Movies - TV
How Stranger Things Star
Joe Keery Changed Steve Harrington's Fate
By SHAE SENNETT
If Steve Harrington hadn’t been played by Joe Keery, “Stranger Things” would’ve looked a lot different than it does today. As the annoying, self-absorbed jock boyfriend of Nancy Wheeler, both the series creators and actor thought that Steve would be dead by the end of Season 1, but it was Keery’s lovable and charismatic personality that prompted a rewrite of his fate.
In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, co-creator Ross Duffer explained, “Steve was supposed to be this jocky douchebag, and Joe was so much more than that.” Ross and his brother Matt “fell in love” with Keery and rewrote Season 1’s finale so that Steve goes from being an antagonist to a hero when he fights the demogorgon with Nancy and Jonathan Byers.
Because Steve wasn’t supposed to exist after the first season, the Duffer brothers initially didn’t know what to do with him after his breakup with Nancy in Season 2, and Matt Duffer admitted that Steve shouldn’t be a lead in the show’s Season 4. However, they overhauled the character and the entire series to keep Keery as he brought light and heartwarming moments to a very dark show.