It was announced back in November that Sean Astin was to join the cast for the second season of Netflix’s nostalgia-drenched hit Stranger Things, although the character he was to play remained a mystery. The casting certainly seemed apt, with 80s classic The Goonies (in which Astin starred) being one of the key films the show harks back to. Thanks to Hollywood Life, we can now bring you details about Astin’s role in the series.
A handful of cast members spoke at last weekend’s Fan2Sea Comic Con cruise, with David Harbour (Police Chief Jim Hopper in the show) revealing the identity of Astin’s character. A former classmate of Hopper and Winona Ryder’s Joyce Byers, Astin’s Bob Newby becomes Joyce’s new boyfriend (“much to the chagrin of the Chief of Police,” Harbour said).
Harbour also talked about what we can expect from the upcoming season:
“It’s a year later in the story, so there are several things that happened last year — like Will has come back — there are certain people in the town that know what happened, and then certain people that don’t know what happened. So there’s a lot of fall out with who knows what.
The question and the feelings that Nancy has that no one ever cares about her friend Barb, are very much present in the beginning of the season.”
Returning cast members Finn Wolfhard, Millie Bobby Brown, Gaten Matarazzo, Caleb McLaughlin, Natalia Dyer, and Charlie Heaton will be joined by a host of new faces besides Astin. They include comedian and actor Paul Reiser (Aliens, The Darkness), Brett Gelman (30 Minutes or Less), newcomer Linnea Berthelsen, Safe Neighborhood’s Dacre Montgomery and Sadie Sink (TV’s Odyssey).
Stranger Things returns to Netflix in July.
Words: Kevan Farrow (@KevanX)
