Netflix is blowing the lid off Season 4 ofStranger Things, announcing eight new (all male) cast members including genre iconRobert Englund, who played Freddy Krueger in theNightmare on Elm Streetfranchise.
Let’s start with the new series regulars –Jamie Campbell Bower,Eduardo FrancoandJoseph Quinn. Bower, best known fromThe Mortal Instruments: City of Bonesand theSweeney Toddmovie, will play Peter Ballard, a caring man who works as an orderly at a psychiatric hospital. Tired of the brutality he witnesses day after day, Peter weighs whether to finally take a stand.
Franco is my man. I loved him in the Netflix comedyThe Package(the streamer takes care of its own, if you haven’t noticed) but you may remember him fromBooksmartor the more recent Hulu movieThe Binge. The guy is a lightning bolt of comic energy, and he’ll play Jonathan’s (Charlie Heaton) new best friend Argyle, a fun-loving stoner who works as a delivery dude for Surfer Boy Pizza.
But the new cast member you’llreallyhave to pay attention to is Quinn as Eddie Munson, an audacious 80’s metalhead who runs The Hellfire Club, Hawkins High’s official Dungeons & Dragons club. Hated by those who don’t understand him – and beloved by those who do – Eddie will find himself at the terrifying epicenter of this season’s mystery.
Expect the The Hellfire Club to play a major part in the plot this season, which will also take us to a Russian gulag, where one of five new recurring actors comes in.
Tom Wlaschiha(Game of Thrones) will play Dmitri, a Russian prison guard who befriends Hopper (David Harbour). Dmitri is smart, cunning, and charming… but can he be trusted? That’s the question Hopper will likely have to grapple with as he tries to escape. I mean, I assume he tries to escape, since he doesn’t seem like the gulag type to me.
Elsewhere,Sherman Augustus(Westworld) will play Lt. Colonel Sullivan, an intelligent, no-nonsense man who believes he knows how to stop the evil in Hawkins once and for all.Mason Dye(Bosch) will play handsome rich kid Jason Carver, a jock who dates the most popular girl in school but quick finds his perfect world unraveling as a new evil threatens Hawkins.Nikola Djuricko(In The Land of Blood and Honey) will play Yuri, a seedy and unpredictable Russian smuggler who loves bad jokes, cold hard cash, and crunchy-style peanut butter.
And naturally, I saved the best for last, if only to bring this article full circle. See, Englund will play Victor Creel, a disturbed and intimidating man who is imprisoned in a psychiatric hospital for a gruesome murder in the 1950s. Um, this sounds like perfect casting in my book, and I love the character’s creepy name. I mean, has there ever been a good guy named Victor? It’s a classic bad guy name. A chef’s kiss to the Duffer brothers!
We’re still not sure when Season 4 ofStranger Thingswill debut on Netflix, but it can’t be too far off now. Perhaps a Super Bowl ad will provide further clarity. Until then, you canclick hereforPerri Nemiroff’s take on why the pandemic delay may result in one of the show’s best seasons.
