Overview
Main cast
Recurring cast
Main characters
Joyce Byers
* Portrayed by Winona Ryder * Appears in: '' Season 1'', '' Season 2'', '' Season 3'', '' Season 4'' * Status: Alive Joyce Byers is the mother of Jonathan Byers and Will Byers and is divorced from their father Lonnie Byers. Joyce is a very caring and strong-willed woman who works as a retail clerk at Melvald's General Store in downtown Hawkins. She was born and raised in Hawkins and she attended Hawkins High School with Hopper and Bob. In season three, she is planning to sell her house and move out of Hawkins, much to Hopper’s dismay who tries to convince her to go on a date with him. Even though she does have feelings for him, Joyce tries to avoid getting into another relationship. She is mainly more interested in figuring out why the magnets in her house keep falling off her fridge and while investigating the reason behind this, she and Hopper uncover a Russian conspiracy. After infiltrating a Russian lab beneath the new Starcourt Mall, where the Russians have opened another portal into the Upside Down, Joyce is forced to close the portal by turning off the Russian machine used to open it with Hopper in the room, and Hopper ends up being presumably dead. Joyce becomes a mother figure to Eleven after taking her in when Hopper supposedly died. The Byers family and Eleven move to California three months after Hopper's supposed death. Joyce has a stay-at-home job and receives a package from Russia carrying a doll, which has a note inside that reveals Hopper is alive. She and Murray call the number on the note and contact "Enzo", a prison guard that Hopper has bribed, who demands $40,000 in exchange for Hopper's freedom. Joyce obtains the money and flies to Alaska with Murray Bauman, where they meet Yuri Ismaylov, a Russian smuggler and pilot that smuggles American goods into the Russian prison camp. Realizing the profit that can be made, Yuri Ismaylov drugs Joyce and Murray and flies them to Russia. En route, Joyce and Murray knock out Yuri and crash in the wilderness. They force Yuri to take them to the prison camp, where Murray impersonates Yuri, while Joyce and Yuri act as hostages. The two witness Hopper fight the Demogorgon, but Joyce manages to rescue him and reunites with him.Jim Hopper
* Portrayed by David Harbour * Appears in: ''Season 1'', ''Season 2'', ''Season 3'', ''Season 4'' * Status: Alive James "Jim" Hopper, nicknamed "Hop", is the Hawkins chief of police. Hopper has lived in Hawkins nearly all his life, having attended high school with Joyce and Bob. Hopper divorced after his young daughter Sarah died of cancer, which caused him to lapse into alcoholism. Eventually, he grows to be more responsible, saving Will from the Demogorgon as well as taking Eleven in as his adopted daughter. In season three, he tries to break up Mike and Eleven since their relationship is moving too fast for him while trying to win over Joyce romantically. Through Joyce, he gets involved in an investigation regarding the supernatural, and they uncover a Russian conspiracy. He is seemingly killed in an explosion under the mall caused by a Russian machine used to open a portal to the Upside Down. In a teaser trailer for season four ("''From Russia, with love...''" - released on February 14, 2020), he is shown alive in Russia. Having survived the mall explosion, Hopper is captured by Russians and is taken to a prison camp in Kamchatka, where he and other prisoners work on constructing a railroad track. While there, Hopper bribes a prison guard named Dmitri Antonov and works with him to escape the prison camp. Hopper manages to escape to a nearby town, but he is recaptured. After Antonov is revealed to be a corrupt guard, both he and Hopper are imprisoned together. During a feast, Hopper realizes he and the other prisoners are being plumped to be easy prey for an upcoming battle with the Demogorgon. He lights his weapon on fire, holding the Demogorgon away long enough for Joyce to lead Hopper to safety. Hopper and Joyce reunite and finally profess their romantic feelings for one another. Hopper, Joyce, Murray, Antonov and Yuri discover a number of creatures from the Upside Down being studied in the prison. Realizing their children are in danger, they work together to kill the creatures, weakening the Upside Down's power and giving the kids an advantage in their fight against Vecna. Hopper and Joyce then return to Hawkins, and Hopper reunites with Eleven. However, the Upside Down begins to engulf Hawkins.Mike Wheeler
* Portrayed by Finn Wolfhard * Appears in: ''Season 1'', ''Season 2'', ''Season 3'', ''Season 4'' * Status: Alive Michael "Mike" Wheeler is the son of Karen and Ted Wheeler, younger brother of Nancy and older brother of Holly, and is friends with Lucas, Dustin and Will. Mike is an intelligent and conscientious student who is committed to Lucas, Dustin and Will. In their '' Dungeons and Dragons'' party, Mike is their Paladin and usually plays the role of Dungeon Master. He develops feelings for Eleven after taking her in and helping her escape the bad men. Eleven also helps him and his friends find Will. At the end of season one, Mike asks Eleven to the Snow Ball (school dance) and he kisses Eleven, much to her surprise. However, the Demogorgon appears and Eleven says her goodbyes to Mike as she seemingly dies, killing the Demogorgon. In season two, he feels upset at the fact that Eleven is gone. He calls her every night, hoping she will one day return. He grows irritated with the party and has a rocky relationship with Max at first. Will reveals his apparent flashbacks to the