Ava Barrett | Reporter
Stranger Things was the most popular TV show of 2016, and with season 2 having just arrived on Netflix the whole world has gone crazy for the spooky goings on in Hawkins USA..
Like any good team they have made a new signing for the forthcoming season, and this actor is no stranger to 80s adventures. Actor Sean Astin, who played Mickey Walsh in the 1985 hit movie, The Goonies, stars in the new series as Bob Newbie, love interest for Will’s mother, Joyce played by Winona Ryder.
Will, of course, was trapped in the Upside Down and escaped at the end of season 1 with the help of his pals, Dustin, Lucas, Mike and the mysterious Eleven. Confused? No wonder, because if you haven’t seen the fabulous first season this will all sound like gibberish. Here’s a quick recap; a young boy goes missing from a small American town in 1983 sparking panic among his friends and family not to metion the local police. He’s been sucked into an alternative dimension, unknown to those around him. Over 8 episodes show creators Matt and Ross Duffer ( who are identical twins, strange eh?) take the viewers on a terrifying journey as the town’s residents battle to rescue Will..
Hiring Sean Astin wasn’t the ideal choice for The Duffer Brothers as Astin told The Daily Record:
“The Duffers told me they hesitated for a second before hiring me. They wanted to make sure it didn’t seem like a stunt cast from the 80s, that it felt like it fit the show. They thought about it and decided to do it and I’m glad they did.”
“I play Bob Newbie, a decent normal guy from Indiana who works at Radio Shack. He went to high school with Joyce and Hopper and as season two starts, he and Joyce are dating – so I get to be the love interest with Winona Ryder, which is very sweet. With Winona and me, who grew up alongside each other – and it shouldn’t be surprising yet it really is – there was a definite energy that happened when we worked together and had the same feelings about each other.”
Season 2 has undoubtedly got a hard act to follow after the obvious success of the first series. But the success of the show was helped by one of the kings of cinema, the legendary producer of The Goonies, Steven Speilberg.
Speilberg emailed the Duffer brothers saying how much he liked the show and when word got out, the whole world went Stranger Things crazy!
It remains to be seen if the second season will be as popular as the first but the brothers even have plans for a third and fourth series – optimistic eh?
Ross Duffer told Empire magazine:
“I don’t think we can wrap it up in season three. There’s a luittle too much but we really start laying the groundwork for what we see as the arc of the full show in this next season. We probably need at least four seasons to wrap it up. It could be longer. It’s hard to know. We don’t have these grand plans.”
So, everyone’s favourite show will be around for a while longer and that can only be good news. Will they ever meet up with The Goonies in the Upside Down? ‘Stranger Things’ have happened!
