Finn Wolfhard (Mike Wheeler): Stranger Things “has the Harry Potter effect”

It’s still unclear exactly how long Stranger Things, quite possibly the most successful original scripted show to come out of Netflix, will go on before it ends. We have at least one more season of the supernatural drama to look forward to, even if it may be delayed a bit thanks to the coronavirus. But things have to stop sooner or later, if for no other reason than because the young cast are gonna be college-aged before long, and it’s gonna be a hard to find reasons for them all to stick around the small town of Hawkins, Indiana, especially with interdimensional monster attacks so common there. I’d choose an out-of-state school, is all I’m saying.

Finn Wolfhard, who plays lead teen Mike Wheeler, contemplated the end while talking to The Hollywood Reporter. “What I think is so great about Stranger Things is it has the Harry Potter effect — where you can see how the characters and the actors grow up over time,” he said. “The character is a part of me. Definitely when Stranger Things ends, it is not going to feel like it didn’t happen or that Mike isn’t a part of me still. I think I will be ready to say goodbye but it will be bitter sweet. But we still have a lot of work to do with Stranger Things.”

Intentionally or not, Wolfhard’s comments sound a lot like what series creators the Duffer brothers said back in 2016, when the show was first taking off. “The dream is a Harry Potter situation,” Matt Duffer told Entertainment Weekly. “I love watching kids growing up on camera. So the idea seeing where these kids and these characters are one year later is cool to me. And it allows us to explore the mythology of our nether.”

Three seasons in, I’d say they’ve done a good job of sticking to this idea. We’ve watched the core cast of Mike, Dustin, Lucas, Will and Eleven grow as characters just as the actors have grown as people, with new characters like Max and Erica being added as the show has gone on. By the time the series ends with season 5 or so, it should have a rich cast of up-and-coming stars.

Wolfhard is already trading on his Stranger Things star with roles in other projects, like the upcoming Ghostbusters: Afterlife. But he’s starring in indie movies, too, like Rules for Werewolves, “a total anarchist teenager coming-of-age movie.” Also the teens are werewolves.

But the first order of business is to get back to work on Stranger Things 4, which will hopefully happen soon.

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