Upside Down to Mike and he accompanies Joyce, Bob and Will to the lab when Will's health deteriorates. When Eleven reappears, he is grateful that they do not have to fight the battle without her but angry at Hopper for keeping her hidden for the past year. Mike is key on getting Will’s memory back to tell the group to close the gate. Before Eleven leaves to close the gate, Mike tells her he cannot lose her again and she promises him that he will not. A month after Eleven closes the gate, the two attend the Snow Ball together and share yet another kiss. The next summer, the two are dating, but Hopper manages to separate them because they are spending too much time together. When Eleven and Max realize Mike has been lying about his grandmother being sick she eventually breaks up with Mike. However, the two reconcile at the hospital waiting for Nancy. While Eleven tries to find Billy, Mike expresses concern that everyone is careless with Eleven‘s powers and confesses that he loves Eleven. He tries to project his feelings to her after she gets bitten but struggles to find the right words. On the day that Eleven and the Byers family move away, Mike promises Eleven that he will keep in contact and schedules visits at Thanksgiving and Christmas. Eleven then tells Mike that she loves him and kisses him before she leaves Hawkins with the Byers family. In the spring of 1986, Mike and Dustin join the Hellfire Club, Hawkins High School's Dungeons and Dragons club, led by Eddie Munson. Though Lucas is also a member, he has committed himself to the Hawkins HS basketball team, putting him at odds with Mike and Dustin, who urge him to side with them—the "nerds and freaks." He and Eleven maintain a long-distance relationship with letters, and for spring break, Mike flies to California to visit Eleven and Will at their new home in Lenora Hills. Though Eleven insisted to Mike that she had friends and was living a semi-popular lifestyle, Mike discovers that she was lying to hide the heavy bullying she experiences from other students. He witnesses Angela and a gang of girls humiliate Eleven at Rink-o-Mania, and he is shocked when Eleven retaliates with physical violence. The following day, Mike and Eleven argue when she expresses her dissatisfaction in the relationship, pointing out Mike's strange reluctance to say he loves her. When Eleven is arrested for attacking Angela, Mike, Will, and Jonathan are distressed and unsure how to help her—until Sam Owens sends agents to inform them that Eleven has accepted his offer to begin training to get her powers back. At the Byers home, the three are being guarded by two agents, until U.S. Army soldiers attack the house, forcing them to escape with the help of Jonathan's friend Argyle, bringing a wounded Agent Harmon with them. After Harmon dies and leaves them with a phone number to reach Owens and Eleven, Mike enlists the help of Dustin's girlfriend Suzie, who lives in Salt Lake City, Utah. There, Suzie provides them coordinates for the Nina Project, which is in Nevada. Along the way, Mike expresses his inner anxieties regarding his relationship with Eleven, scared that she will eventually realize that she doesn't need him as he needs her. As the U.S. Army closes in on Eleven, Mike and the California Crew arrive, giving Eleven a chance to destroy her attackers and their transportation. Together, they venture to a Surfer Boy Pizza location in Nevada to build Eleven a sensory deprivation tank for her to travel into Max's mind to protect her from Vecna. When Vecna overpowers Eleven, Mike professes his love for her, giving her the strength to overpower him. The California Crew then returns to Hawkins, where Mike and the others prepare for a final battle with the Upside Down, which has leaked into their town.Eleven
* Portrayed by Millie Bobby Brown * Appears in: ''Season 1'', ''Season 2'', ''Season 3'', ''Season 4'' * Status: Alive Eleven is a telekinetic girl who is the sole match for the creatures of the Upside Down. She later becomes Jim Hopper's adoptive daughter and Mike Wheeler's girlfriend. Born to Terry Ives, Eleven was abducted by Dr. Martin Brenner at birth and taken to Hawkins National Laboratories to hone her telekinetic abilities alongside other gifted children. In 1979, she is bullied by the older numbers for exhibiting a poor usage of her powers, but she finds kindness in a lab orderly, who encourages and supports her. Eventually, Eleven demonstrates great power, but she is targeted by the older children once again and threatened with death. The lab orderly urges Eleven to escape Hawkins Lab, but she frees the orderly, who reveals himself to be Henry Creel / Subject 001 (One). One proceeds to kill everyone in Hawkins Lab, with the exceptions of Brenner and Eleven. When One attempts to convince Eleven to join him in a mission for human dominance, Eleven rejects him, and the two fight. The adult One overpowers the eight-year-old Eleven, but Eleven's powerful, loving memory of her mother gives her the strength to overpower One, sending him into the Upside Down, where he becomes Vecna. Eleven falls into a coma, and her abilities, memory, and intellect are reset when she awakens. After her escape at the beginning of season one, Eleven is befriended by Mike, Dustin, and Lucas, who believe she can help them in finding Will. In the kids' ''Dungeons and Dragons'' party, she is the Mage. She spends the majority of the first season hiding and running from the "bad men", meaning the lab workers. She helps the boys locate Will, and she fends off threats for them along the way. In the season one finale, she presumably dies