If you’ve ever felt personally victimised by the Stranger Things writers’ emotional rollercoasters — good news! You can partly blame the cast for some of the chaos. The Duffer Brothers recently told PEDESTRIAN.TV that several fan-favourite characters exist in their current, perfect forms because the actors themselves were just too good to waste.
Let’s unpack the ways the Hawkins crew straight‑up changed Stranger Things forever.
Steve Harrington
We all know Steve Harrington (Joe Keery) started out as Nancy Wheeler’s (Natalia Dyer) floppy-haired, slightly smug boyfriend — basically every ‘80s teen movie villain rolled into one. What fewer fans knew is that he was originally meant to die in season one. Yup, Steve was supposed to meet a demogorgon-flavoured end.
As Ross Duffer previously told The Hollywood Reporter, “Steve was supposed to be this jocky douchebag, and Joe was so much more than that.” In other words: Joe Keery walked on set, smiled once, and suddenly the writers were falling over themselves to rewrite the ending.
Even Netflix’s own Geeked Week confirmed that Keery’s charm flipped Steve’s fate. Instead of a swift death, he got promoted to bat-wielding babysitter extraordinaire — a glow-up no one saw coming.
The Duffers have said they “fell in love” with Keery’s performance and decided not to kill Steve off in season one.
Basically, Joe Keery is living proof that being nice to your co-workers can literally save your fictional life.
Robin Buckley
Asked if other actors had shaped their characters, Matt didn’t hesitate: “All of them, I would say… Maya [Hawke] really changed our idea of who Robin was.”
Originally, the writers pictured Robin as a snarky, sardonic type “a little bit more Janeane Garofalo‑ish,” according to Matt. Once Maya Hawke entered the room, that idea went flying upside-down.
“Maya’s personality was just so interesting and unique that we sort of fused our original idea of Robin with Maya,” he said. The result? One of the show’s most authentic and instantly beloved characters — the kind of cool, queer nerd who could win both hearts and battles with eldritch horrors before lunch.
Dustin Henderson
Ross also shouted out Gaten Matarazzo, who apparently made them rethink Dustin completely. “Once we saw him, we were like, ‘This kid is one in a million’,” Ross told P.TV.
The Duffers “tailored Dustin to him”, which might explain why no one in Hawkins has better one-liners or more heart.
Mike Wheeler
Even Mike Wheeler — the slightly neurotic, fast‑talking leader of the bike squad — owes a bit of himself to Finn Wolfhard. “Finn was different than how we originally imagined,” Ross admitted. “His quick speech, his anxiety, his fidgeting — we just took pieces of Finn and fused it with our original Mike.”
Dr. Martin Brenner
Turns out even Hawkins’ resident mad scientist got a rewrite. “We didn’t actually fully get that character until we started to work with Matthew Modine,” Matt said.
Modine’s take on Dr. Brenner — all unnervingly calm menace wrapped in fatherly charm — helped the creators refine a villain who could hold the show’s psychological weight. Suddenly, Brenner wasn’t just a lab coat with bad vibes; he was a complex, morally grey cornerstone of Stranger Things lore.
“Every time we did anything like this, it made the character so much more interesting and specific and it really improved the show,” Ross explained to P.TV.
As Stranger Things heads into its final stretch, the Duffers admit they’re bracing for tears. “Very few people have seen the final episode,” Matt said, “but those who do seem to have a very emotional response to it”.
Ross added simply: “Tears.”
If there’s one silver lining, it’s that the family built in Hawkins — both on-screen and off — isn’t disappearing anytime soon. The Duffers are already developing a spin‑off that “doesn’t involve any of the characters or Hawkins… or even the Upside Down.” Bold. But, as Matt teased, it’ll still be “very much Stranger Things“.
So yes, grab the tissues, because the kids are grown up now.
You can watch our full interview with the Duffer brothers here:
You can watch volume one and two of Stranger Things season five now on Netflix with the final volume dropping on January 1 2026 in Australia.
Lead image: Stranger Things / Netflix
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