as they should be in most workplaces - but, we're also falling short on the base disparities: equal pay.

Case in point: Stranger Things star, Sadie Sink, is purportedly yet to earn as much as her male co-stars. In fact, TMZ has asserted that she's making 10 times less than them.

Sink joined the cast of Netflix's hit television show Stranger Things last year as part of the second season, portraying tomboy Max Mayfield - and she quickly proved to be popular with viewers.

However, the 16-year-old doesn't even come close to earning as much as her co-stars, according to a new report from TMZ which alleges that she's making 10 times less than them.

While Sink will make $25,000 per episode for the third season - a small increase from the $23,000 she earned last year - the original cast of child actors still make significantly more.

 

Finn Wolfhard (Mike Wheeler), Gaten Matarazzo (Dustin Henderson), Caleb McLaughlin (Lucas Sinclair) and Noah Schnapp (Will Byers), are all reported to make around $250,000 per episode.

Breakout star Millie Bobby Brown, who plays Eleven, is set to receive an even bigger salary this year. TMZ reported that she's in line to earn as much as $350,000 - which would match the paycheques of the adult stars of the series, including Winona Ryder (Joyce Byers) and David Harbour (Jim Hopper).

This means that she will amass an impressive $3.15 million for the nine episodes of the third season - a huge increase on the $225,000 that she was originally set to make.

Sink's contract for season two of Stranger Things guaranteed that she would appear in seven episodes, but this was then increased to nine, which meant she took home an extra $46,000.

While her pay is set to rise in small increments each season, there is an added caveat: the other child actors were on a similar contract to Sink before they were able to negotiate a huge salary increase.

So, although Sadie Sink's current salary is alarming when compared to that of her male co-stars, it's highly probable that the actress will be able to negotiate a salary increase by the end of season three. We also have to factor in that right now, she's only been working on the series for one season - unlike her fellow actors.

Speaking to Glamour earlier this year, executive producer Shawn Levy revealed that the young actors will have to contend with "new" evil forces in season three. "We're going to give Will [Byers] a break," he stated. "We're not going to put Will through hell for a third season in a row."

"He'll be dealing with stuff, but he won't be at rock bottom the way we forced the amazing Noah Schnapp to play. We're [going to be] dealing with forces of evil that are new."

Hopefully, this means that we'll be seeing a lot more of Sadie Sink...