after fighting the Demogorgon, though she actually survived and was sent to the Upside Down alongside the Demogorgon. In season two, following the events of the season one finale, Eleven is shown to escape the Upside Down through a gate in a hallway in Hawkins Middle School. Hopper then becomes a father figure to Eleven, though he hides her from Mike, Dustin and Lucas for her safety. Eleven grows increasingly frustrated at this isolation from the other world, and she temporarily flees Hawkins in search of her biological mother, Terry Ives. She later ventures to Chicago, Illinois, where she meets a girl named Kali (subject 008 / Eight) and her group of vengeful killers. Despite going through a journey of self-discovery, Eleven ultimately returns to Hawkins, reuniting with Mike and her friends. She closes the gate she opened the year prior in Hawkins Lab, ending the Mind Flayer's connection to Hawkins. Hopper legally adopts her as his daughter. In season three, Eleven is actively dating Mike, much to Hopper's chagrin. When Hopper attempts to separate Mike and Eleven, he forces Mike to lie to her. She suspects this ruse, and she consults Max Mayfield, who helps her discover her individuality. When the Mind Flayer's threat emerges once again, Eleven is pursued once more. After being bitten by the Mind Flayer, Eleven loses her powers, as well as Hopper at the end of the season and moves with the Byers family to Lenora Hills, California. In spring 1986, Eleven has attended Lenora Hills High School alongside Will, and here she experiences incessant, daily bullying by fellow classmate Angela and her friends. When Mike visits El and Will, Angela and her friends gang up on Eleven at Rink-o-Mania, and Eleven strikes Angela in the face with a roller skate in retaliation. She is taken into police custody, but Dr. Sam Owens intercepts her arrest, offering her a chance to restore her abilities. After she accepts, Owens takes her to a facility in Nevada, where she reunites with Brenner. She is forced to confront her traumatic memories in Hawkins Lab taking her to a facility where she relives her repressed memories of her time at Hawkins Lab. After recalling the lab massacre, Eleven finds that her abilities are restored, and once she learns of the Hawkins Gang's plan to kill Henry / One / Vecna, she attempts to travel back to Hawkins with Owens, though Brenner intervenes and insists on keeping Eleven. After the U.S. Army attacks the silo lab, Brenner attempts to flee with a sedated Eleven, only to be shot. Eleven manages to save herself, and she refuses to forgive a dying Brenner. She later telepathically saves Max from Vecna and revives her when she succumbs to her injuries.Dustin Henderson
* Portrayed by Gaten Matarazzo * Appears in: ''Season 1'', ''Season 2'', ''Season 3'', ''Season 4'' * Status: Alive Dustin Henderson is a friend of Mike, Will, and Lucas, and a goofy and quick-witted boy whose cleidocranial dysplasia causes him toLucas Sinclair
* Portrayed by Caleb McLaughlin * Appears in: ''Season 1'', ''Season 2'', ''Season 3'', ''Season 4'' * Status: Alive Lucas is the eldest child of Sue and Charles Sinclair, elder brother of Erica, and a friend of Mike, Will, and Dustin. Lucas is wary of Eleven at first and blatantly distrustful of her, but befriends her later. In high school, Lucas joins the Hellfire Club and the basketball team but struggles to make time for both clubs. At the cemetery, he, along with Dustin and Steve, helps Max escape Vecna and comforts her after she escapes. He finds himself confronted by the senior captain of the basketball team, Jason Carver while Max is under Vecna’s curse. A fight ensues with Jason briefly overpowering Lucas, however after he sees Max beginning to levitate he summons the strength to continue which results in him knocking out Jason. Lucas observes in horror as Max begins to succumb to Vecna's Curse, her bones are crushed and she loses her sight. This leaves Lucas devastated as he cries hysterically as Max dies in his arms, before Eleven psychically resurrects Max, barely saving her. At the end of the season he is seen reading to Max as she is laying in the hospital comatose. Spores from the Upside Down are seen from the hospital window as Lucas and Erica observe.Nancy Wheeler
* Portrayed by Natalia Dyer * Appears in: ''Season 1'', ''Season 2'', ''Season 3'', ''Season 4'' * Status: Alive Nancy Wheeler is the oldest daughter of Karen and Ted Wheeler and the older sister of Mike and Holly. Nancy is something of an outcast at school until Steve Harrington takes an interest in her. Their relationship lasts until the ending of season two when she starts dating Jonathan after a little help from Murray ("So get it over with!"). She is very proficient with firearms, despite a noticeable lack of training or practice. She has been seen using pistols, revolvers, rifles andJonathan Byers
* Portrayed by Charlie Heaton * Appears in: ''Season 1'', ''Season 2'', ''Season 3'', ''Season 4'' * Status: Alive Jonathan Byers is the older brother of Will and the oldest son of Joyce. He is shy and reserved, and is considered an outsider at Hawkins High. He is an aspiring photographer, and very close with his mother and brother. Jonathan starts dating Nancy at the end of season two. They both become interns at the ''Hawkins Post'' in season three, but are eventually fired by their editor for pursuing a story. He helps his friends defeat the Mind Flayer before he and his family decide to move to Lenora Hills, California. In the fourth season, Jonathan makes a new friend named Argyle. Jonathan, who planned to attend college with Nancy, reveals to Argyle that he was accepted to a community college in Lenora Hills. After gaining the number of NINA, they seek the help of Suzie who resides in Salt Lake City, Utah. Suzie locates NINA's coordinates, and the group arrives there while Eleven is facing off against the U.S. Army's troops. Jonathan helps the group build an isolation tank for Eleven to fight Vecna, and later returns to Hawkins only to find it being infiltrated by the Upside Down.Karen Wheeler
