If season 4 of Stranger Things has proven anything, it’s that the allure of the show goes far beyond 80s nostalgia. There are a multitude of things that this series has received credit for, like the perfectly mapped out soundtrack, the realistic visuals, and the brilliantly woven storyline, but one thing in particular remains the primary focus of praise that the show receives.
Though the majority of who make up the primary characters in the show are children, one of the most notable features of Stranger Things is the cast. Not even considering the actors that had substantial fame prior to the series starting (like Winona Ryder) it has constantly been mentioned that the performances of the actors are what really sell the story.
Of course, with so much focus on the performative excellence of the cast, especially the child actors, the casting director has often spoken on the process for deciding who they cast. As one might imagine, the process for finding child actors that could handle the dark concepts of the series, but also deliver captivating and emotional performances, was a tall task. Nonetheless, Emmy Award winner and nominee, Carmen Cuba, did it.
Cuba already had experience working with the Duffer brothers, which made it easy to ensure that everyone was on the same page in terms of the vision for the series. The casting process began with the adult characters because it was an easier process, and as a result, Winona was the first actor on board, which gave the show a big star to pull in an audience and give the new actors room to shine. After Hopper was cast, the focus quickly shifted to the kid characters. After seeing around 2,000 auditions, they selected a small group of mildly experienced actors and tested their chemistry as an ensemble. The rest is history.
From the very first season, what was supposed to be a small show blew up, proving that creators did the absolute most with their minimal resources. As the success of the show grew, so did the success of the actors in it. Seemingly the star of the found family story structure, Millie Bobby Brown’s career excelled almost immediately, and she began getting cast in several other shows and even films. Brown was not the only one of the cast to climb the ladder in the industry, as nearly all the actors from Stranger Things quickly went on to begin doing more, bigger projects.
Along with the additional work that came with the cast’s success, they also received multiple awards and nominations. In total, the series has received 219 award nominations and won 63. There were several acting-focused awards given to the series in several substantial award events like the Emmys and the Screen Actors Guild Award show. While many fans felt that nearly all the primary kid characters from season four deserved significant nominations, mostly the same big actors received such nominations. That said, nearly half of the young actors did receive performance-based award nominations of some sort.
Based on the growing number of award nominations and wins that the actors have received for this series, it’s clear to see that the cast of Stranger Things are a vital part of the show’s success. Some fans would even argue that the actors playing the characters are the driving force of the series. It is, after all, their incredibly emotionally in-tune performances that allow the audience to connect to the characters and feel a genuine form of heartbreak when something bad happens to them. While the concept of the story is big and unique, it would be hard to describe Stranger Things as a purely plot-driven story, because the characters bring so much heart to the show. It truly seems to have accomplished a balance between the plot and the characters guiding the direction of the story.
If the growing number of award nominations and the praise from critics and fans alike aren’t enough to demonstrate the important contributions of the cast to the show, the raw, emotional, improvised moments are. There are several instances from the entirety of the show that weren’t written, planned, or directed. An early example is El’s grocery store scene in season one, in which Brown decided to grab far more than one Eggo box from the grocery freezer — a scene that’s now an iconic staple of El’s Eggo-loving character trait.
There are many examples throughout each season that were unscripted moments, where the actors took liberty in doing their job and displayed their understanding of their characters by improvising small actions or lines. However, it was the improvised moments from season four that have most impressed fans and truly displayed the talent within this series. In fact, some of the most popular, impactful, lines from the season were improvised. Some fan favorites were Joyce and Hopper's steamy kiss in the Russian jail, Lucas’ plea for his sister’s help when Max almost died, and Eddie’s heart-wrenching “I love you, man” line to Dustin as he says his final goodbye.
It’s impressive enough for each of these gut-punch moments to have lured the viewers in and connected them to the characters and the story as well as they did. For fans to then learn that many of these moments were created through pure instinct created an additional layer of emotion and skill around them.
Certainly, the actors in Stranger Things have brought an irreplaceable element of quality to an already fantastic idea. It will no doubt be sad for fans of the show to have to say goodbye to the characters at the upcoming end of the series, but seeing them go on to create other phenomenal works will be worth it. Beyond that, the Duffer brothers and Cuban have clearly proven their casting abilities and will likely please fans with their choices once again with any future Stranger Things spinoffs. In fact, regardless of what this team makes, viewers can likely count on it containing a cast that can deliver a moving, memorable, and worthwhile performance, just like in Stranger Things.