List of Stranger Things characters

This is a list of characters from the American science fiction horror television series Stranger Things.

The first season, set in November 1983, focuses on the investigation into the disappearance of a young boy named Will Byers while supernatural events are occurring around Hawkins, including the appearance of a girl with telekinetic abilities who helps Will's friends in their search. The second season (Stranger Things 2) is set a year after the last. It deals with the characters' attempts to return to normal and to deal with the consequences of the first season's events. The second season adds new characters Max Mayfield, Max's violent stepbrother Billy Hargrove, Erica Sinclair, Lucas’ sassy little sister, and Joyce's new love interest Bob Newby who ends up dying to demodogs. The third season (Stranger Things 3) is set in the summer of 1985 and shows the young friends maturing into teenagers and navigating new life challenges, all while a new threat looms over the town. This season also introduces a new character: Robin Buckley. The fourth season (Stranger Things 4) is set in the spring of 1986 and follows the characters after they have been separated at the end of Stranger Things 3. Season 4 adds new characters like Eddie Munson, Argyle, and Vecna. The first season was released on Netflix on July 15, 2016; the second season of nine episodes was released on October 27, 2017; and the third season of eight episodes was released on July 4, 2019. the fourth season was split into two volumes, with volume one with seven episodes released on May 27, 2022, and volume two with two episodes released on July 1, 2022. The fifth and final season is set to be released in 2025.

The series features an ensemble cast including Winona Ryder, David Harbour, Finn Wolfhard, Millie Bobby Brown, Gaten Matarazzo, Caleb McLaughlin, Natalia Dyer, Charlie Heaton, Cara Buono and Matthew Modine. Noah Schnapp and Joe Keery had recurring roles in the first season before being promoted to the main cast for the second, with Sadie Sink, Dacre Montgomery, Sean Astin, and Paul Reiser also joining. Maya Hawke joined the cast in the third season, and Priah Ferguson was promoted to the main cast. Brett Gelman had recurring roles in the second and third seasons, before being promoted to the main cast in the fourth. Joseph Quinn, Eduardo Franco and Jamie Campbell Bower joined the main cast for the fourth season.

This list includes the series' main cast, all guest stars deemed to have had recurring roles throughout the series, and any other guest who is otherwise notable.

Joyce Byers is the mother of Jonathan Byers and Will Byers and is divorced from their father Lonnie Byers. Joyce is a very caring and strong-willed woman who works as a retail clerk at Melvald's General Store in downtown Hawkins. She was born and raised in Hawkins and she attended Hawkins High School with Hopper and Bob.

In season three, she is planning to sell her house and move out of Hawkins, much to Hopper's dismay who tries to convince her to go on a date with him. Even though she does have feelings for him, Joyce tries to avoid getting into another relationship. She is mainly more interested in figuring out why the magnets in her house keep falling off her fridge and while investigating the reason behind this, she and Hopper uncover a Russian conspiracy. After infiltrating a Russian lab beneath the new Starcourt Mall, where the Russians have opened another portal into the Upside Down, Joyce is forced to close the portal by turning off the Russian machine used to open it with Hopper in the room, and Hopper ends up being presumed dead. Joyce becomes a mother figure to Eleven after taking her in when Hopper supposedly died. The Byers family and Eleven move to California three months after Hopper's supposed death.

Joyce has a stay-at-home job and receives a package from Russia carrying a doll, which has a note inside that reveals Hopper is alive. She and Murray call the number on the note and contact "Enzo", a prison guard that Hopper has bribed, who demands $40,000 in exchange for Hopper's freedom. Joyce obtains the money and flies to Alaska with Murray Bauman, where they meet Yuri Ismaylov, a Russian smuggler and pilot that smuggles American goods into the Russian prison camp. Realizing the profit that can be made, Yuri Ismaylov drugs Joyce and Murray and flies them to Russia. En route, Joyce and Murray knock out Yuri and crash in the wilderness. They force Yuri to take them to the prison camp, where Murray impersonates Yuri, while Joyce and Yuri act as hostages. The two witness Hopper fight the Demogorgon, but Joyce manages to rescue him and reunites with him.

James "Jim" Hopper, nicknamed "Hop," is the Hawkins chief of police. Hopper has lived in Hawkins nearly all his life, having attended high school with Joyce and Bob. Hopper divorced after his young daughter Sarah died of cancer, which caused him to lapse into alcoholism. Eventually, he grows to be more responsible, saving Will from the Demogorgon as well as taking Eleven in as his adopted daughter.