* Portrayed by Cara Buono * Appears in: ''Season 1'', ''Season 2'', ''Season 3'', ''Season 4'' * Status: Alive Karen Wheeler is the mother of Nancy, Mike and Holly and wife of Ted. Although a loving mother at heart, she remains largely clueless about her children's activities up until the destruction of Hawkins by Vecna, and often tries to directly connect with them rather than trying to understand them. Nancy believes she only married her husband to fit the image of aMartin Brenner
* Portrayed by Matthew Modine * Appears in: ''Season 1'', ''Season 2'', ''Season 4'' * Status: Deceased * Died in: ''Season 4'' Dr. Martin Brenner, who is referred to as "Papa" by Eleven and the other children he experimented on, is the head scientist of Hawkins Laboratory and the experiments performed there. He is a callous and manipulative scientist, having abducted Eleven from her mother, Terry Ives, whom he later subjected to electroshock therapy to destroy her mind and thoughts. Brenner then put Eleven through numerous experiments, one of which saw her use her abilities to accidentally establish a link to the Upside Down. After Eleven escapes the lab, Brenner and his team hunt for her throughout Hawkins while covering up the actions of the Demogorgon they unknowingly let loose. Brenner is apparently killed by the Demogorgon in the first-season finale, though a former worker named Ray claimed Brenner was still alive during his attempt to plea for his life to Eleven and Kali. In season four, Brenner is revealed to still be alive and working with Dr. Owens on a project called "NINA", which they hope can restore Eleven's powers. NINA is a specialized sensory deprivation tank and experimental drugs that allow Eleven to vividly recall memories of her time in the lab. Flashbacks to 1979 show that Brenner was experimenting on at least thirteen children alongside Eleven until all of them except for her were murdered by subject 001 (Henry Creel/Vecna), whom Eleven overpowered and banished to the Upside Down. The exertion put Eleven in a coma that erased most of her memories and weakened her powers, which Brenner began attempting to restore. Brenner's experiments on Eleven throughout the first season are revealed to have been attempts to locate Henry, whose powers he sought to replicate in the other children. The NINA project ultimately succeeds in restoring Eleven's powers, but U.S. Army troops led by Lt. Col. Jack Sullivan storm the facility and kill the staff, believing Eleven to be responsible for a string of murders in Hawkins (which were in fact committed by Vecna). Brenner is shot by a sniper while attempting to escape with Eleven, who overpowers the Army. As Brenner dies, Eleven refuses his pleas to forgive him for the way he treated her.Will Byers
* Portrayed by Noah Schnapp * Appears in: ''Season 1'', ''Season 2'', ''Season 3'', ''Season 4'' * Status: Alive Willam "Will" Byers is the younger brother of Jonathan and the youngest son of Joyce, is the shy, kind, timid, and often forgotten member of the party. In the group's ''Dungeons and Dragons'' party, Will is the wizard, but later occasionally plays the role of Dungeon Master; he is referred to as "Will the Wise". In season one, he vanishes somewhere near "Mirkwood" after encountering the monster that escaped through a rift to the "Upside Down", an alternate dimension discovered by the Hawkins Laboratory scientists. Schnapp was promoted to series regular for the second season, after recurring in the first. In season two, he began to experience flashbacks to his time in the Upside-Down, with visions of a large shadow monster trying to attack him. The monster eventually possessed Will, and was later dubbed by Dustin as "The Mind Flayer". Joyce, Mike, Jonathan, and Nancy were able to drive the Mind Flayer out of Will, returning him to normal. In season three, his friends' preoccupations with their girlfriends lead to Will feeling like the odd-man-out. His link to the Mind Flayer helps the group know when it is active. At the end of the season, he moves out of Hawkins with Joyce, Jonathan and Eleven. In season four, Will, Mike, Jonathan, and Argyle recover Eleven and help her build a sensory deprivation tank through which she can fight Vecna. Upon returning to Hawkins, which has been ravaged by a series of faults opened by Vecna from the Upside Down, Will begins feeling the Upside Down's influence again—recognizing Vecna as the presence he felt all along. Schnapp has confirmed that Will is gay and is attracted to Mike. The show has hinted at this through the first three seasons, but it was made more apparent during scenes in the fourth season. Will tries to boost Mike's confidence that they will find Eleven as they drive to the Nina project site. Later, he is comforted by Jonathan who knows that Will is different mentions that he will accept him, saying "you're my brother and there is nothing in this world that will ever change that."Max Mayfield
* Portrayed by Sadie Sink * Appears in: ''Season 2'', ''Season 3'', ''Season 4'' * Status: Alive Maxine "Max" Mayfield is Susan Hargrove's biological daughter,Steve Harrington
