Stranger Things actors Millie Bobby Brown, Finn Wolfhard and Gaten Matarazzo vividly remember the moment when the show turned their lives ‘upside down’ by making them overnight stars.
Stranger Things, created by Matt Duffer and Ross Duffer, is set in the 1980s and takes a look at the fictional town of Hawkins, Indiana, where a secret government lab accidentally opens a door to a parallel dimension referred to as the ‘The Upside Down’.
A group of friends try to make sense of the strange disappearances and the evil things haunting their town while also struggling to hide a new and mysterious friend.
The fourth season of the show is currently streaming on Netflix.Brown, who became a global star courtesy of her role as Eleven, a girl with psychokinetic and telepathic abilities, still remembers waking up to see her tennis ball-shaped face everywhere after the first season.
“I think the moment I knew the show had taken off was when I woke up from a nap in my car and looked at my phone and my shaved face, my tennis ball-shaped face was like everywhere. I was like, ‘Oh, this is really it’... I remember thinking to myself, ‘This is legit, people love this’,” Brown told PTI in a roundtable interview during a virtual set visit of the show.
But the most surreal moment for her was during the premiere of Season 2 when people were chanting her and co-star Wolfhard’s name.“I was like ‘This moment will last forever’. The show has immortalised itself. I feel it’s gonna last forever. I am so grateful that I got to be a part of that. I do remember that Season 2 premiere was very surreal for me,” she added.
The 18-year-old actor, who was just 12 when she starred in the first season of the show in 2016, has since gone on to play major roles in Hollywood films Godzilla: King of the Monsters, its sequel Godzilla vs Kong and Netflix period mystery drama, Enola Holmes, that she also produced.
Wolfhard, 19, had a similar trajectory and has featured in the horror film IT and its sequel, The Goldfinch and Ghostbusters: Afterlife.
He described the experience of working on the show as being part of a camp where a group of friends meet every season.
“We kind of grew up with the characters because we come back every year. It’s really an interesting thing and something that was almost kind of like a camp. Like the way I’m coming back every year and seeing the same people and seeing what everyone has been up to in real life and on the show,” Wolfhard said.
The actor said the show's success has “changed and impacted our lives completely and for the better.”
“I can say for both Mille and I, we’re so happy to be in the position that we are in. We are just happy to be back every season,” he added.
The cast of the show has shared a close friendship since the first season. Twitter
Matarazzo, who plays the goofy and quick-witted group member Dustin Henderson in the drama, said it was hard to pinpoint the moment when he realised that the show was a hit.
“Personally, it’s gonna sound weird. I didn’t even realise it when I was already getting recognised on the street. I was already seeing posters and stuff and trailers, and a bunch of merch (merchandise) coming out for the show and it didn’t really hit me until they made a Lego set of us, like a collection of all of them. I was like, oh, I need to get my hands on this one. So, I got it. And then I just sat there for a while and looked at the little figure of Dustin,” he said.
The actor hopes Stranger Things, which is currently in its fourth chapter, would go on for more seasons.
The fourth season has been divided into two parts and while the first instalment is already streaming on Netflix, the second half will arrive on July 1.
Stranger Things also stars Winona Ryder, David Harbour, Caleb McLaughlin, Noah Schnapp, Sadie Sink, Natalia Dyer, Charlie Heaton, Joe Keery and Maya Hawke.
The show is produced by Monkey Massacre Productions and 21 Laps Entertainment with Matt and Ross Duffer serving as executive producers, alongside Shawn Levy and Dan Cohen as well as Iain Paterson and Curtis Gwinn.
