The King Bee: Steve Harrington, Stranger Things: Worlds Turned Upside Down

Every 1980s high-school movie has a Steve Harrington: the popular preppy jock from the wealthy family who inspires more crushes than any other boy but maybe isn’t the nicest guy. So when Matt and Ross Duffer were populating Hawkins High, Steve became an almost obligatory sort of presence—one never intended to make it out of the first season alive. “This Steve character,” Ross Duffer says, “he was just supposed to be this giant douchebag.” Then Joe Keery came along.

The young actor brought a certain easy charm to Steve, giving the character real heart and a conscience. He began to feel like an essential part of the Stranger Things ensemble—which meant that killing him off was no longer a viable option. “We fell in love with Joe,” Ross Duffer says.

“I may be a pretty shitty boyfriend, but turns out I’m actually a pretty damn good babysitter.”

—Steve Harrington

After graduating from Chicago’s DePaul University, where he studied theater, Massachusetts native Keery began pursuing a career in acting as well as music, appearing in TV series such as Chicago Fire and Empire and playing in the psychedelic rock band Post Animal. His first feature-film role came courtesy of Windy City indie auteur Stephen Cone’s coming-of-age story Henry Gamble’s Birthday Party.

Keery auditioned for the role of Jonathan Byers as part of a nationwide casting call. Two months later, he had a quick Skype conversation with Matt and Ross Duffer, and just one week later, he got good, if somewhat surprising, news. He’d been cast—as Steve. It was at that point that he decided to shape the character as something other than a straightforward antagonist.

“I wanted to justify the character’s actions, so he wasn’t doing terrible things for no reason,” Keery says. “That was my goal going into it. Then as the process went along and the scripts came out, I worked with the brothers to create this sort of tightrope between doing the right thing and doing the wrong thing, just trying to make sure that every single choice that he made, whether it was good or bad, was justified.”

“It’s Fabergé Organics. Use the shampoo and the conditioner, and when your hair is damp . . . you do four puffs of the Farrah Fawcett spray.”^*28

—Steve Harrington

Keery adds, “I don’t think he’s necessarily turned out to be a villain, but I do think he was the opposite to Jonathan. He’s pretty affluent and maybe doesn’t understand things the way a character like Jonathan, who has been through struggles, [does] just because of his upbringing.”

Given Steve’s social standing, it comes as a bit of a shock to him when he finds himself vying with the elder Byers brother for the affections of Nancy (Natalia Dyer), and his jealousy turns ugly fast. But his relationship with Nancy ultimately becomes a catalyst for personal growth. “Looking back now, it’s like he lived his life a certain way prior to meeting Nancy,” Keery says. “Sometimes you meet people in your life that change the trajectory of the things that you think are important.”

Behind the scenes, Keery enjoyed spending time with his more youthful costars—watching them work together serves as a powerful reminder to approach acting with a sense of curiosity and play. Good thing, considering where the Duffer brothers would ultimately take Steve’s story line in the second season of Stranger Things.

“You learn a lot from working with new people, and especially from a totally new age group,” Keery says. “Having a lighthearted playfulness on set is very important. It’s something that I like to bring, but I often forget. It was a constant reminder each day just to listen to each other, relax, and have fun.”