* Portrayed by Joe Keery * Appears in: ''Season 1'', ''Season 2'', ''Season 3'', ''Season 4'' * Status: Alive Steve Harrington, who is referred to as Steve "The Hair" Harrington, is a popular student at school. He tries to develop a relationship with Nancy and bullies Jonathan, though he comes to regret this. Keery was promoted to series regular from the second season onwards, after recurring in the first. Steve then played a more prominent role, developing a motherly relationship with Dustin, and becoming a self-described babysitter for the main group of kids. Steve is the owner of what the friends call "The Bat", a baseball bat with multiple large nails driven into the head of it, made by Jonathan to fight the Demogorgon. Steve uses the bat to fight off a pack of adolescent Demogorgons that attack Hawkins in the second season. In season three, Steve works at Starcourt Mall at Scoops Ahoy withBilly Hargrove
* Portrayed by Dacre Montgomery * Appears in: ''Season 2'', ''Season 3'', ''Season 4'' * Status: Deceased * Died in: ''Season 3'' William "Billy" Hargrove is the careless, rash, and overly protective stepbrother of Max. His own behavior is revealed to be a consequence of the physical abuse he himself is subjected to by his father. In season three, he becomes the main host for the Mind Flayer. Eleven, having looked into his memories earlier, reminds Billy of his happy memories with his mother, allowing him to break free from the possession and sacrifice himself to save Eleven from the Mind Flayer. After the Mind Flayer is defeated, Billy apologizes to Max for all his wrongdoings as he dies in Max's arms. In season four, Billy appears as a hallucination when Max is put into a trance by Vecna, where Billy blames her for his death. Max reveals that a part of her is happy that he died but that she still cared about him and loved him.Bob Newby
* Portrayed by Sean Astin * Appears in: ''Season 2'', ''Season 3'' * Status: Deceased * Died in: ''Season 2'' Bob Newby is a former classmate of Joyce and Hopper, who runs the HawkinsSam Owens
* Portrayed by Paul Reiser * Appears in: ''Season 2'', ''Season 3'', ''Season 4'' * Status: Alive Dr. Sam Owens is a United States Department of Energy executive who replaces Brenner at Hawkins Laboratory. Owens is as committed to science research and stubborn as his predecessor, but much more empathetic to the residents of Hawkins Lab. Owens is in charge of studying and treating Will's lingering traumatic episodes from the Upside Down. He is fired from the lab at the end of season two after it is attacked by monsters at the Upside Down, and provides Hopper with a birth certificate for Eleven naming her Hopper's adopted daughter. In season three, Jim Hopper calls Sam Owens to inform him a gate has been opened in Hawkins. In the finale of the season, Dr. Owens and his men fly to Hawkins and raid the Russians' secret base. During the raid, Sam sees a gate inside the wall that is not fully closed. In season four, Owens has secretly begun working with Brenner on a program called "NINA" that may be able to bring back Eleven's powers. Owens recruits Eleven to participate in the program after a string of murders in Hawkins; she initially revolted after learning of Brenner's involvement, but the brief resurgence of her powers during an escape attempt convinces her to stay. The project ultimately succeeds in restoring Eleven's powers, but U.S. Army forces led by Lt. Col. Jack Sullivan storm the facility, believing Eleven to be responsible for the Hawkins murders. Sullivan attempts to force Eleven's whereabouts out of Owens, but Eleven destroys the Army's vehicles.Robin Buckley
* Portrayed by Maya Hawke * Appears in: ''Season 3'', ''Season 4'' * Status: Alive Robin Buckley is Steve's coworker at the Starcourt Mall's ice cream parlor, "''Scoops Ahoy!''". Robin decodes a Russian radio message and finds the base along with Steve, Dustin, and Erica. While stating she was obsessed with Steve in high school, the influence of truth serum reveals that she actually pined for the attention of one of Steve's many admirers, Tammy Thompson, revealing she is a lesbian. In season four, Robin has a crush on fellow classmate Vickie. In season four, Robin continues working with Steve at the local video store. After locating Eddie, Nancy and Robin go to the library and look up information on Creel, learning that Creel blamed his family's murders on a demon, which they believe to be Vecna. The two visit Creel at Pankhurst Asylum, where he recounts his family's murders. Later, she goes with Nancy and Steve to the Creel house in the Upside Down as part of their plan to defeat Vecna.Erica Sinclair
* Portrayed by Priah Ferguson * Appears in: ''Season 2'', ''Season 3'', ''Season 4'' * Status: Alive Erica Sinclair is Sue and Charles Sinclair's youngest child and is Lucas' younger sister. Introduced in the second season as a recurring character, she was promoted to series regular in the third season. She aids Dustin, Steve, and Robin in infiltrating the Russian base beneath Starcourt Mall. During these events, Dustin convinces Erica that, like himself and his friends, she is a nerd and that she should embrace that. At the end of the third season, she is given Will's ''Dungeons & Dragons'' manuals. She is very snarky, foul-mouthed, sassy and often thinks of Lucas and his friends as nerds, though she can also be nice at times. In season four, she has embraced her nerdy side and joins the Hawkins High School's Hellfire Club in her brother's place after demonstrating proficient knowledge of ''Dungeons & Dragons''. She serves as a lookout and communicator between the many groups in their plan to defeat Vecna.Murray Bauman
