Caleb McLaughlin Thinks Stranger Things Fans Are Sleeping On The Show's Most Underrated Relationship

Aside from 1980s nostalgia, "Stranger Things" has managed to become as popular as it has by giving fans some unforgettable relationships. Whether it's Finn Wolfhard's Mike Wheeler and Milly Bobby Brown's Eleven, Winona Ryder's Joyce Byers and David Harbour's Jim Hopper, or Sadie Sink's Max Mayfield and Caleb McLaughlin's Lucas Sinclair, there's been no shortage of couples for fans to "ship" in the monolithic Netflix series. For McLaughlin, however, those fans tend to forget and/or gloss over Mike and Lucas' relationship, which the actor claims is the show's most underrated.

"Stranger Things" began all the way back in 2016 and has grown to become nothing short of a pop culture juggernaut. Its young stars have literally grown, too, transforming from middle schoolers to full-blown adults across five seasons. The "Stranger Things" kids have also been significantly affected by the series' huge popularity in various ways, with McLaughlin, in particular, using his character as a guiding light for his career due to the fact Lucas subverts so many regrettable cinematic tropes of the past. The character has been a core part of "Stranger Things" since the beginning and alongside Mike Wheeler, Noah Schnapp's Will Byers, and Gaten Matarazzo's Dustin Henderson, was an original member of The Party — the series' version of the Losers Club. He's remained an indispensable part of the show ever since and is right there alongside his comrades in "Stranger Things" season 5 to face down a newly empowered Vecna (Jamie Campbell Bower).

During that time, Lucas has battled the very worst the Upside Down has to offer and formed a deep connection with Max along the way. But according to McLaughlin, while all of that has been important, it's Lucas' dynamic with Mike that deserves more recognition.

As successful as "Stranger Things" has been, it hasn't all been positive. For one thing, Caleb McLaughlin has spoken about racism from fans taking a toll on his mental health, which is just shameful and a real tragedy for a show that, as McLaughlin himself has noted, works hard to combat harmful stereotypes. Still, the actor has remained remarkably resilient and is finishing out the series as strong as he ever was.

A far smaller but significant tragedy in McLaughlin's eyes is how his character's relationship with Mike Wheeler has been somewhat overlooked. In the December 2025 issue of SFX Magazine, the actor was asked who he felt his character had the most interesting relationship with in season 5 (besides Max). He went straight to the source. "I think Mike and Lucas, their relationship is underrated," he explained. "Everyone talks about Lucas and Max, or even my relationship with Dustin, maybe in season 1, and my highlight is definitely Max and Lucas [...] But I feel that people don't realize that Lucas and Mike were friends first."

The actor went on to claim that it's "written" somewhere that "Mike and Lucas were friends first." It's not entirely clear whether he's right there, as Mike met Will in kindergarten and it's generally thought that Lucas joined the friend group later as Mike's neighbor. But in McLaughlin's recollection, Mike and Lucas were neighbors first and, therefore, go back longer than him and Will. "They might be the closest friends to live near each other," he continued. "Right next door to one another, and they have a lot of great moments throughout [season 5]. That's a relationship that isn't really spoken about, but it's an underrated one."

"Stranger Things" is streaming on Netflix.