Stranger Things fans have been prepared to riot if fan-favourite character Steve Harrington meets his end.
Stranger Things season five will be returning to Netflix with volume two soon and fans are yet to experience any major deaths in the final outing. Karen Wheeler (Cara Buono), narrowly escaped death following a gruesome Demogorgon attack, but a major fatality is yet to come.
One character fans are desperate to see alive by the end of the series is Joe Keery’s Steve Harrington – who started off as a stereotypical jock before surprising audiences as the ‘father’ of the group. His charming yet selfless nature has captured the hearts of viewers across the globe.
After Steve’s lack of screen time in the final season five trailer, fans feared for his life and were convinced Nancy Wheeler (Natalia Dyer) was crying over his death. However, The Duffer Brothers have hinted he could have his happily ever after moment.
In a chat with Entertainment Weekly, they admitted they had planned to kill Steve off in the first season. However, after falling in love with Keery as an actor, they decided to keep his character in the series, which went on to become a global phenomenon.
Matt said: “We just fell in love with Joe Keery, but had we not liked Joe Keery, Steve would’ve been gone.” It appears the plan had been for Steve to be the stereotypical bully who broke Nancy’s heart and was killed off gruesomely to everyone’s satisfaction.
However, Steve has narrowly escaped death on more than one occasion throughout the series, suggesting he is too loveable a character to kill off.
Matt admitted he and the writers “always talk about” killing off main characters, but explained: “What often holds us back is you have to talk about the repercussions.
“We try to be careful, if there is a death, that it has real repercussions. So we just wanna be careful about when and how frequently we do it.”
Fans have said Steve has lacked any major character development throughout the season, and although his role is not pivotal, he is extremely well-liked.
While his death would have major repercussions with fans, it is unlikely to have any huge impact on the show’s main characters – i.e. they would be able to take down Vecna (Jamie Campbell-Bower) without him.
Fans of Steve may be lucky in that the Duffer Brothers just love Keery’s charm too much to say goodbye to him, and they also risk upsetting his huge following.
On Reddit, fans described Steve as “the Daryl Dixon of Stranger Things”, referring to Norman Reedus’ The Walking Dead character.
One fan said if he were to die, “it’s not even a satisfying ending to his arc”. Mundane-Parsnip-7302 continued: “The guy who has spent the last three years trying to better himself and find a purpose in his life should just die at the end, having no meaning to his life beyond sacrificing himself to save others?”
Fried4wayer predicted he may have another narrow escape, adding: “He’ll have to have a typical Steve moment where he’s looking to be in a tight spot and gets saved.”
Artisan_HotDog shared: “I can see something happening to him that will absolutely change his life in a physical way, but I don’t see him dying at all.”
Stranger Things season 5 volume 2 drops on Netflix on Christmas Day in the US and Boxing Day in the UK.
The grand finale will air on New Year’s Eve in the US and New Year’s Day in the UK.