Reception[]
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Stranger Things has received critical acclaim from critics and viewers alike. The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes gave the series an overall approval rating of 92% (97% For Season 1, 94% for Season 2, 89% for Season 3, and 88% for Season 4), with an average rating of 7.9/10.
The site’s critical consensus for Season 1 reads, “Exciting, heartbreaking, and sometimes scary, Stranger Things acts as an addictive homage to Spielberg films and vintage 1980s television.” Critical consensus for Season 2 reads, “Stranger Things‘ slow-building sophomore season balances moments of humor and a nostalgic sweetness against growing darkness that’s all the more effective thanks to the show’s full-bodied characters and evocative tone.” Critical consensus for Season 3 reads, “Stranger Things transforms itself into a riveting — yet familiar — summer ride that basks in its neon-laden nostalgia without losing sight of the rich relationships that make the series so endearing.” Critical consensus for Season 4 reads, “Darker and denser than its predecessors, Stranger Things‘ fourth chapter sets the stage for the show’s final season in typically binge-worthy fashion.”
On Metacritic, the series has a score of 76, 78, 72, and 69 out of 100 for Seasons 1, 2, 3, and 4, respectively, indicating “generally favourable reviews”. The series also currently has a score of 8.7 on IMDb.
Stranger Things has also received numerous awards and nominations for both seasons, including 31 nominations on the “Primetime Emmy Awards” with 5 wins, as well as winning the ‘Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series’ for the first season.
The series has also been recognized as the most in-demand digital original series of 2017 and will be included in the 2019 edition of Guinness Book of World Records.
Cast and Characters[]
Main Cast
- Winona Ryder as Joyce Byers
- David Harbour as Jim Hopper
- Millie Bobby Brown as Eleven
- Finn Wolfhard as Mike Wheeler
- Gaten Matarazzo as Dustin Henderson
- Caleb McLaughlin as Lucas Sinclair
- Natalia Dyer as Nancy Wheeler
- Charlie Heaton as Jonathan Byers
- Cara Buono as Karen Wheeler (seasons 1-3; also starring season 4)
- Matthew Modine as Dr. Martin Brenner (seasons 1 and 4; recurring season 2)
- Noah Schnapp as Will Byers (seasons 2-4; recurring season 1)
- Sadie Sink as Max Mayfield (seasons 2-4)
- Joe Keery as Steve Harrington (seasons 2-4; recurring season 1)
- Dacre Montgomery as Billy Hargrove (seasons 2-3; guest season 4)
- Sean Astin as Bob Newby (season 2; guest season 3)
- Paul Reiser as Dr. Sam Owens (seasons 2 and 4; guest season 3)
- Maya Hawke as Robin Buckley (seasons 3-4)
- Priah Ferguson as Erica Sinclair (seasons 3-4; recurring season 2)
- Brett Gelman as Murray Bauman (season 4; recurring season 2-3)
- Jamie Campbell Bower as Vecna/Henry Creel/001 (also starring season 4)
- Eduardo Franco as Argyle (also starring season 4)
- Joseph Quinn as Eddie Munson (also starring season 4)
Recurring Cast
- Joe Chrest as Ted Wheeler
- Anniston and Tinsley Price as Holly Wheeler
- Rob Morgan as Chief Calvin Powell (seasons 1-2 and 4; guest season 3)
- John Paul Reynolds as Officer Phil Callahan (seasons 1-2 and 4; guest season 3)
- Susan Shalhoub Larkin as Florence (seasons 1-2; guest season 3)
- Randy Havens as Mr. Scott Clarke (seasons 1-2; guest season 3)
- Aimee Mullins as Terry Ives (seasons 1-2; guest season 4)
- Amy Seimetz as Becky Ives (seasons 1-2)
- Chester Rushing as Tommy H (seasons 1-2)
