See the 'Stranger Things' cast in West End shows

Everyone’s favourite 1980s-set sci-fi series Stranger Things continues the spooky shenanigans on Netflix. The show centres on a plucky group of kids in the rural town of Hawkins, Indiana, who encounter supernatural beings from another dimension, and who also befriend Eleven, a girl with psychokinetic powers.

An official Stranger Things play will open in the West End in 2023. Stranger Things: The First Shadow will start at the Phoenix Theatre.

The series stars Winona Ryder and David Harbour as, respectively, the mother of a boy who goes missing and the local police chief Jim Hopper, and many of the young cast members have also become big names, such as Eleven actress Millie Bobby Brown.

That inspired us to take a closer look at the talented Stranger Things cast and their uncanny connections to theatre! Follow us into the Upside Down, if you dare…

Matthew Modine

You can’t trust anyone at the shady Hawkins Laboratory, least of all Matthew Modine’s evil scientist Martin Brenner. But you can trust Modine’s love of theatre. His credits include Finishing the Picture at Chicago’s Goodman Theatre, playing Atticus Finch in To Kill a Mockingbird at Connecticut’s Hartford Stage, and starring in the 50th-anniversary revival of The Miracle Worker at Broadway’s Circle in the Square.

Modine has even appeared on a London stage: he was in Resurrection Blues at the Old Vic in 2006. And he’s got a self-deprecating sense of humour, too. He starred in a parodic comedy at Los Angeles’ Geffen Theatre called Matthew Modine Saves the Alpacas.

Modine will return to the West End to play Atticus Finch in To Kill a Mockingbird. Book To Kill a Mockingbird tickets on London Theatre.

David Harbour

Although British fans know Harbour best for his screen work, like Stranger Things and The Newsroom on TV, or his roles in movies like Marvel’s Black Widow and James Bond film Quantum of Solace, he also has an impressive track record on stage.

He scored a Tony Award nomination for Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? on Broadway, and his numerous other theatre credits include Glengarry Glen Ross, The Merchant of Venice, The Coast of Utopia, and The Invention of Love. He recently starred in Mad House at London’s Ambassadors Theatre.

Gaten Matarazzo

Beloved as the goofy, talkative Dungeons and Dragons maestro Dustin Henderson in Stranger Things, Gaten Matarazzo also won hearts on Broadway as a child actor. His first foray into theatre was playing Benjamin in Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, and he soon graduated to the key role of Gavroche in Les Misérables.

He also played Jack in the Hollywood Bowl production of Into the Woods, which featured the likes of Sutton Foster, Patina Miller, Skylar Astin and Sierra Boggess. He's returning to Broadway this summer to play Jared in Broadway’s Dear Evan Hansen.

Caleb McLaughlin

Lucas Sinclair, played by Caleb McLaughlin, is another member of the tight-knit D&D club, and is initially resistant to Eleven joining the gang. He’s also a whiz with a slingshot, aka The Wrist Rocket, which comes in handy during the monster fighting.

But this isn’t McLaughlin’s first experience of an epic tale. He made his Broadway debut playing Young Simba in The Lion King, telling audiences he “Just Can’t Wait to Be King”, and he was Bokkie in the Off-Broadway production of The Painted Rocks at Revolver Creek.

Sadie Sink

It’s not all about the guys. Sadie Sink joined Stranger Things in season 2 as the skateboarding tomboy Maxine “Max” Mayfield and soon became a vital member of the team – plus she and fellow D&D member Lucas began dating in season 3.

Sink has proved herself on stage as well. She made her debut in White Christmas in Houston, Texas, and the red-headed actress soon graduated to playing the titular role in the Broadway revival of Annie. She can put on a right royal Broadway show too: she was a regal Young Queen Elizabeth II in The Audience.

Michael Park

Poor Tom Holloway. The editor of local paper the Hawkins Post had the misfortune to become possessed by the terrifying Mind Flayer, and - spoiler alert - met a grisly end in the last season. Bar some kind of alien resurrection (which you wouldn’t rule out), that’s the last we’ll see of actor Michael Park on the show.

But Park has had plenty of success elsewhere too, including originating roles in an impressive three Broadway musicals: Michael in Smokey Joe’s Cafe, Angus Tuck in Tuck Everlasting, and Larry Murphy in Dear Evan Hansen. Plus he created the role of Monty in the Off-Broadway musical Violet. He also appeared in the Daniel Radcliffe-starring Broadway revival of How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, and in NBC’s The Sound of Music Live! and Peter Pan Live!.

Carey Elwes

Inconceivable! Yes, the hero of The Princess Bride joined the third season of Stranger Things, playing the corrupt Mayor Larry Kline. Elwes, of course, is also known for his iconic screen credits like Robin Hood: Men in Tights, Twister, Liar Liar and the Saw movies, plus he’s in the upcoming Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One.

Elwes also has a couple of theatre links. He played producer John Houseman in the movie Cradle Will Rock, which tells the backstage story of the 1937 Orson Welles-directed musical The Cradle Will Rock. And he tread the boards himself too, portraying a wrongly convicted former death row inmate in Off-Broadway play The Exonerated.

Gabriella Pizzolo

Dustin finally got a girlfriend in the last season. He met Gabriella Pizzolo’s Suzie at science camp, and since she lives in Salt Lake City, the pair communicate via radio – which in turn leads the Hawkins gang to intercept a coded Russian transmission.

Pizzolo has form playing brainy characters. She made her Broadway debut as one of the Matildas in Matilda the Musical, and she was also Young Alison in Fun Home and Louise in Sunday in the Park with George. Most recently, she played Opal in Because of Winn Dixie at the Alabama Shakespeare Festival.

Jamie Campbell Bower

New to Stranger Things in season 4 is English actor Jamie Campbell Bower, playing Peter Ballad, an orderly at Pennhurst Mental Hospital. The actor already has an impressive list of credits though, including several Twilight movies, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, and Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald, plus he played King Arthur in TV show Camelot and playwright Christopher Marlowe in Will.

Campbell Bower, who is the frontman and lead guitarist in band Counterfeit, has serious musical theatre cred too. He played Anthony Hope in the film adaptation of Sondheim’s Sweeney Todd, and he starred as Joe in the West End premiere of musical Bend It Like Beckham.

Photo credit: David Harbour and Bill Pullman in Mad House (Photo by Charlie Gray)