* Portrayed by Brett Gelman * Appears in: ''Season 2'', ''Season 3'', ''Season 4'' * Status: Alive Murray Bauman is a private investigator and conspiracy theorist hired to investigate Barbara Holland's disappearance. First introduced in season two, he assists Nancy and Jonathan in their mission to shut down Hawkins National Laboratory. In season three, he helps Joyce and Hopper infiltrate the secret underground base in Starcourt Mall, where the Soviets had been building a machine capable of opening a gate to the Upside Down. He is also shown to be fluent in Russian. In season 4, he and Joyce travel to Kamchatka to rescue Hopper from imprisonment. There, he disguises himself as Yuri Ismaylov to rescue Hopper and burns demodogs to aid the kids in Hawkins against Vecna. He is a dramatic, bearded and balding man who loves vodka and often drinks it to think; he also can predict good couples, for example, Nancy and Jonathan, and Joyce and Hopper.Vecna
* Portrayed by Jamie Campbell Bower (adult) and Raphael Luce (child) * Appears in: ''Season 4'' * Status: Alive Vecna is a murderous being in the Upside Down, who first appears in season four. He preys on individuals reeling from past traumas, and his method of killing involves inducing nightmarish visions before telekinetically breaking their bones and imploding their skulls. He operates out of the Creel House in the Upside Down. He is revealed to have been the main antagonist of the series, being responsible for the events that terrorized Hawkins in the previous seasons, all the way back to Will's disappearance in Season 1. Vecna is revealed to be Henry Creel, Victor Creel's son who was born with telepathic abilities. Henry grew up with a deeply misanthropic view of humanity after being ostracized throughout his childhood. He came to resent his family for their perceived hypocrisy, having learned that his father mistakenly bombed the home of an innocent family during World War II. In the 1950s, he terrorized and murdered his mother and sister in his family's house using his powers, but the exertion put him in a coma while his father was arrested for the murders and placed in a psychiatric institution. Henry was placed in the care of Dr. Brenner, who made him test subject One in Brenner's attempts to replicate Henry's powers in other children. As an adult, Henry was made an orderly at Hawkins Lab to help oversee Brenner's experiments on a number of superpowered children, including Eleven. Brenner placed an implant (dubbed " Soteria") in Henry's neck that suppressed his powers. In 1979, Henry befriended Eleven amidst her being bullied by other subjects, and pointed out to her that she and the rest of the lab's occupants were prisoners. Sympathizing with Henry's plight after witnessing him being punished by Brenner, Eleven destroyed the Soteria implant, restoring his powers. Henry massacred all the other children and most of the lab's staff and attempted to kill Eleven after she refused to help him eradicate the rest of humanity. Eleven overpowered Henry and sent him into the Upside Down, where he became disfigured by lightning injuries and prolonged exposure to its toxic environment. Henry discovered various creatures residing in the realm, and used his powers to control them, the Mind Flayer being the result of his manipulations. In 1986, after spending several years remaining dormant and growing stronger while controlling the Upside Down, Henry begins terrorizing Hawkins himself, murdering several Hawkins High School students, including Chrissy Cunningham, Fred Benson, and Patrick McKinney. Dustin and Eddie dub him "Vecna" based on his similarities to the '' Dungeons & Dragons''s character of the same name. Vecna nearly kills Max until her friends find a way to break his influence using music. He later possesses Nancy, reveals to her his past, and then shows her a vision of the future where Hawkins is torn apart by rifts before releasing her. Nancy and her friends deduce that Vecna needs to open four gates to the Upside Down to enact his plan, three of which have been spawned at the site of each of his murders. Max attempts to bait Vecna while her friends travel to the Upside Down to kill him. Eleven enters Max's mind and confronts Vecna, who reveals himself as the mastermind behind the Upside Down's past attacks on Hawkins. Vecna possesses and kills Max before Eleven overpowers him, while Steve, Nancy, and Robin severely injure his physical form before he escapes. Though Eleven revives Max, her brief death opens a fourth gate to the Upside Down, causing rifts to tear through Hawkins, allowing the Upside Down to begin infiltrating the town.Argyle
* Portrayed byEddie Munson
* Portrayed byCreatures of the Upside Down
Mind Flayer
