Here’s who Stranger Things originally wanted to play Joyce and Hopper

One of the reasons Stranger Things is so good is because of its casting. It’s hard to imagine any characters being played by anyone else. Heck, just the thought of anyone else besides Joe Keery playing Steve Harrington is enough to give me a panic attack.

Well, according to a report from the Independent, things could have gone very differently. Back when the Duffer brothers — the creators of Stranger Things — were shopping the show around Hollywood, they used a show bible of sorts that laid out their vision for the series. According to that document, they had some specific actors in mind for the roles of Joyce Byers and Sheriff Jim Hopper, which we all know ended up going to Winona Ryder and David Harbour:

"The limited nature of the project will allow us to target film actors for the adult leads. For example, Ewan McGregor, Sam Rockwell for Hopper [and] Naomi Watts or Marisa Tomei for Joyce."

It looks like the Duffer Brothers didn’t anticipate Stranger Things being a long-running series.

Anyway, how weird would the show have been with Sam Rockwell as Hopper? And the bit about them wanting Naomi Watts or Marisa Tomei is surprising. Ryder always seemed like an especially perfect pick for Joyce, since she’s so associated with the sorts of ’80s movies to which Stranger Things pays homage; I figured they were targeting her from the start.

RELATED PRODUCT

Monopoly Stranger Things Edition

Buy Now!

Buy Now!

This isn’t the only revelation to come out of the early show bible. It also shed some light on Will Byers’ sexuality. Let’s hope it can give us some more morsels to help us pass the time between now and season 4.

To stay up to date on everything fantasy, science fiction, and WiC, follow our all-encompassing Facebook page and sign up for our exclusive newsletter.

Watch Game of Thrones for FREE with a no-risk, 7-day free trial of Amazon Channels