- Chelsea Talmadge as Carol Perkins (seasons 1-2)
- Ross Partridge as Lonnie Byers (season 1)
- Shannon Purser as Barbara Holland (season 1)
- Mark Steger as The Demogorgon (season 1)
- Catherine Dyer as Connie Frazier (season 1)
- Peyton Wich as Troy Walsh (season 1)
- Cade Jones as James Dante (season 1)
- Chris Sullivan as Benny Hammond (season 1)
- Linnea Berthelsen as Kali Prasad/008 (season 2)
- Kai Greene as Funshine (season 2)
- James Landry Hébert as Axel (season 2)
- Anna Jacoby-Heron as Dottie (season 2)
- Gabrielle Maiden as Mick (season 2)
- Catherine Curtin as Claudia Henderson (seasons 2 and 4; guest season 3)
- Cynthia Barrett as Marsha Holland (season 2; guest season 1)
- Aaron Munoz as Mr. Holland (season 2)
- Jennifer Marshall as Susan Hargrove (seasons 2 and 4)
- Karen Ceesay as Sue Sinclair (seasons 2 and 4)
- Arnell Powell as Charles Sinclair (seasons 2 and 4)
- Matty Cardarople as Keith (season 2; guest season 3)
- Cary Elwes as Mayor Larry Kline (season 3)
- Jake Busey as Bruce Lowe (season 3)
- Alec Utgoff as Alexei (season 3)
- Andrey Ivchenko as Grigori (season 3)
- Francesca Reale as Heather Holloway (season 3)
- Michael Park as Tom Holloway (season 3)
- Holly Morris as Janet Holloway (season 3)
- Peggy Miley as Doris Driscoll (season 3)
- Gabriella Pizzolo as Suzie Bingham (season 4; guest season 3)
- Sherman Augustus as Lt. Colonel Jack Sullivan (season 4)
- Logan Riley Bruner as Fred Benson (season 4)
- Logan Allen as Jake (season 4)
- Livi Birch as Alice Creel (season 4)
- Regina Ting Chen as Ms. Kelley (season 4)
- Nikola Đjuričko as Yuri Ismaylov (season 4)
- Mason Dye as Jason Carver (season 4)
- Amybeth McNulty as Vickie (season 4)
- Elodie Grace Orkin as Angela (season 4)
- Tyner Rushing as Virginia Creel (season 4)
- Myles Truitt as Patrick McKinney (season 4)
- Grace Van Dien as Chrissy Cunningham (season 4)
- Tom Wlaschiha as Dmitri “Enzo” Antonov (season 4)
- Kevin L. Johnson as Young Victor Creel (season 4)
- Clayton Royal Johnson as Andy (season 4)
- Hunter Romanillos as Chance (season 4)
- Joel Stoffer as Wayne Munson (season 4)
- Paris Benjamin as Agent Ellen Stinson (season 4)
- Ira Amyx as Agent Harmon (season 4)
- Kendrick Cross as Agent Wallace (season 4)
- Martie Blair as Young Eleven (season 4)
- Tristan Spohn as Two (season 4)
- Christian Ganiere as Ten (season 4)
- Vaidotas Martinaitis as Warden Melnikov (season 4)
- Nikolai Nikolaeff as Ivan (season 4)
- Pasha D. Lychnikoff as Oleg (season 4)
- Gwydion Lashlee-Walton as Gareth (season 4)
- Trey Best as Jeff (season 4)
- Grant Goodman as Freak 1 (season 4)
- Jessica Arden Napier as Five (season 4)
- De’Jon Watts as Six (season 4)
- Morgan Gao as Three (season 4)
- Sparrow Nicole as Four (season 4)
- Candice Rose as Laura Cunningham (season 4)
- Christopher Strand as Phillip Cunningham (season 4)
Trivia[]
- The series’s shortest episode, “The Bathtub”, has a runtime of 42 minutes and 20 seconds, while the longest episode is “The Piggyback” with a runtime of 2 hours, 22 minutes and 13 seconds; that is a difference of 1 hour, 39 minutes and 53 seconds.
- The show’s working title was Montauk; in the Duffer Brothers’s original pitch, the series was set in Montauk, Long Island. When the Duffers realized the setting would need to be changed, they came up with a list of alternative show titles:
- The Rift
-
The Nether
“The Nether” was the original name for the Upside Down.
- The Keep
- Sentinel
-
Indigo
“Indigo” was originally going to be the name of the government program at Hawkins Lab.
- The Study
- Wormland
- (The) Tesseract
- Wormhole
- Flickers
