Forget Stranger Things, Millie Bobby Brown Is A Movie Star
The general public isn't always the best at accepting the reality that child stars and teen idols eventually do grow up, struggling to see them as anything but their most memorable role during adolescence. But a trend has emerged in recent years, where the stars of massive teen franchises are getting the chance to grow. People have stopped making "Twilight" jokes about the Academy Award-nominated Kristen Stewart and "The Batman" star Robert Pattinson, while Zac Efron's turn in "The Iron Claw" had people campaigning on his behalf for an Oscar. Elsewhere, Jennifer Lawrence completed "The Hunger Games" and became the second-youngest person to ever win the Oscar for Best Actress, with all three main stars of the "Harry Potter" franchise having gone on to great success in other roles.
There's still plenty of room for growth (like folks who discredited Charles Melton in "May December" because his breakthrough role was on "Riverdale"), but it's a welcome change compared to the belief systems of yesteryear. 2025 will mark the end of Netflix's hit series "Stranger Things," a show that has somewhat held the careers of some of Hollywood's brightest young talents hostage for almost a decade. While the young cast members have all found ways to appear in other projects between seasons, the wealth of opportunities will change dramatically once they're no longer contractually obligated to a massive franchise.
This means now is the time for directors and studios to start planning how they're going to help make Millie Bobby Brown the movie star she was destined to become.
The MBB MonsterVerse
Playing Eleven on "Stranger Things" is unquestionably the role that put MBB on the map, but she had been acting in TV guest spots on shows like "Once Upon a Time in Wonderland," "NCIS," and "Grey's Anatomy" (as well as a major role in the limited series "Intruders") in the years leading up to her Netflix breakout performance. However, it was "Godzilla: King of the Monsters" that finally brought MBB to the big screen as Madison Russell, the daughter of the major scientific organization Monarch's Emma (Vera Farmiga) and Mark (Kyle Chandler). Her character is the human guide for the audience, bringing us on the journey from fearing the Titans to championing their survival. The character, and MBB's portrayal of her, was then elevated to the central human in the sequel film, "Godzilla vs. Kong."
"She's a kid, and she's a cool kid. She's got a great curiosity and she likes to study what she does so she knows her craft," Chandler once told Variety of his on-screen daughter. "She's a pretty interesting young person in the business. I think you'll see a lot of her do a lot of different things in the future." While MBB was the standout human in these MonsterVerse flicks, ultimately, the stars are the gigantic kaiju creatures. That's no shade to her or anyone else involved, but when it comes to American-made monster movies, the audience is showing up for the monsters. The fact that MBB is even brought up at all is a testament to her skills. She's apparently not returning for "Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire," which is a shame, but in the years since her last venture into the MonsterVerse, she's nabbed other roles that allow her to truly thrive.
Enola Holmes and Damsel
As the star of Netflix's most lucrative series, it makes total sense that the company would want to continue putting MBB in more of its original releases. Netflix can serve as the "hub" of her projects, and therefore keep more subscriber eyes on their platform. In her first leading feature role, MBB became the titular "Enola Holmes," the teenage sister of the already famous detective Sherlock Holmes. "This is Enola's story, and Brown nails the character, and the story is overall better off for the focus," as we noted in our review of "Enola Holmes 2."
MBB was drawn to the project as a huge fan of the books the film is based on and also served as a producer. It was her idea to have Enola Holmes break the fourth wall and the actor frequently engaged in improvisation during filming. "Sometimes we kept it and sometimes we didn't. But ultimately it was very fun to be able to kind of bounce those ideas off of Harry [Bradbeer, the director] and he was so open and accepting of it," MBB told us during an interview for "Enola Holmes 2."
Her latest performance comes in "Damsel," a subverted fantasy story about a would-be princess who must fight for her life when she's sacrificed to a dragon by a wealthy royal family. MBB spends the majority of "Damsel" either acting alone or opposite a CGI dragon, but stays consistently captivating throughout. The film would not work without someone of MBB's caliber at the center, and she excels beyond the bar set for her by co-stars Robin Wright and Angela Bassett. MBB also has "The Electric State" coming in the near future from the Russo Brothers (another Netflix release), but if every studio in the biz isn't desperately trying to court MBB to star in their theatrical slates post-"Stranger Things," something is seriously wrong.
"Godzilla: King of the Monsters" and "Godzilla vs. Kong" are currently streaming on Max. "Damsel" and the "Enola Holmes" movies are available to stream on Netflix.