As shown in the Stranger Things season 2 trailer, Steve gets closer with the kids this year. Joe Keery told Us Weekly exclusively at the LA premiere on Thursday, October 27, that he channeled the older boy he grew up with to get inspired for the role.
“I had a neighbor, this guy, Petey Edson, as a kid who was that way to me — a guy that I looked up to. Film-wise, [he was] like a Josh Brolin from The Goonies sort of thing, which I hoped would sort of be the character and where it would go for the second season,” Keery told Us.
“I kind of wanted to draw from these, take these parts that you liked about the character and that you didn’t like about the character. He’s maybe a little cocky and he has it all figured out, but then also, he’s really in the middle of this self-discovery because he’s been left out in the dust by Nancy,” Keery added. “He doesn’t have any friends, and he’s kind of like, ‘Well, how the hell did I end up here with these 13-year-olds in the middle of the junkyard?’”
Both Keery and Natalia Dyers have revealed that this season won’t be great for Steve and Nancy, and that her feelings for Jonathan (Charlie Heaton) will still be a big part of the story. For Keery, he drew on a real-life heartbreak to get into character.
“I think everybody sort of still has feelings for that one person in some way or the other. You respect them. You think about them. You think about it fondly or think about it negatively,” he told Us. “I think that Steve and Nancy are the same way. I don’t know really the fate of the relationship, but I think, or at least I hope that people find the humanity in the situation.”
“I think we’re coming into all these characters dealing with the very crazy, supernatural, very quick trauma, and I think, in a way, that it forces you to grow in your relationships, therefore grow and change,” Dyers added at the premiere. “I think that’s what’s going on with the love triangle. They’re just figuring out where they are, and who they are, and what matters and how they relate to each other. So it’s a little messy.”
Season 2 of Stranger Things is streaming on Netflix.
