We’re less than two months from the beginning of the final season of Stranger Things. I’m legitimately really excited for it, even if it’s super annoying that Netflix is stretching it out over three separate release dates. These release dates are Thanksgiving, Christmas Day, and New Years Eve, so basically Netflix is hoping to keep people subscribed through January. I bet they announce yet another price raise within that time period.
ST creators Matt and Russ Duffer (aka the Duffer Brothers) appeared at Variety’s Entertainment & Tech Summit. It’s been almost 10 years since ST’s first season, which means its child stars are now basically a decade older than when they started filming. During an interview, the D-Bros were asked about how they managed to keep their then-child actors from avoiding Hollywood’s infamous child actor’s curse. They had very simple answers: good parents and strength in numbers.
As the final chapter of “Stranger Things” approaches, series creators Matt and Ross Duffer are looking back. The Netflix juggernaut premiered back in July of 2016, and at Variety’s Entertainment & Tech Summit in Los Angeles on Thursday, the pair was asked for their thoughts on the fact that the child actors with whom they began this journey are now all adults, some with children themselves.
“It’s wild. It’s a reminder of how long this has been and how lucky we are. Because we’re really– it’s a family who’ve sort of gone through all this together,” Matt Duffer said, joking that he was pleased that none of the young stars were “ruined by this experience.”
“So that was a relief,” he added, drawing laughs.
“I think it always comes down to the parents,” Ross Duffer said. “They had good families, and supportive parents (who) kept them grounded.”
He also thinks there was strength in numbers.
“I think it also kept them grounded that it wasn’t just one of them,” he said. “There’s a whole group of them, and they stayed friends and they stayed connected when seasons ended.”
During “challenging” moments, he said, “they were not going through any of it alone.”
Honestly, good for these kids. From what we know publicly, each of them have turned out pretty well. They’ve also been allowed to come into their own without tabloid interference, which is just astonishing. I grew up in the 90s, where there were so many awful stories about child stars that played out in the public eye, even into the early 2000s. We also heard terrible stories about how some actors, like Macualey Culkin, had to separate their finances from their parents’ so they couldn’t continue to leech off of them. I believe that having decent, present, supportive parents made all of the difference for them.
It’s wonderful that for the most part, the Stranger Things children had people looking out for them on all fronts. I’m not a betting woman, but I’d wager a small-stakes bet that a big part of these children being kept safer from the traditional Hollywood traps was a combination of their parents being aware enough to keep them safe and them working with former child stars like Winona Ryder, who was also able to offer guidance. As they say, it takes a village (made up of villagers with best intentions).
photos credit: Xavier Collin/Jordan Hinton/Image Press Agency/Avalon, Eric Charbonneau for Netflix
It really is remarkable. I hope for their continued safety and success.
I hope so…the biggest challenge will likely be what comes next once the show officially ends. That’s often when things get tricky. On the other hand, the ST filming schedule allowed them all to do other projects, it’s not like the old 22 episode network format that limited your other opportunities.
I’m sure having Winona on set might have been helpful, but the show also cast kids who already had experience performing, either on stage or on TV, and had supports in place.
As the mother to a former child actor who is now a pretty successful TV producer, I can attest that it took constant vigilance to raise my child to be healthy, well educated, and grounded–with career options beyond acting–amid the stardust of the business and the suits who consider child actors to be fungible and their moms a problem to be managed. The battles we fought were over his on-set education, which we required be more than perfunctory, and his ability to do “normal” kid things, like attend summer camp and play team sports and attend public school. Gave his reps more than a few heart attacks when we threatened to turn down a job if we did not get–in writing–the education he deserved. It was never about the billing, or the money, or the glory. It was about making sure the folks in charge committed the resources to educate him properly and our child understood what was really important in life as he had these exceptionally privileged and extraordinary experiences.
Well done and thanks for sharing ypur experience.
Thanks!
Your child is lucky you were so on top of all of that! Good job. Mom.
Thank you for sharing your story! Your child is very lucky to have had you in his corner!
I’m glad to that the kids are alright.
I tapped out on this series years ago.
Netflix’s release schedule sounds exhausting so, no thanks
MBB’s family got a lot of bad press for making her the money maker of the family. Her parents sounded pretty awful and they let their underage daughter’s 20 year old boyfriend stay with them who later slut shamed her in the most disgusting way.
I think MBB definitely benefited though from having good adults on set and becoming bffs with the actor who plays Will who does sound like he has good parents and decided to go to college.
When a child becomes the family’s breadwinner, it perverts the family dynamic in really toxic ways. The kid can either be victimized financially or holds all the power, but understands very early on that they have to keep working to keep food on the table–whether they want to work or not. Families often live separately to accommodate a child’s career. Siblings can become collateral damage. And in the end, the bank account is drained. My partner and I continued our careers in order to be the breadwinners and banked all of our child’s earnings–spending that $ only with his knowledge and only for work-related expenses like headshots. When he turned 18, he alone decided how to use that money.
I love that when the kids started the show they agreed to put down their damn cell phones and play like kids in the 80s. I think it served the show, it served their performances, and probably served them well as young actors- to have the break, to understand you can just put the damn phone down.
I hate that it has taken a decade to make 5 seasons of a damn tv show.
It is ridiculous. The bald little science experiment of a girl that was 11 is now a married mother.
I mean, i watched the howard stern movie- i can suspend reality and go with the movie- but, come on.
I also like that they had gen X queen Ms. Ryder at their side for this journey.
I just came here to say that I had no idea the Duffer brothers were so attractive, so thank you for that.
One of the kid actors lives near me and their mother is sort of a friend of a friend, kid seems totally normal, grounded, and well loved. It for sure makes all the difference.