Introduced in the second season as a malevolent semi-corporeal entity that resides in the parallel dimension known as the Upside Down, where every living thing in that reality serves as an extension of the Mind Flayer's hive mind and acts on the entity's desire to spread itself to Earth. The events of the first season allowed the Mind Flayer to terraform Hawkins secretly through Will Byers, who was infected during his time in the Upside Down and had unknowingly brought incubated Demogorgons with him. In the second season, the Mind Flayer's existence was revealed as it implanted a piece of itself into Will through visions, while using adolescent Demogorgons to eliminate anyone who interfered in the terraforming. While the others managed to close the gate to sever the Mind Flayer's foothold, its ethereal fragment took refuge at Brimborn Steel Works after being "exorcised" from Will. During the events of season three, a new Gate opened by Russians allowed the Mind Flayer to have its isolated fragment create an organic vessel by infecting and possessing living beings and absorbing their entire biomass. The Mind Flayer nearly succeeded in killing Eleven, only to lose its foothold when Joyce and Hopper infiltrated the secret Russian laboratory and closed the new gate. In the fourth season, the Mind Flayer is revealed to have been shaped and controlled by Henry Creel (Vecna), who discovered the entity as a formless mass in the Upside Down (after being sent there by Eleven) and morphed it into its spider-like appearance, owing to his childhood fascination with black widows. Hopper, Joyce, and Murray discover another fragment of the Mind Flayer inside a Russian research facility in Kamchatka, where it eventually breaks free and animates the other Demogorgons inside the facility. Hopper and Murray manage to kill the remaining creatures.Demogorgons, Demodogs and Demobats
Predatory creatures from the Upside Down that serve as the Mind Flayer's initial invasion force, are murderous and violent with limited intelligence. Demogorgons start off as slug-like creatures that are incubated in a victim's body, growing into a tadpole-like creature and gradually molting into an adolescent form called a "demodog" before fully maturing. An adult demogorgon, played by Mark Steger, appears after a gateway to the Upside Down was accidentally opened in Hawkins, and demonstrated an apparent ability to create random rifts between the Upside Down and the normal world. Though that demogorgon, called the Demogorgon, was eventually destroyed, its abduction of Will Byers allowed the Mind Flayer to unleash a swarm of adolescent demogorgons upon Hawkins before they were all killed when their connection to the Mind Flayer was severed. The end of the third season reveals another adult demogorgon, eventually called the Russian Demogorgon, being held captive by the Russians at a prison camp in Kamchatka, where prisoners are sometimes executed by being fed to the creature. In the fourth season, Hopper and his fellow prisoners are forced to fight the Russian Demogorgon. Hopper uses a flaming spear to hold back the creature while it ravages most of the other prisoners, while Joyce and Murray help him escape alongside Dmitri Antonov, a guard he bribed and befriended. The group discovers a number of demogorgons (as well as a fragment of the Mind Flayer) under study inside the prison. The creatures are accidentally let loose during a firefight between the prison guards and the Russian Demogorgon, but Hopper and Murray kill the remaining creatures and escape Russia. A variant with wings like a bat called the Demobat also exists. The variant was introduced in the fourth season when Steve Harrington went through Watergate, the gate at the bottom of Lover's Lake which opened up when Patrick McKinney was killed by Vecna. The Demobats attacked Steve, but were fended off by him, Nancy Wheeler, Robin Buckley and Eddie Munson. Later, Eddie played " Master of Puppets" to distract the Demobats and ended up being killed by them. After Vecna was defeated, they fell to the ground and seemingly died.The Flayed
A term for Earth-based beings that are possessed by the Mind Flayer, Will Byers being the first case during the second season until an ethereal fragment of the Mind Flayer was purged from his body. The isolated fragment later began possessing rats and eventually humans during the events of season three, having most of its hosts ingest toxic chemicals so they could gradually be melted down into materials for the Mind Flayer to create a proxy body to act through in its attempt to kill Eleven.Recurring characters
The following is a list of guest characters that have recurring roles throughout the series. The characters are listed by the order in which they first appeared.Introduced in season one
*Introduced in season two
*Introduced in season three
* Jake Busey as Bruce Lowe, a journalist for the ''Hawkins Post'' who routinely harasses and mocks Nancy because of her gender. He becomes possessed by the Mind Flayer. Bruce is beaten to death by Nancy with a fire extinguisher after he attacks her, and his corpse merges with Tom's to become a gruesome arthropod-like monster. * Andrey Ivchenko as Grigori, a Russian hitman and enforcer for the scientists working under Hawkins. He is killed by Hopper at the end of season 3. * Michael Park as Tom Holloway, the editor of the ''Hawkins Post'' and Heather Holloway's father. He becomes possessed by the Mind Flayer. He is killed in self-defense by Jonathan, and his corpse merges with Bruce's to become a gruesome arthropod-like monster. *Introduced in season four
* Mason Dye as Jason Carver, the captain of the Hawkins High School basketball team and Chrissy Cunningham's boyfriend. After Chrissy's death, he leads his team on a witch-hunt for Eddie, whom he believes to be the perpetrator and the leader of a Satanic cult. He confronts Lucas at the Creel House and Lucas manages to beat him in a fight. Jason is killed when Vecna opens the fourth gate which cuts through his body in half. *Guest characters
The following is a supplementary list of guest stars that appear in lesser roles, make significant cameo appearances or who receive co-starring credit over multiple appearances. The characters are listed in the order in which they first appeared.Introduced in season one
