When Maya Hawke was cast as Robin Buckley in Stranger Things season 3, she was relatively unknown in the acting world. A few episodes later and she was a founding member of the Scoops Troop, the fan-favorite Russian-busting foursome consisting of Erica Sinclair (Priah Ferguson), Dustin Henderson (Gaten Matarazzo) and Steve Harrington (Joe Keery). New or not, she definitely won fans over.
Hawke would go on to win the Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress in a Streaming Presentation for her role as Robin, all thanks to Stranger Things casting director Carmen Cuba taking a chance on her.
Speaking with Variety’s Jenelle Riley on Scene Stealers, Hawke talked about being a fan of the show before getting to play Robin.
“For an actor, you’re a fan of the show not just as an entity…You’re a fan of the people who make it, the action that goes on in it, the dialogue, the environment the fun it looks like people are having,” Hawke said, praising Stranger Things creators Matt and Ross Duffer. “I didn’t have, like, a fandom reaction, I had a thrilling reaction to the idea I could get to say that dialogue that the Duffer Brothers write so intelligently and so specifically.”
According to Cuba, the Duffer Brothers start talking about new characters before they start writing them, and she starts thinking about possible fits early on. “I can start looking out , because know I’m always casting a bunch of things,” she said. “I can always sort of pretend to be looking for one thing while I’m looking for another, especially with this show. We have to do a lot of that.”
Because Cuba knew it would be tough for a new character to break into such a wildly popular show with a close-knit, ensemble cast, she began talking to other actors who pointed her in Hawke’s direction. “It’s a very tricky thing to try to step into as each season passes,” she said. “Because that core, original group is very comfortable with themselves, with their characters, with the process, with the directors. You have to really test, however you can, how this person will be able to step into character while also stepping into this phenomenon.”
Obviously, hiring Hawke was a good call. To start, she and Keery had immediate chemistry. That was on full display in one of the season’s most heartfelt scenes, when Robin comes out as gay in the bathroom at the mall, and Steve took it in stride and encouraged his new pal to be true to herself. Hawke found the platonic nature of their friendship to be a breath of fresh air.
"Men and women aren’t really allowed to be friends onscreen. There’s always this undercurrent of one-sided love or two. It’s very refreshing to see a bond between a man and a woman that isn’t transactional, that isn’t romantic. It’s their togetherness that comes as a true friendship in understanding through opposition. Seeing that is almost revolutionary."
Hawke also has a great connection with the younger members of the Scoops Troop, Matarazzo and Ferguson. “I felt so fortunate,” she said. “Joe was an incredible leader. He sees humor in everything and he sees depth where depth lies. And Gaten and Priah are so unbelievably talented.”
"Priah definitely gets ‘most likely to succeed,’ ‘most prepared,’ ‘most intelligent’ [and] ‘most hardworking.’ And Gaten and Joe’s love of the show, their comfort, their chemistry together — the whole thing. I felt we came together really well and it was an honor to be a part of that."
In the end, Hawke enjoys being Robin because she sees parts of herself in her. “I love playing this character,” she said. “She really allows me to embrace parts of myself that I’ve often tried to hide. She has this darkness to her, this kind of physical awkwardness, a little bit of a social outcast feeling to her and an intense intelligence. Those are all pieces of my personality, but they’re not necessarily the ones that I try to put first.”
Thanks to the coronavirus pandemic, Stranger Things 4 won’t be dropping on Netflix in early 2021 like they originally planned, but hopefully, production can safely resume soon.
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