The New Actors Joining Stranger Things in Season 2

Joyce’s love interest

The Lord of the Rings and Rudy actor is now in Stranger Things territory.

As reported by Variety, Astin is playing Bob Newby, “a kind-hearted former nerd who went to high school with Joyce Byers (Winona Ryder) and Sheriff Hopper (David Harbour).” He is also the manager of the Hawkins RadioShack. 

Oh, yeah, Bob is a love interest for Joyce, too, executive producer Shawn Levy dished to TV Guide. He said, “Joyce in Season 2 has a boyfriend named Bob, played by Sean Astin, and Bob really represents kind of normalcy and the normal life that Joyce would love to build in the aftermath of the craziness of Season 1.”

And for those missing Barb, Levy called Bob “the Barb of Season 2” while chatting with Screen Rant at Comic-Con 2017. “Sean Astin as Bob is going to be, I’m saying it, but he’s kind of going to be the Barb of Season 2,” Levy said. “His part is substantially bigger. He’s in a lot of episodes. He is magnificent.”

A mysterious outsider

There isn’t much known about Danish actress Linnea Berthelson’s character, but she’ll be playing Roman, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Per the outlet, Roman is described as “an emotionally damaged, magnetic young woman who suffered a great loss as a child. Although she does not live in Hawkins, she is mysteriously connected to the supernatural events at the [Department of Energy] lab.”

An irresistible ‘skater punk girl’

As reported by Variety, Sadie Sink joins Stranger Things Season 2 as Max, “a tomboy with a complicated history and a suspicious streak.”

Finn Wolfhard (Mike) told Mashable in June, “She’s this sort of tomboy, badass little skateboarder punk. She shows the boys that you can be a lot more inviting.” Apparently, Max is all about becoming part of Mike, Dustin, Lucas and Will’s friend group.”It’s tough because you’re looking for another kid to join this group of kids who are already incredible,” co-creator Matt Duffer said. “Sadie knocked it out of the park.”

Wolfhard also said of Max when talking to People in September, “She’s this sort of skater punk girl, and Dustin and Lucas end up kind of falling in love with her. And she sort of gets into the group, and I’m not really happy with it because I’m kind of envious because they’re in love and I’m not.”

‘The human villain’

In October 2016, it was announced that Dacre Montgomery (Power Rangers) was joining the series as Billy.

As reported by Variety, Billy is Max’s older step-brother and is said to be “a charismatic Camaro-driving drinker, a classic girlfriend-stealing bad boy.”

While chatting with Mashable, Matt Duffer said about Billy, “He’s not a good guy. That’s what we liked about him. He looks like he should be the lead in Power Rangers, but I like taking that and making him a terrible person. It was fun. He’s the human villain.”

If you ask Montgomery, his character is modeled after Jack Nicholson’s Jack Torrance in The Shining. “We come to town and basically ruffle feathers, I guess, is my character’s place,” he told THR in March. “The Duffers were like, ‘We want somebody like Jack Nicholson in The Shining.’ He’s wild, he’s unpredictable.” He also added, “I’ve got prosthetics, I’ve got a crazy car, I’ve got earrings and tats, and it’s so wild. My character is unpredictable. I’m playing the antagonist as opposed to the protagonist, which I play in Power Rangers.”

Another evil doctor?

When Paul Reiser’s casting was first announced in November 2016, Variety reported that he was playing Dr. Owens, who also works at the Department of Energy. He sets out to “contain” everything that happened the previous year.

Co-creator Ross Duffer told Entertainment Weekly in February that Reiser’s character is a tribute to his Alien character, Burke. “We want people to have those debates like, ‘Do you trust that guy or is he Burke?'” Ross said. “Paul was saying the reason James Cameron cast him is because he thought people would inherently trust him and it would be a twist.”

According to Reiser, who also chatted with EW, his character has a bit “more humanity” than Matthew Modine’s Dr. Brenner. “Modine’s character had very few lines so he was this looming, powerful presence,” Reiser said. “My guy is much more hands-on and sort of among his many degrees is that he has a bedside manner that Modine’s character did not have. I know coming into this what this community has gone through and my job is to try and walk them through their mistrust.”

The conspiracy theorist

According to THR, comedian Brett Gelman is portraying “a disgraced journalist turned conspiracy theorist” named Murray Bauman. 

Apparently, he’ll also be investigating some type of cold case in Hawkins. As for what that cold case is, well, that remains unknown.

It seems like there is a good chance Murray will find hismelf in the thick of the mystery and mess happening throughout the town — and probably get himself into trouble along the way, as well. 

The new dad in town

Will Chase finds himself in a recurring role in Stranger Things. 

As reported by TV Line, the Nashville alum is playing Neil Mayfield, “the father of a family of recent transplants to Hawkins, Indiana, from California.”

It’s not entirely clear who he is playing father to, but there’s probably a good chance he is somehow related to Max and Billy.