Warning: Spoilers for Stranger Things to follow.
Death is always a peculiar topic to bring up in a conversation about Stranger Things; on the one hand, it seems like the mourning of characters such as Eddie and Barb occur every other week with varying degrees of sincerity, but on the other hand, it can lead to skepticism surrounding why none of the main cast have fallen victim to the horrors of the Upside Down, and who of them may ultimately do so once season five rolls around.
Today, r/StrangerThings is focusing on the former ethos, and have come together to discuss which of Stranger Things‘ deceased characters should have gotten more screen time.
One user kicked off the discussion by posing the question of who between Barb, Bob, Billy, Alexei, Chrissy, and Eddie should have lived longer. Those of you that have been keeping up with Twitter may expect an overwhelming consensus on a certain dungeon master, but it wasn’t quite the Eddie-fest you may think.
One responder cast their vote for Bob, Joyce’s boyfriend during the events of season two who was tragically eaten by a pack of demodogs. It was a particularly sad goodbye to a genuinely likable character, but we all knew there wouldn’t be a world where Joyce leads a normal life any time soon anyway.
Others poured their hearts out for Alexei, who was all but ready to betray the Soviets and ally himself with the Hawkins gang before his murder at the hands of Grigori. Some also pointed out that his death never contributed anything to any story or character arcs, making his death one of the worst in the heartbreak to payoff ratio.
But one other responder stuck their neck out for season two’s true, forgotten sacrifice, who never even made it onto the original poster’s list.
But the age of supporting cast deaths could be a thing of the past come 2024; the stakes have never been higher for Eleven and co., and we could very well see some of the main cast reach the end of the line over the course of the Stranger Things swansong. One thing’s for sure; even if Steve ends up dying at the very end of the series, he will still have deserved more screen time.