* Chris Sullivan as Benny Hammond, owner and chef of Benny's Burgers, and friend of Hopper. He takes care of Eleven shortly after her escape but is killed by Hawkins Lab personnel shortly afterwards. * Tony Vaughn as Russell Coleman, the principal at Hawkins Middle School. * Charles Lawlor as Donald Melvald, the owner of Melvald's General Store where Joyce Byers works. * Hugh Holub as the lead scientist at Hawkins Laboratory. * Andrew Benator as a scientist at Hawkins Laboratory. * Pete Burris as the head of security at Hawkins Laboratory. * Robert Walker-Branchaud as an agent of Hawkins Laboratory who disguises himself as a repairman. * Glennellen Anderson as Nicole, a classmate of Nancy, Steve and Jonathan. * Cynthia Barrett as Marsha Holland, Barbara's mother. * Jerri Tubbs as Diane Hopper, Jim's ex-wife. * Elle Graham as Sara Hopper, Jim and Diane's daughter, who died of cancer. * Shawn Levy, the show's executive producer, makes a cameo appearance as a morgue worker. * Amy Seimetz as Becky Ives, Terry's sister who takes care of her.Introduced in season two
* Kai L. Green as Funshine, a member of Kali's crew. Kali considers him to be a teddy bear, despite his size and strength. He is the oldest of the crew. * James Landry Hébert as Axel, an aggressive member of Kali's crew. * Anna Jacoby-Heron as Dottie, the sarcastic newest member of Kali's crew. * Gabrielle Maiden as Mick, a member of Kali's crew. She is the least aggressive of the crew and is their driver. * Matty Cardarople as Keith, previously an employee at The Palace Arcade in 1984 but now works at Family Video nearly a year later. * Madelyn Cline as Tina, a student in Hawkins High School and friend of Carol and Vicki. * Abigail Cowen as Vicki, a student in Hawkins High School and friend of Carol and Tina. * Karen Ceesay as Sue Sinclair, Lucas and Erica's mother. * Arnell Powell as Charles Sinclair, Lucas and Erica's father. * Aaron Muñoz as Mr. Holland, Barbara's father. * Joe Davison as a technician at Hawkins Laboratory. * Pruitt Taylor Vince as Ray, a technician at Hawkins Laboratory who electrocuted Terry Ives, contributing to her deteriorated mental state. * Will Chase as Neil Hargrove, Billy's biological father, Max's stepfather, and Susan's husband. He is very abusive to his son, both verbally and physically.Introduced in season three
* John Vodka as General Stepanov, a KGB General * Yasen Peyankov as a Russian Scientist who works along with Alexei. * Georgui Kasaev as a Russian comm officer * Caroline Arapoglou as Winnie Kline, Mayor Larry Kline's wife. * Allyssa Brooke as Candice, Mayor Larry Kline's secretary. * Holly Morris as Janet Holloway, wife of Tom Holloway and mother of Heather Holloway * Chantell D. Christopher as a receptionist at Hawkins Memorial Hospital. * Misha Kuznetsov as Colonel Ozerov, an authoritative and brutal Soviet military officer. * Arthur Darbinyan as Zharkov, a Russian scientist working for Commander Ozerov, who specializes in torturing hostages. * Beth Riesgraf as Billy Hargrove's mother. *Introduced in season four
* Grace Van Dien as Chrissy Cunningham, a Hawkins High School cheerleader who is killed by Vecna. * Regina Ting Chen as Ms. Kelly, the counselor at Hawkins High School. * Logan Riley Bruner as Fred Benson, Nancy's colleague at the Hawkins High School newspaper. He is haunted by his role in a fatal car accident. He is eventually killed by Vecna. * Elodie Grace Orkin as Angela, a popular student at Lenora High School in California who bullies Eleven. * Robert Englund as Victor Creel, a man arrested for supossedly murdering his wife and daughter in the 1950s and has since spent his life at a psychiatric institution. Creel maintains that his family was killed by a demon, and is left permanently disfigured after attempting to kill himself in prison by cutting out his eyes. ** Kevin L. Johnson as young Victor Creel * Tyner Rushing as Virginia Creel, Victor Creel's wife who was telepathically killed along with her daughter by her son in the 1950s. * Livi Burch as Alice Creel, the Creels' only daughter who was telepathically killed along with her mother by her brother in the 1950s. * Ira Amyx as Agent Harmon, a bodyguard working for Sam Owens. Harmon alongside his partner Agent Wallace, were assigned to protect Jonathan Byers, Will Byers, and Mike Wheeler from the military. Died defending children during the attack on the Byers' home. * Kendrick Cross as Agent Wallace, a bodyguard working for Sam Owens. Wallace alongside his partner Agent Harmon, were assigned to protect Jonathan Byers, Will Byers, and Mike Wheeler from the military. Wounded and taken prisoner by Sullivan in order to find Eleven's whereabouts. * Audrey Holcomb as Eden Bingham, Suzie's goth eldest sister who babysits her and the rest of their siblings. Argyle becomes infatuated with her upon first meeting her, and the two of them are later caught smoking marijuana together in Argyle's pizza van by Suzie, Mike, Will, and Jonathan. * Ed Amatrudo as Director Hatch, the director of the psychiatric institution where Victor Creel was put after his arrest. * Gwydion Lashlee-Walton as Gareth, is a member of the Hellfire Club at Hawkins High School and a member of Eddie Munson's band, Corroded Coffin. He plays the drums. * Trey Best as Jeff, is a member of the Hellfire Club at Hawkins High School and a member of Eddie Munson's band, Corroded Coffin. He plays an electric guitar. * Grant Goodman as Freak 1, is a member of the Hellfire Club and a member of Eddie Munson's band Corroded Coffin. He plays an electric bass. * Paris Benjamin as Agent Stinson, an agent working for Sam Owens. She is the contact for Hopper to help him, Joyce, and Murray get back to the states.References
External links